177 
a little lot of trees of three and a half ye'ar old which had already 
commenced fruiting and also seedlings coming awa’y nicely from the 
trees. These trees were about as big as good five year olds over 
eighteen inches at 3 feet from the ground. This is an unusually 
rapid development even for Para-rubber in the Peninsula. 
H. ft. R. 
PARA RUBBER SEED OIL. 
Some notes of interest on experiments made with oil from seeds 
of the Para rubber tree are contributed by Mr. L. Wray to the 
Journal of the Federated Malay States Museum. He reports that, 
on an average, 1,000 husked and sun dried kernels were found to 
weigh 4! pounds avoirdupois. At an estimated 40 per cent of oil 
in the kernels, 1,000 seeds should yield 1 pound i2| ounces of oil. 
By thl same figures, one ton of dried kernels would^yield about 96^ 
gallons of oil. According to Mr. Wray’s observations, one tree 
may be-^expected to average over 1,000 seeds, though some will pro- 
duce many more. 
In order to procure the most valuable commercial oil, it was found 
necessary to put the kernels into the press immediately after they 
had been dried and pounded. Any delay tended to give the oil a 
darker and cloudy appearance. The longer it was kept the deeper 
became its colour. Some of the oil last expressed was quite thick. 
As it became viscid it was more difficult to express and required 
greater pressure to expel it from the cake. As these experiments 
were carried on with a locally made pre r ss without sufficient 
pressure to expel all the oil from the meal, it was found impossible 
to determine the comparative yield of the fresh and the old me* 1 , 
but there appeared to be a much greater yield from the former. . 
There are on exhibition at the Perak Museum three samples of 
these oils. Ono is from freshly crushed seeds, one from seeds which 
had been crushed for about a week, and the third from seeds crushed 
about two weeks. — “Times of Malaya,” March 6, 1907. 
The Cultivation and great value of Paspalum Grass. 
The Editor, “Agricultural Bulletin” 
Singapore’ Straits Settlements, 
East Indies. 
Dear Sir, 
I would esteem it a great favour if you would kindly publish 
the following information for me on the above subject as 1 feel 
certain it may prove of great value to many of your readers — 
Paspalum Grass has been cultivated on the North Coast of New 
South Wales for several years past. 
