190 
THE CULTIVATOR 
LARD OIL. 
We have received from various sources inqui¬ 
ries as to the nature and preparation of oil from 
lard, a subject which is becoming a matter of great 
interest to the country; and we have embodied 
below such information as can be obtained, for 
the benefit of those interested. 
Neither animal fa‘, or vegetable oils, are homo¬ 
geneous, hut are composed of two substances, one 
of which remains solid, while the other is fluid. 
These two substances are termed Olein and Stea¬ 
rine; the first being- the fluid part, and the latter the 
solid. The degree of hardness or fluidity of the 
original fat or oil, such as fallow, lard, olive oil, 
&c. is depending on the relative proportion of 
these two substances; tallow containing more 
stearine than lard, and the latter more than the ve¬ 
getable oils. Chevreul was the first to distin¬ 
guish and separate these two principles, a disco¬ 
very which promises to effect quite a change in 
some of our commercial interests, and to influence 
in no slight degree our agricultural ones. Lard 
melts at a temperature of about 82° ; its specific 
gravity at 60° is 0.938. By long and powerful 
pressure at 42° between folds of blotting paper, it 
yields 62 parts in 100 of weight, of colorless olein 
or oil, of the specific gravity of 0.915. Of this 100 
of boiling alcohol dissolves 123 parts. The solid 
part of the lard left after the olein is extracted, is 
solid, granular, and fuses at about 100°. This is 
the substance which when made into candles, re¬ 
sembles spermaceti in hardness, and burns with 
much clearness, while the oil so extracted is the 
lard oil which is rapidly coming into use for lamps, 
machinery, woolen factories, &c. The olein and 
stearine of olive oil can be separated in the same 
manner as lard, by reducing the oil to a low tem¬ 
perature, and submitting it to the same process. 
The fact that the olein remains combined with the 
alcohol in which lard, tallow, &e. has been boil¬ 
ed, while the stearine separates on cooling, con¬ 
stitutes the base of the processes for separating 
and rendering marketable the two articles. The 
processes adopted by different manufacturers vary 
very much, and this is the reason why some sam¬ 
ples are much more perfect than others. 
That prepared according to the patent of J. H. Smith, 
New-York, is a good article, and we extract so much of 
his account of his method, as will give a general view 
of his process. It may not be amiss to state, however, 
that the Philadelphia manufacturers produce superior oil 
by a somewhat different mode; and those of Cincinnati, 
by still another system of treatment. After stating that 
the vessel in which the lard is to be melted and boiled, 
should be of a capacity of from ten to one hundred bar¬ 
rels, and that the length of time required for the separa¬ 
tion depends much on the quality of the lard, that which 
is fresh not requiring more than 4 or 5 hours, while that 
which is old may require ten or twelve, goes on to say: 
“Mymost important improvement in the within described 
process, consists in the employment of alcohol, which I mix 
with the lard in the kettle or boiler at the commencement of the 
operation. When the lard has become sufficiently fluid, I gra¬ 
dually pour and stir into it about one gallon of alcohol to every 
eighty gallons of lard, taking care to incorporate the two as 
intimately as possible; and this has the effect of causing a very 
perfect separalion of the Stearine and Eleaine from each other, 
by the spontaneous granulation of the former, which takes place 
when the boiled lard is allowed to cool in a state of rest. I 
sometimes combine camphor with the alcohol,'dissolving about 
one-fourth of a pound in each gallon of alcohol, which not only 
gives an agreeable odor to the products, but appears to co-ope¬ 
rate with the alcohol to effect the object in view ; the camphor, 
however, is not an essential ingredient, and may be omitted; 
while spirit of a lower proof than alcohol may be used, but not 
with equal effect or benefit. 
