104 
THE  TROPICAL  AtSRttJULTU R1  ST. 
[August  i,  1892. 
into  it,  and  set  away  on  the  ice  to  harden.  Torn 
out  on  a cut  paper  and  serve  immediately. 
COFFEE  ICING. 
Take  a gill  of  very  strong,  well  cleared  and  strained 
coffee  ; stir  into  it  powdered  sugar  until  thick  enough 
to  spread.  Cover  the  cake  and  set  away  for  one 
or  two  hours  in  a cool  place.  If  a thicker  icing  is 
wanted  add  a second  layer. — American  Grocer. 
SOME  NOTES  ON  PALM  OIL. 
A gentleman  who  knows  the  palm  oil  regions  well 
has  supplied  the  following  information  : The  Blais 
ftuineensis  commences  to  bear  after  the  fourth  year, 
and  though  it  has  never  been  cultivated,  yet  in  some 
parts  anyone  cutting  down  a palm  tree  must  plant  two 
others,  and  in  other  places  the  cutting  down  of  palm 
trees  is  forbidden  on  any  pretence.  The  trees  do  not 
come  into  full  bearing  till  about  the  tenth  year,  when 
they  may  bear  in  the  first  season  of  the  year  four  to 
six  bunches,  and  in  the  latter  season  two  to  four.  All 
the  nuts  when  young  are  dark — of  course,  some  darker 
than  other — and  as  they  ripen  the  oolor  changes  to  all 
the  shades  that  oranges  assume.  There  are  no  black 
'nuts.  The  processes  of  making  the  oil  varies  in 
different  parts,  but  essentially  it  may  be  said  to  be  by 
two  processes,  viz:  by  pressure,  and  by  boiling.  On 
the  Liberian  coast  both  processes  ore  in  use,  but  ou 
the  Gold  Coast  and  the  Oil  Rivers  only  ths  latter  pro- 
cess is  adopted.  In  both  there  are  similar  points, 
viz:  1.  The  bunches  of  nuts  are  left  some 
few  days  after  outting  before  anything  is 
done  to  them,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
a sufficient  quantity  together,  but  to  facilitate  detach- 
ing the  nuts  from  the  bunches.  The  nuts  are  fixed 
bo  closely  and  firmly  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  knock 
them  off,  but  by  leaving  them  a day  or  two  they 
get  fully  ripe,  and  will  of  themselves  fall  out  of  the 
bunch.  2.  In  both  processes  tho  nuts  are  boiled  to 
facilitate  the  detaching  of  the  fibre  carrying  the  oil 
from  the  hard  shell,  of  the  nut  or  kernel  cover.  3. 
The  nuts,  after  this  boiling,  are  either  beaten  in 
wooden  mortars  or  are  trodden  by  the  feet  in  troughs 
made  in  hard  clay,  not  stone.  In  the  dry  process, 
after  the  fibres  have  been  heated  in  an  iron  pot,  it 
is  put  into  a bag  and  pressure  applied  in  the  fashion 
of  a tourniquet.  The  oil  has  then  some  of  the  watery 
juice  of  the  pulp,  and  has  to  be  left  to  settle,  when 
the  water  carries  down  the  pulp  and  the  oil  can  be 
readily  poured  off,  bnt  if  left  too  long  fermentation 
sets  in  and  the  oil  will  reabsorb  the  pulp  and  the 
water,  and  then  will  commenoe  that  unpleas- 
ant smell  whioh  some  of  the  oils  brought  to  this  coun- 
try emit,  and  this  is  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
the  pulp  left  in  the  oil  and  the  fermentation.  In  the 
wet  process  nuts,  after  boiling,  are  placed  in  vats  or 
troughs  made  of  clay,  and,  with  a proportion  of  water, 
are  trodden  till  the  fibre  is  detached  from  the  nut 
or  shell.  Tho  nuts  are  then  washed  in  hot  water,  and 
the  fibre  and  this  hot  water  are  mixed  and  placed  into  a 
double  row  of  pots  made  of  earthen  ware  with  a fire  be- 
tween them,  and  as  the  oil  rises  to  the  top  of  pot  it  is 
skimmed  off  and  put  into  the  next  in  (he  row,  and 
this  goes  on  till  all  the  water  and  fibre  have  been 
passed  through  the  process,  the  oil  taken  out  of  the 
last  pot  being  cuite  pure  and  free  from  ar,y  im- 
purity, and  best  f.agos  oil  is  this  pure  oil.  But 
trickB  there  are  in  every  tradf1,  and  as  it  is  the  pro- 
perty of  palm  oil  to  undergo  fermentation  if  some  of 
the  pulp  and  water  is  left  in  it,  and  this  increases 
the  bulk,  and  the  oil  is  bought  by  the  liquid  mea- 
sure, so  there  are  unscrupulous  men  who  purposely 
leave  this  pulp,  and  even  later  on  some  of  the  middle- 
men whose  hands  it  has  to  pass  through  will  and 
some  wild  sweet  potato,  which  will  start  a fermen- 
tation even  in  the  best  of  oil.  Palm  oil  when  new, 
and  if  pure,  even  after  years,  has  a pleasant  odor  of 
violets  and  sweet  almonds.  The  hardness  or  softness 
of  the  oil  depeuds  ou  the  soil  or  (he  process  of  manu- 
facture more  than  the  oolor  of  the  nut.  On  the 
Liberian  coast  the  river  Sanguin  divides  what  is 
called  the  Basso  from  Kuro  country.  On  one  side  the 
roil  is  hard,  and  on  the  other  soft,  Basso  being 
more  clayey  and  tt  e wet  process  being  generally 
adopted,  whilst  Kromeo  u e the  dry  process,  the  soil 
being  mere  sandy. 
