460 
Sunflower-Seed  Oil. 
(  Am.  Joue.  Phaem. 
t    Oct.  1, 1871. 
mottled  soap,  and  producing  a  very  good  lather. — Druggists'  Circular^ 
Aug.,  1871,  from  The  Jowmal  of  Applied  Science, 
SUNFLOWER-SEED  OIL. 
The  highly  ornamental  and  extensive  genus  of  plants  to  which  this 
plant  belongs  derives  its  scientific  name,  helianthus,  from  helios,  sun, 
audianthos,  a  flower,  on  account  of  the  brilliant  color  of  the  flower, 
and  from  the  erroneous  idea,  propagated  by  poets  and  others,  that 
the  flowers  always  turned  towards  the  sun — hence,  also,  the  French 
name  tournesol.  It  appears  to  possess  far  more  profitable  qualities 
than  have  been  hitherto  supposed,  and  may  be  cultivated  with  advan- 
tage and  applied  to  many  useful  purposes.  An  acre  of  land  will  con- 
tain 25,000  sunflower  plants,  at  twelve  inches  distance  from  each 
other. 
The  great  variety  of  valuable  properties  belonging  to  the  sunflower 
seed  have  been  much  neglected.  No  plant  produces  such  fine  honey 
and  wax,  and  when  the  flower  is  in  blossom,  bees  abound  in  it.  The 
produce  will  be  according  to  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  mode  of  culti- 
vation ;  but  the  average  has  been  found  to  be  fifty  bushels  of  the  seed 
per  acre,  which  will  yield  fifty  gallons  of  oil.  The  oil  is  excellent, 
when  refined,  for  table  use,  for  burning  in  lamps,  for  soap  making, 
and  for  painting — especially  for  mixing  green  and  blue  paints.  The 
marc,  or  refuse  of  the  seeds  of  the  above  quantity  after  the  oil  has 
been  expressed,  made  into  cakes,  will  produce  1500  lbs.,  and  the 
stalks,  when  burnt  for  alkali,  will  give  10  per  cent,  of  potash.  The 
green  leaves  of  the  sunflower,  when  dried  and  burnt  to  powder,  mixed 
with  bran,  make  excellent  fodder  for  milch  cows.  It  makes  a  beau- 
tiful soap,  particularly  softening  to  the  hands  and  face,  and  is  pleas- 
ant to  shave  with.  The  cake  is  superior  to  linseed  for  fattening  cat- 
tle. Sheeps,  pigs,  pigeons,  rabbits,  poultry  of  all  sorts,  etc.,  will  fat- 
*ten  rapidly  upon  it,  and  prefer  the  seed  to  any  other;  it  causes 
pheasants  in  particular  to  have  a  much  more  glossy  plumage  and  to 
be  plumper  in  the  body.  It  also  increases  the  quantity  of  eggs  from 
poultry  fed  with  it.  The  seed,  shelled,  makes  when  ground  very  fine 
sweet  flour  for  bread,  particularly  tea-cakes. 
The  sunflower  will  grow  in  any  corner  that  may  be  vacant,  and 
will  give  a  farm  a  most  agreeable  garden-like  appearance.  It  should 
be  planted  about  six  inches  apart,  and  about  one  inch  deep,  and  when 
