^ebi-uary^gis1' )    Making  Soya-Bean  Oil  in  Manchuria.  ^ 
of  an  iron  plate  with  two  handles,  upon  which  two  iron  rings,  which 
will  form  the  cake,  are  placed,  and  two  bundles  of  long  grass  im- 
ported for  the  purpose  from  China  are  spread  fanwise.  Then  a 
thin,  wooden,  circular  frame,  with  ends  not  fastened  together,  is 
placed  on  the  grass  and  forced  down  upon  the  plate  inside  the  rings, 
the  grass  ends  standing  upright. 
■  The  steamed  beans  are  brought  from  the  steam  box  in  the  gunny 
cloth,  and  with  one  swing  thrown  into  the  form.  A  coolie,  shod 
with  the  native  footgear  resembling  a  moccasin  but  heavier,  jumps 
in,  grasps  a  handhold  overhead,  and  stamps  the  beans  into  a  com- 
pact mass  inside  the  form.  He  then  stoops  and  raises  the  wooden 
holder  slightly,  pulls  up  the  iron  rings  to  their  proper  position,  steps 
out,  takes  out  the  wooden  frame,  folds  over  the  grass  ends  to  form 
the  top  of  the  form  and  lays  two  flat  iron  bars  thereon  to  hold  the 
grass  ends  in  place.  Then  two  men  take  plate  and  all  to  a  small 
auxiliary  press  where  gentle  pressure,  sufficient  to  set  the  mass,  is 
applied  for  a  second  or  two ;  the  plate  with  the  cake  on  it  is  taken 
to  the  press ;  the  cake  shoved  off  the  plate  into  one  of  the  columns 
forming;  and  the  plate  brought  back  for  another  trip. 
As  soon  as  the  press  is  full,  top  and  bottom,  a  wooden  post  is 
inserted  at  the  outer  side  to  keep  the  cakes  in  position,  and  the 
signal  is  given  to  the  engineer,  who  turns  on  the  hydraulic  power. 
The  bottom  of  the  press  rises  slowly  and  the  oil  immediately  begins 
to  flow.  The  first  pressure  is  not  great ;  and  as  the  first  flow  sub- 
sides, more  power  is  applied,  but  time  must  be  given  for  the  oil  to 
run  before  much  pressure  is  used.  After  several  hours  pressure, 
the  oil  having  ceased  to  flow  even  after  the  maximum  of  130  tons 
per  100  cakes  has  been  applied  for  a  number  of  hours,  the  press  is 
opened,  and  the  cakes  are  taken  out  and  stripped  of  the  iron  rings 
with  instruments  similar  to  peavies.  The  grass  also  is  removed. 
Coolies  take  the  cakes  between  their  knees,  and  rolling  them  for- 
ward in  the  operation,  cut  off  the  rims  (the  part  squeezed  out  be- 
tween the  iron  rings)  with  drawknives.  This  finishes  the  cake, 
which  is  then  ready  for  storage  and  shipment. 
The  oil  flows  by  gravity  from  the  presses  into  receivers,  from 
which  it  is  pumped  into  storage  tanks.  It  is  first  strained,  and  in 
the  tanks  it  settles,  and  is  drawn  off  so  that  the  sediment  is  not 
taken  with  it.  Tanks  are  cleaned  frequently  and  have  pipes  to  draw 
off  sediment.  No  fuller's  earth  or  clarifying  clays  are  employed, 
nor  is  any  other  conditioning  method  used. 