The  total  import  of  palm  oil  into  England  is  about 
50,000  tons,  valued  at  over  £1,000,000,  but  it  is  cousi. 
dered  that  thir  is  an  exceedingly  small  commerce  com- 
pared to  what  might  be  the  case  were  the  enormous 
resources  fully,  or  even  moderately,  utilized.  For 
miles  along  the  west  coast  or  Africa,  extending  between 
Gape  Bianco  and  St.  Paul  di  Loando,  there  are  vast 
forests  of  palms,  the  oleaginous  fruit  of  which  has,  for 
centuries,  ro’ted  unused  upon  the  ground.  The 
oil  palm  forests  at  the  back  of  the  coast  line  of 
Cape  Pa'mas  and  Elmina  are  6aid  to  be  practically 
inexhaustible  ; and  so  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Fer- 
nando, Po.,  immense  tracts  are  covered  with  the  trees. 
Lagos  furnishes  tho  purest  oil  ; for  there  are  in 
commerce  regular  and  irregular  oils-  When  analyzed 
if  the  water  and  impurities  exceed  2 per  cent,  an 
allowance  is  m ide  ; for  often  these  oils  contain  10  to  15 
per  cent  of  water  and  imparities. 
Palm  oil  is  eaten  as  butter  by  the  natives,  and 
used  for  anointing  thc-ir  bodies.  Here  it  is  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  soap  and  candles,  and  in  South 
Wales  in  the  preparation  of  tin  plates.  Its  non- 
drying  qualities  render  it  valuable  as  a preservative 
of  the  surface  of  the  heated  iron  sheet  from  oxidation 
until  the  moment  of  dipping  into  the  bath  of  melted 
tin,  the  sheets  being  rapidly  transferred  to  that  from  the 
bot.oil  bath,  which  consists  almost  entirely  of  palm  oil 
In  1871,  as  well  as  in  1880  and  1891,  the  imports 
of  palm  oil  into  th6  United  Kingdom  exceeded  1,000,000 
cwt.  From  10,000  to  15,009  tODS  of  palm  oil  are 
shipped  directfrom  Africi  to  the  Continent.  The  price 
of  the  oil  has  ranged  from  35s  per  cwt.  in  1883  to  23s 
in  1800. — Oil,  Paint  and  Drug  Reporter. 

Mimusops  Hexandra  (Sapotaoeae)  is  thus 
noticed  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Madras  Agri- 
Horticultural  Society: — A large  tree  with  elliptio- 
obovate  obtuse  or  emarginste  leaves  and  sub-termi- 
nal clusters  of  greenish-white  flowers  in  2 to  5 
together.  Our  tree  in  the  garden  had  its  top  broken 
off  by  the  oyoione  of  1888  and  so  now  only  measures 
28  feet  in  height.  The  tree  is  a native  of  the 
Deocan  Peninsula  and  Ceylon,  is  cultivated  in  North- 
West  India  where  the  ripe  olive-shaped  yellow  berry 
is  well  known  in  the  bazaars  under  the  name  of 
“ Kirrni”  but  is  said  to  be  powerfully  astringent. 
Watt’s  Dio.  Eg.  Products  of  Indio,  vol  V.,  p.  251 — 
says  “ heart  wood  red,  very  bard  tough  close,  and 
even  grained  ; weight  60  to  72  lb.  per  cubio  foot, 
used  for  sugar  null  b ams,  oil-presses,  house-posts. 
&o.,  and  recommended  by  BraDdis  as  an  excellent 
wood  for  turning.  It  is  figured  in  Wight  Ic.  t.  1587, 
under  the  name  of  Mimusops  indica. 
Sunflower  Seeds. — The  sunflower,  after  serving 
for  a time  to  delight  the  more  florid  types  of  aes- 
thetes, is  now  at  last — like  some  of  its  worshippers — 
settling  down  to  honest  work.  In  Southern  Russia 
it  is  extensively  cultivated,  principally  for  the  bright 
yellow  tasteless  oil  yielded  by  its  seeds.  This  oil  is 
said  to  be  superseding  olive  oil  throughout  Southern 
Russia,  just  as  that  expressed  from  cotton  seed  is 
exported  to  Europe  to  get  the  custom-house  brands, 
and  then  reimported  with  these  testimonials  of  its 
place  of  origin  having  been  Italy  or  France.  “Set  even 
in  these  lands  earth-nuts  from  Africa  supply  not  a 
little  of  the  “ pure  Florence  oil.”  The  seeds  of  the 
sumflower,  like  those  of  flax  (linseed,)  similarly  treated, 
are,  after  being  pressed  and  the  leaves  mixed  with 
clay,  given  as  food  to  cattle,  while  the  stalks  serve, 
as  do  those  of  the  wild  species  in  some  parts  of 
the  western  prairies,  for  fuel.  In  common  with  the 
eucalyptus,  the  sunflower  is  affirmed  to  dry  marshy 
ground  and  counteract  the  development  of  malaria 
germs.  But  this,  we  fancy,  is  simply  because  it 
soaks  up  the  superfluous  moisture.  On  the  other  hand, 
as  most  gardeners  know  to  their  cost,  the  plant 
soon  exhausts  the  soil  in  which  it  is  grown. — Home 
Paper , 
