220 
Cultivation  of  Castor  Oil  Plant.     { Am-^°aur-  ^Im- 
March  23,  191 6. 
"  We  have  the  pleasure  t'o  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  valued  favor  of 
March  22  and  are  very  pleased  that  you  are  interested  in  raising  castor  beans 
as  a  commercial  crop. 
"  If  you  can  raise  these  in  sufficient  quantities,  or  if  by  combining  with 
your  neighbors  you  are  able  to  do  so,  we  think  the  experiment  might  be 
profitable. 
"  The  value  of  castor  seed,  or  castor  beans,  fluctuates  very  much,  accord- 
ing to  the  size  of  the  crop  in  India,  the  demand  for  consumption  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  fluctuation  in  freights  from  India  to  the  United  States; 
which,  in  the  latter  case,  have  risen  from  about  20  cents  per  bushel  of  50 
pounds  to  $1.40  per  bushel  of  50  pounds,  due  to  war  conditions  and  the  requi- 
sitioning of  so  many  ships  by  the  English  government. 
"  At  the  present  time  the  value  of  castor  beans,  in  not  less  than  carload 
lots,  delivered  to  New  York  City  points,  in  bags  and  without'  charge  for  bags, 
is  from  $2.25  to  $3.15  per  bushel.  It  has  been  higher  and  it  has  been  within 
the  last  two  years  as  low  as  $1.22  per  bushel.  However,  we  think  the  normal 
price  is  about  $1.30  per  bushel,  50  pounds  being  considered  a  bushel. 
"  We  can  give  you  no  information  whatever  regarding  planting  of  these 
seeds,  as  derived  from  those  who  have  planted  them  for  commercial  crops ; 
and  inquiry  at  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington  fails  to  elicit 
any  information  in  this  direction.  The  superintendent  of  a  large  country 
place  near  Buffalo  has  advised  us  that  he  would  expect  success  in  planting 
one  bean  to  a  hill  and  placing  the  hills  three  feet  apart  in  rows  four  feet 
apart.  We  think,  however,  he  had  in  mind  the  raising  of  beans  for  the  beauty 
of  the  plant  and  blossom  rather  than  for  commercial  purposes ;  and  that  in 
planting  for  a  commercial  crop  it  would  be  better  to  plant  three  beans  in  a 
hill,  lest  one  bean  might  possibly  not  germinate.  On  the  above  basis,  it  would 
require  726  beans  to  plant  one  acre,  one  bean  to  a  hill,  or,  say,  iJ/2  quarts  or 
about  2*4  pounds ;  and  t'o  plant  three  beans  in  a  hill,  2,178  beans,  or,  say 
quarts  to  about  6%  pounds. 
"  We  would  be  interested  to  know  how  this  compares  with  your  expe- 
rience and  to  see  a  sample  of  the  beans  raised  by  you." 
March  27,  1916. 
"  We  beg  to  thank  you  for  your  letter  of  March  24,  which  contained  very 
interesting  information  regarding  the  cultivation  of  castor  seed  with  some 
of  which  we  were  not  familiar. 
"  We  also  thank  you  very  much  for  the  sample  of  the  seeds  you  have 
raised  and  have  sent  them  to  our  laboratory  for  analysis  as  to  percentage  of 
oil  contained  therein.  On  receipt  of  our  chemist's  report  which,  however, 
may  not  be  for  two  or  three  weeks,  as  the  laboratory  is  very  busy  just  now 
with  very  important  matters,  we  shall  be  very  glad  indeed  to  give  you  our 
opinion  of  the  value  of  the  seed  as  compared  with  that  shipped  from  Bombay, 
India." 
April  1,  1916. 
