CASTOR-OIL INDUSTRY. 3 
which have turned brown. Table I presents a comparison of the 
acidity of carefully selected beans with that of a mixture containing 
a known number and weight of black beans. 
TaBLE I.—Comparison of the acidity of carefully selected castor beans with that of a mix- 
ture containing a known number and weight of black beans. 
Black Black 
beansin | Acidity beansin | Acidity 
Source. mixture | (as oleic Source. mixture | (as oleic 
by num-| acid). by num-| acid). 
ber. | ber. 
| Per cent. | Per cent. Per cent. | Per cent. 
| 0 .9 | 0 1.4 
26 2 STAI aes ieee aS a ee | 15 4.6 
Miscellaneous imported lot 50 Well 24 | 3.3 
75 | 0 1.2 
100 iG |) POSER G3 208 cbc ouc ene sate \ 8.2 1.5 
0 eal | Ore 6 
Wo eo ts Pie. 16 9.4 || Haiti. ...-....--..--+-2---+--- { 15 1 
50 8.1 | 0 1 
Wenez lela eat eee \ 10.7 2.41 
It is interesting to note that in no case, even when all the beans 
were perfectly whole (controls), did the acidity as determined by 
titrating run below 0.6 per cent. Consequently, since at least a small 
amount of acid is invariably present, an acid determination of care- 
fully selected sound beans would give a correct idea of the degree of 
freedom from acidity possible were all the beans equally sound. This 
percentage could not, of course, be realized in actual commercial 
practice, but it would show the standard toward which to work. 
TRADE AND COMMERCE. 
The normal annual consumption of castor oil in the United States 
is more than 2,000,000 gallons, almost all of which is produced by 
our own crushing plants. The average annual importation of castor 
beans for the five fiscal years ended June 30, 1917, was about 834,000 
bushels, while the importations of oil as such were comparatively 
insignificant. 
The castor beans and castor oil of commerce come chiefly from 
India, China, the West Indies, and South America, with India pro- 
ducing by far the greatest quantity. In 1913 India exported 954,495 
gallons of oil, while in 1917 this trade had increased to 1,723,463 
gallons,! approximately 80 per cent of which was exported to the 
United Kingdom, 9 per cent to New Zealand, and 8 per cent to Aus- 
tralia. The center of the oil industry in India is Madras, which 
produces about 60 per cent of the total. Before the war the center 
of the industry was Bengal, which produced about 90 per cent of 
the castor oil exported. Table II gives the total exports of castor 
beans and castor oil from India for the years 1911-12 to 1917-18. 
1 These figures were supplied by the Far Eastern Division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 
merce, February 21, 1919. 
