22 BULLETIN 1475, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The tallow is obtained by steaming the seeds in perforated cylin- 
ders or by scraping them with special equipment. The seeds when 
crushed and expressed give an oil which is entirely different in 
character from the tallow. Sometimes the oil and tallow are 
expressed together. 
•Chinese vegetable tallow is used chiefly in the candle and soap 
industries. 
JAPAN WAX OR TALLOW 
Japan wax or tallow, which is not a wax but a vegetable fat, is 
obtained from sumac berries in China, India, and Japan. It is a 
by-product of the lacquer industry and is extracted in quantity 
only in China and India. Most of it is exported to Europe, but 
as much as 1,500,000 pounds has been imported into the United 
States in some years. 
The sumac berries yield 15 to 25 per cent of a coarse, greenish, 
tallowlike fat. This substance is refined by remelting and filtering 
through cloth bags, which allow the melted fat to drop into cold 
water. The thin flakes are bleached by exposure to the sun after 
frequent turning and sprinkling with water. Finally, the tallow is 
melted and cast into slabs. 
It is used largely in manufacturing polishes. Buyers state that 
the commercial product is frequently adulterated with various oils, 
especially hazelnut oil, and at times with as much as 30 per cent 
of water. It has the property of readily forming emulsions. 
BAYBERRY TALLOW (MYRTLE WAX) 
Bayberry tallow coats the outside of the berries of certain species 
of Myrica growing in North America, South America, and South 
Africa. The berries are boiled in water to obtain the tallow. The 
fat may be removed by skimming as it rises to the surface or it 
may be removed after it has solidified. The crude product is re- 
melted in clean water to further purify it. Like Japan wax, it is 
a true fat and not a wax. This fat constitutes from 20 to 25 per 
cent of the materials used to make bayberry Christmas candles. 
LINSEED OIL 
Linseed oil is extracted from flaxseed, which is grown most ex- 
tensively in Argentina, Canada, India, the United States, and Russia. 
Flaxseed contains from 32 to 42 per cent of oil, the fully matured 
seeds containing the most. Large quantities of the cold-pressed oil 
are made in Russia, Hungary, Germany, and India. The United 
States produces and uses more hot-pressed linseed oil than it does of 
all other purely technical oils combined. 
Preparation 
Most of the linseed oil made in the United States is expressed by 
means of open-plate hydraulic presses, although some is made in ex- 
peller mills. Abroad the oil is obtained both by expression and by 
extraction with volatile solvents. If a high-grade oil is to be made, 
the weed seeds must first be separated from the flaxseed. The aver- 
age American yield is about 16 pounds of oil and 36 pounds of cake 
