Nov. i, 1894-] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
IMPOSTS OF CASTOR SEED POONAC ; 
AND CASTOR OIL PKODUCTION IN CEYLON. 
In answer to our inquiry, the Acting 
Principal Collector of Customs is good enough 
to write as follows : — 
Customs. Colombo, Oct. 1st. 
Sir,— Thanking you for your note of the 29th ultimo 
I have the honour to inform you that the error in 
the statement of imports of castor seed piorao 
manure was pointed out by the Hirager of the 
Commercial Company on the 14th June. 
2. Eximinatiou then made showed Cat by the 
carelef>SDe<8 of a clerk a quantity of 1,454 tons 8 cwt, 
had been tnken as 14,548 tous, and that the quantity 
imported in 1893 was really 2,339 tons. — I am, Bir, 
your obedient servant, Lionel Lee, Acting Iriucipal 
Collector. 
We think it a pity that on or soon after 
14th June, the Customs Department did not 
publish the above important correction in the 
Government Gazette for general information. 
Castor seed poonac is sure to be in increased 
demand and it is a pity that it should not be 
produced and made available locally. An es- 
teemed planting correspondent " A.F.S." put 
some questions in a letter about a fortnight back 
in reference to the cultivation of the castor 
oil plant in Ceylon, which we were not able 
to answer at the time. We really cannot 
see why the cultivation should not be tried 
on a fitting scale on wa9te ground in the island. 
The plant is evidently a very hardy one. 
We saw it flourishing at Nuwara Eliya on 
very ordinary soil, and on our way down 
we noted luxuriant plants running wild near 
Peradeniya. As to what has been done in 
the past, we can only refer our correspondent 
to the back volumes of the Tropical Agricul- 
turist (a set of which every Manager of large 
plantations ought certainly to have by him). 
For instance on page 364 of the volume for 1881-2, 
a Balangoda planter in reporting experiments 
•with different new products, wrote as follows: — 
Castoroil {ricinus communis of Linn.^ deserves atten- 
tion. Iu Fare's Materia Ma ioa, two varieties are 
given, a large, and a small. The former j i- Ids 
from §5 per 30 per oent and th9 latter from 38 to 40 
per cent of oil. The tr-.es, which eorce into bearing 
in four months and then give from tbrei-fourths to 
one pound of olenn seed e 10b, are best propagated 
from seeds, put out direot. I have planted in holes 
eix feet apirt, .8 h 18 m 9 four seeds in each, filled 
up loosely with mana grass, eo as to g ve light, air, 
arid shade , end hive had very few failures. 
Full papers on the cultivation of the plant 
will be found in our volumes for 1882, 1884, 
1888 and 1891. In 1890 Mr. Le Mesurier 
reported the plant to be growing like a weed 
in Walapane and a Colombo firm at once 
offered to take 400 gallons per month of the 
oil from the natives, if they chose to pre- 
pare and supply it. Iu Iudia, the oil is often 
made with the ordinary native cheku mill ; 
in ether districts it is got by boiling. The 
leaves are used to feed cattle and they tend 
to increase the flow of milk. We append a further 
account by an Indian authority of how to 
get the oil: — 
" From my own personal experiments one ponnd of 
oil isobtiiiutd from ihrto po-iud* of ol Feed, The 
procoffl consibts in first so rchiug the feeds in an 
earthen pan over a fire and th' 0 poundng them ins 
mortar to reduce them to (lour. Twu bottles of 
water- are boiled, and iuto the boiling water the 
pounded castor seeds ai;a thrown, and the mixtur 
11 
is well and constantly etirred with a wooden ladle 
for a time till the oil gradually rises to the surface 
and is skimmecl off. A fresh supply of boiling water 
is added to the mass in the vessel and it is boiled 
for the second time to remove any remnants of oil 
it may contain. The whole of the oil obtain is r ow 
boiled to evaporate any water it may contain, acd 
the oil is then ready to be bottled for use. Oare 
mu6t be taken to see that the oil does not get burned 
in boiling." 
Finally, here is the practical proposal made 
by a Colombo correspondent in November 
1889, in allusion to the large importation 
of the oil as well as cake or poonac from 
India : — 
The castor plant grows almost wild both in chena 
and the lowlying laud almost all over the island, and 
a small central mill in connection with the Welle- 
watta bi£ mills would I think be a remunerative 
concern, where, no doubt, growers (or rather gatherers) 
of castor seed can send their produce for sale along 
with the cotton that U shortly expected. 
This is surely a matter worthy of the 
attention of the Directors of the Wellawatta 
Mills ; for if the people knew there was a 
demand for the castor-oil seed, they might be 
expected to collect these very freely all over 
the country. 
APICULTURE AS AN INDUSTRY FOR THE 
SINHALESE, 
It is a ourious coincidence that our attention 
should be dueoted to apiculture or bee-keeping at 
the same time by our London Correspondent and by 
Mr. Patten, the well-known Australian Apioulturist. 
The former in Bending on a letter whicti hat) ap- 
peared in the London Times (eie next page) aada :— 
" You have of late devoted some space in your 
columns to the matter of bee-keeping. 1 think, 
therefore, that a letter enclosed, may ba ot 
interest to those whose communications on 
tkia subjeot have been published by you. It Eeems to 
be evid nt fron tha details afforded by this letter 
that bea-keeping oan be made a very fairly re- 
munerative pursuit, and, if I recolleot right y, the 
bazaars in Ceylon are but poorly furnished with the 
very pleasant breakfast comestible honey. The hints 
given may therefore prove useful to those who may 
be induced to attempt to remedy this deficiency. At 
all events it will be a contribution towards the 
literature you havo yourselves made public on the 
subject," 
As already intimated, we have in the past written 
very fully on the eubjeot of bee-keeping as an 
industry for our native people. We have in Ceylon 
two oxcellent indigenous species of bees and a very 
little etteotion and enterprize would in many 
districts, enable the Sinhalese to add considerably 
to their resources through the production and Bale 
of honey. But the enterprize is wanting and 
it is far more difficult than Mr. Patte 
would 6uppcs3, to get a start made with anything 
new among apathetic orientals. If an enthusiast 
like our correspondent came amongst u?, he ought 
to te able to lead the way with some advantage 
to himself ; for any labour he requited would be 
readily available at a very cheap rate and the 
people would also help to oapiure any n umbc-r of 
bees for export or local use Mr. Patten favours 
U3 with a number of oopies of The Australian 
Bee Bulletin, a monthly journal, devoted to Bee- 
Keeping whioh affords us a re* idea of the extent 
to which the industry has spread and is spreading 
throughout Southern Colonies, There really oan 
b3 no good reason why a set of hives should not form. 
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