_ “After the boiling of the lard with the alcohol has been con¬ 
tinued for a sufficient length of time, the fire is withdrawn or 
the supply of steam cut off, and the mass is allowed to cool suf¬ 
ficiently to be ladled or drawn off into hogsheads or other suita¬ 
ble coolers, when it is to be left at perfect rest to cool down and 
acquire the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere; and as 
the cooling proceeds, the granulation consequent upon the se¬ 
paration of the Stearine from the Eh-aine will take place and 
become perfect. The material is then to be put into bags and 
pressed moderately under a press of any suitable kind, which 
will cause the Eleaine to flow out in a state of great purity, 
there not being contained within it any appreciable portion of 
Stearine; and this pressure is to be continued until the Stearine 
is as dry as it can be made in this way. The masses of solid 
matter thus obtained, are to be re-melted, and in this state are 
poured into boxes or pans of the capacity of ten or twelve gal¬ 
lons, and allowed to form lumps or blocks; which when re¬ 
moved from these vessels, are piled or stacked in a room for a 
week or ten days, more or less, the room at a temperature of 
nearly 80° which will cause a sweating or oozing from the 
blocks, and they will improve in quality. The blocks are then 
to be rolled in cloths or put into bags, and these placed between 
plates, are to be submitted to. very heavy pressure by means of 
an hydraulic press. After this pressure, it is brought again in¬ 
to the form of blocks, and these are to be cut up by means of re¬ 
volving or other knives or cutters, when the pieces thus obtain¬ 
ed, are to be put into bags and subjected to the action of hot 
water or of steam, in a press, untii it becomes hard enough to 
be manufactured into candles, or put up for other purposes to 
which it may be desired to apply it. And the manner of sub¬ 
jecting it to the action of heated water or steam, is to place the 
Dags containing the Stearine, in a box or chest into which heat¬ 
ed water or steam may be introduced, but not to such extent as 
to fuse the Stearine. A follower is then to be placed against 
the bags contained in the chest or box, and moderate pressure 
made upon them, and the material will now be found to have 
acquired all the required hardness, and to possess a wax-like 
consistency, such as would generally cause it to be mistaken 
for wax.” 
We consider the manufacture of oil from lard, as one 
of the most important ones, particularly for the agricul¬ 
ture of the great west, that has yet been attempted; and 
its influence is as yet but beginning to be felt in the coun¬ 
THE SYRACUSE OX—(Fig. 101.) 
Oivned and fed by P. N. Rust, Esq., Syracuse, to which was awarded the First Premium of the N. Y. State Ag. Society for the 
best fat animal exhibited at the Albany Fair, 1842. 
This ox is now eight years old. His live weight, Feb. 19, 1841, was 2,360 lbs. On the 16th Jan., 1842, it was 3,400 
lbs. When exhibited at the State Fair in Albany, Sept. 28, 1842, he was said to weigh 4,200 lbs, which would be a gain 
of about 3 lbs per day, for nineteen months. Pie yet retains his activity and appetite, and continues to take on flesh about 
as fast as ever. 
try generally. For the use of the light houses on the 
lakes west of Ontario, about 11,000 gallons are annually 
required; for steamboats, ships, machinery, &c. west of 
the Alleganies, about 30.000 gallons more, making a to¬ 
tal of some 40,000 gallons annually; and this amount is 
rapidly increasing. We find in the Cincinnati Gazette, 
the following statement respecting one of the manufacto¬ 
ries of lard oil in that city, and it must be remembered 
that this is only one of many establishments already in 
operation for this manufacture. They are springing up 
in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio; and the in¬ 
creasing demand for lard in the Atlantic cities, proves 
that the manufacture is not confined to the country west 
of the mountains. 
CC R. W. Lee & Co. use every twenty-four hours, six¬ 
teen barrels of lard at their establishment. It requires 
portions of two hogs to make a keg of lard; and portions 
of five hogs to make a barrel. We killed last year a.bout 
one hundred and eight thousand of these animals in the 
city, and the calculation is that about the same number 
are killed out of it and brought to the city, so that we 
may put down the number in our market, at two hun¬ 
dred and sixteen thousand. From these data* it will be 
seen that one manufactory uses up the lard of 160 hogs 
every twenty-four hours, or 1120 a week, or 4,800 a 
month, or 58,400 a year! so that a few manufactories of 
this kind, would consume portions of all the swine that 
the farmers in our section of the country could raise.-’ 
The farmers of the Mississippi valley can make lard 
enough to supply the United States with oil and candles 
we have no doubt, and probably furnish some for expor¬ 
tation, to be returned to us in the form of olive oil, as, 
from the demand for lard for exportation in our chief 
cities, is now doubtless the case. There is no question 
but that the oil made from pure lard, is fitter for every 
purpose to which olive oil is applied, than that, and the 
difference in price makes the transmutation an object of 
some consequence. There is certainly no assignable li¬ 
mit to the quantity of pork and lard that the west can 
produce, should the demand in any form warrant the ef¬ 
forts of the farmers in that department of agriculture; 
and of the quality of the oil when properly prepared, 
there cannot be the least doubt. The Cleveland Herald, 
in announcing the establishment of a lard oil manufac¬ 
tory in that place, says:—“Lard oil for machinery and 
wool is unrivaled. It can be made to remain fluid in the 
coldest weather, and the oil can no more come back to 
lard, than whiskey can be brought back to corn, when it 
is properly manufactured. The stearine candles are of 
various qualities, from common to those exceeding the 
best of sperm. They burn better, stand a greater tem¬ 
perature, last longer, and are, as well as the oil, afforded 
much cheaper than sperm.” 
