PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION OF FATS AND OILS. 27 
if properly made, a valuable addition to the available food supply 
of the American home. 
LINSEED OIL. 
UNITED STATES LINSEED OIL TRADE. 
Although linseed oil, which, by the way, is made from flax seed, 
is a staple food in some of the European countries, especially Russia, 
it has so far been used only for technical purposes in the United 
States. This is due partly to the fact that nearly all of our American 
oil is hot pressed, but more especially because it is much more valuable 
to the paint, linoleum, and printing ink manufacturers than to the 
food oil producer. 
The United States produces and uses more linseed oil than it does 
of all other purely technical oils combined. The figures given in 
Tables 1, 4, and 5 show that in 1917 this country produced 400,266,000 
pounds of oil, imported 633,000 pounds, and exported 10,724,000, 
leaving a consumable balance of 390,175,000 pounds. In 1914, 
before our foreign trade had been seriously affected by the war, we 
produced 406,669,000 pounds, imported 4,350,000 pounds, and 
exported 1,994,000 pounds, which would indicate a domestic con- 
sumption of 409,025,000 pounds. Similar summaries for 1912 and 
1916 can be obtained from the other figures in the tables, and 
will show that the war had little effect on our domestic con- 
sumption of linseed oil. This country's foreign trade in linseed 
oil, which in normal times was only one or two per cent of the 
domestic business, however, does show a marked change after 
the beginning of the war. Referring again to the import and export 
trade figures, it appears that in 1917 we brought in only about one- 
seventh as much linseed oil as in 1914 and sent out Hive times the 
quantity previously exported. These figures do not tell the entire 
story of our foreign linseed oil trade, as the flax seed from which the 
oil is produced must be taken into consideration. In 1912 the 
United States crushed about 1,406,349,000 pounds of flax seed, of 
which 438,658,000 pounds, or 31 per cent, were imported. In 1917 
our crush was 1,592,245,000 pounds, 526,080,000 pounds, or 33 per 
cent, of which came from foreign countries. At the present time, 
we are raising about 75 per cent of the flax seed crushed in this 
country, and importing the remainder, largely from South America. 
MANUFACTURE. 
Practically all of the linseed oil made in America is pressed in 
open plate hydraulic presses, although there are one or two expeller 
mills in operation. Abroad a good deal of this oil is made by the 
so-called "new process," in which the ground seed is extracted with 
benzol or other volatile solvents. Fire destroyed the last plant of 
this kind in the United States two or three years ago, and so far as 
