570 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist.''' [Feb. 1, 1894. 
be fertilised secure all the benefit possible from 
the escape of the fertilising agencies. BiiJk for 
t)ulk, sea-weed and farmyard manure contain 
about equal amounts of water, carljonaceous 
matter, and fertili.«ing properties. Tlie j)ropor- 
tions of ammonia in both are about equal ; but 
in sea-weed there is more potali and les.s phos- 
phates. Consequently, il is a highly useful 
ingredient in promoting th(> growtli of clover, 
and when .supplemented with phosphates it is 
one of the best land manures for turnipe or 
other crops. Farmers who liave a strip of beach 
on which is cast up the wreclciige of the waves, 
are thus well off, and do well to husband all 
their resources. 
The older and commonly accepted belief is 
that cellulose is a definite chemical substance 
which constitutes tlie cell wall or framework 
of the plant's tissue ; that in young pl.-ints this 
material is softer and more soluble than in older 
plants; that, in short, as the plant matures the 
cellulose gradually becomes converted into — or, 
to put it more correctly, the cell wall becomes 
encrusted with — a substance called llr/iitii or 
lignose. This lignin abounds in " woody" veget- 
able matter, and is the substance to which its 
woody character is owing. This is the commonly- 
accepted belief ; but recent researches in tliis 
interesting but extremely difficult department of 
agricultural chemistry tend to show that the real 
nature of cellular tissue is by no means so simple, 
and that cellulose, instead of being one substance, 
is made up of a number of different substances, 
and that, further, its nature differs with its source. 
Thus we have the celluloses, got from different 
sources, distinguished from one another accord- 
ing as they are associated with bodies such as 
liguin, pectin, pentosan, and fat. Thus the 
cellulose of flax is known as pecto-cellulose, 
because it is associated with pectin bodies. 
Similarly straw cellulose is known as peiUoso- 
cellulose, ligno-cellulose (jute), and adipo-cellu- 
lose (the cuticle of potato or apple). Tliese 
different kinds of cellulose differ considerably in 
the percentage of carbon they contain, and are 
also distinguished by other chemical properties 
which we need not enumerate here. The impor- 
tant practical point to be noticed here is that 
cellular tissue is a substance wliich differs in 
different kinds of plants, and that even in the 
same plant it differs in different parts and at 
different stages of its growth. Imperfect, there- 
thefore, as our knowledge of the nature of cellular 
tissue — revealed by recent research — is, it serves 
to increase our mistrust in the present method of 
estimating " soluble carbo-hydrates." 
♦ 
GROUND NUTS. 
The cultivation of ground nuts and the ex- 
traction of ground-nut oil, have been more than 
once recommended by us as a suitable industry 
for the natives of Ceylon, and it would now 
appear (from the following notice in the Indian 
Affriculturint), that the prospect for those adopt- 
ing it, should be a bright one. 
It may be remarked that the exportation of 
ground-nut oil from Pondicherry to Rangoon, 
Singapore, Mauritius, and Calcutta is ae^umiuj; 
a verj' important aspect. According to the report 
of the Pondicherry Chamber of Commerce for 
the first nine months of the present year, ju»t 
published, it appears that a total of ]."),177 barrel* 
of this oil has been exported up to .Slst Octol>«r 
last as compared with 11,815 barrels in a 
similar period last year: and that during 
three months ending ;ilst Octoljer '2,207 barrels 
have been exported to Mauritius ab against 
'.i'lO barrels exported during a (similar perio<l 
of last year. Tliis shows a very rapid growtli 
of this trade, especially with Mauritius, and 
by the end of the year it will show still 
more favourablj' as there are ooe or two sailing 
vessels, that are expected, that are already char- 
tered to take full cargoes of ground-nut oil to 
Mauritius. The despatch of this oil to Calcutta 
in any large quantity has only been of recent 
occurrence, but it seems to be increasing, as '"iGO 
barrels are being shippei) in the S.S. I'alitann for 
Calcutta. It is a remarkable thing that this 
industry is entirely in tlie bauds of the natives. 
The north end of Pondicherry is covtjred with 
small oil mills, and they are at work all day long. 
The village of Valavunour in British territory, 
about 6 miles from Villapuram on the Pondi- 
cherhy branch line, olso supplies a large quantity 
of the oil for exportation. There are iio leas 
than 300 mills that work in this village. There 
is no doubt that it is difficult to compete with 
the native method, as the plant of an oil mill 
of native construction will probably not cost 
more than R:^0, and the labour is carried out 
by bullocks, which alternately till the ground 
0.1 which the nut is cultivated, haul the pro- 
duce to the mills, turn tlie mills tliemselves, 
and, when the oil is made and put in barrels, 
drag the barrels to the station, and finally are fed 
e"tirely on the leaves and stalks of the arac/iit 
and the oil-cake that remains after expression of 
the oil. It is here that European methods might 
find an outlet, as the rude oil machines of the 
native only expresses from '2o to iiO per cent 
of oil from the nuts that contain over 00 p^r 
cent, and recently efforts were directed towards 
attempting to heat and re-crush the oil-cake ; 
however, it is evident that the second and third 
crushings which take place under steam or liy- 
draulic power are more expensive than the first, 
and further both together do not give more 
than 20 per cent additional oil, and that of 
inferior quality. It has, therefore, been proposed, 
and put in practice, at Marseilles, where most 
of the ground-nuts are treated, to extract the 
second oil chemicallj-, by the aid of sulphate 
of carbon. This is found to extract nearly all 
tie remaining oil at a very much lower cost 
than re-crushing, and the oil thus produced is 
not inferior to the second and third oils ex- 
tracted by the old process. There is, therefore, 
but little doubt that a steam mill that com- 
bines the two processes, viz., extraction of the 
first oil by pressure, and of the second and 
third by chemical process would be much more 
economical and likely to succeed. As it is a 
success in Marseilles, there is no reason why it 
should not be so in India also. 
We read that the cultivation of the plan^ 
is about to be iatroduced into Borueo, 