Corn oil might be made to a great extent in the west, 
and considerable quantities have already been brought 
eastward. But the fact that it is only produced in distil¬ 
leries, and its use must be coupled with the extension of 
one of the greatest evils that can afflict any country, will 
prevent the manufacture to any extent. We have seen 
* We give the article as we find it, but do not see how the re¬ 
sults stated, follow from the data given. Five hogs to a bar¬ 
rel, and sixteen barrels daily, are 80 hogs daily, instead of 160, 
and so throughout the reckoning. 
corn oil burned in lamps, and it proved of the best qua¬ 
lity for that purpose; and could its production be separa¬ 
ted from that of alcohol, think it would soon become one 
of profit to the western country. As it is, oil from lard 
will be depended on to supply the country west of the 
mountains, and from the quantity that has already been 
exported eastward, it bids fair to become a formidable 
competitor to the whale oils of the Atlantic states. 
We have stated that of good lard, 62 lbs. in 100 were 
oil, and the remainder stearine; but this proportion, it 
must be recollected, will not be obtained in the process 
of ordinary manufacture, where the details cannot be as 
accurate as in the laboratory of the chemist. Tallow 
contains about three-fourths its weight of stearine,which 
in the best specimens much resembles wax in purity and 
in burning. The stearine of mutton tallow is white, and 
partly translucent, and the oil is colorless as water. It 
is probable that more simple and cheap methods ot sepa¬ 
rating stearine and olein, will be discovered, than those 
now used, as the whole manufacture may be considered 
in its infancy. 
Sugar from Corn. —We are gratified to see from pa¬ 
pers in various parts of the country, that experiments are 
making to test the practicability of making sugar from 
corn, and that so far they all appear to have been suc¬ 
cessful in producing good molasses at least. The great 
richness of cornstalk juice, when the plant has been 
grown as recommended by Mr. Webb, that is, planted 
thick, and prevented forming ears, is truly surprising; 
and far exceeds that of the cane. Mr. Goodrich of Ter¬ 
re Haute, la., finds that eight gallons of such juice makes 
two gallons of molasses, pronounced by competent 
judges equal to sugar house molasses; and other experi¬ 
menters have arrived at the same results. Where the pro¬ 
cess adopted by Mr. Webb is used, there will be no diffi¬ 
culty in converting this syrup into sugar. 
The Brooklyn Cow.—Mr. Smith,* Mayor of Brook¬ 
lyn, exhibited at the Show of the American Institute, a 
cow that has yielded for ten months, an average of 27 
quarts a day; and for 20 days in succession, gave from 33 
to 34 quarts of milk per day. The cow is without pedi¬ 
gree, being purchased by a master of a vessel in Eng¬ 
land, and sold on her arrival here. The food has been 
Indian and oat meal, about 6 quarts each per day, with as 
much hay and grass as she requires. The owner has fre¬ 
quently bled her slightly, and occasionally bathed her 
back and loins with spirits of turpentine. But whatever 
may have been the treatment, the yield of milk is cer¬ 
tainly an extraordinary one. 
Black Palmer or Turnep Worm. —A late number 
of the New Farmers’ Journal, states that after a variety 
of unsuccessful experiments to free a crop of turneps from 
the formidable pest of the black worm, he succeeded 
completely, by taking large elder houghs with their fo¬ 
liage,drawing them over the plants, and while they were 
thus swept upon the ground, sprinkling caustic or fresh 
slaked lime over the worms. It is probable the cabbage 
worm and other marauders, might be destroyed in the 
same way. 
