Am.  Jour.  Pharm,  ) 
Oct.  1, 1871.  i 
Sunflower-Seed  Oil. 
461 
about  one  foot  high  should  be  earthed  up  ;  it  then  will  require  no 
further  attention.  Every  single  seed  will  produce  1000  or  more  ; 
the  main  head  generally  produces  800  to  1000  seeds,  and  there  are 
usually  four  collaterals,  producing  50  to  60  seeds  each.  But  it  is  not 
the  seed  only  that  is  valuable,  for  by  treating  the  stalk  exactly  as 
flax,  it  will  produce  a  fibre  as  fine  as  silk,  and  that  in  large  quanti- 
ties. Now  that  rags  become  so  valuable,  arising  from  the  unpreee- 
dented  demand  for  paper,  the  stalk  might  be  made  useful  for  that 
purpose. 
On  some  grounds  two  crops  may  be  growing  at  the  same  time. 
When  the  farmer  has  given  his  early  potatoes  a  last  hoeing,  he  may 
plant  this  seed  twelve  inches  apart  in  the  ridges.  The  Chinese  have 
it  by  thousands  of  tons  and  worship  it.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
many  of  their  silk  goods  have  a  large  portion  of  the  sunflower  fibre 
in  them.  According  to  Boussingault,  some  experiments  made  by  M. 
Gauzac,  of  Dagny,  gave  the  produce  per  acre  of  seed,  at  15  cwt.  3  qr. 
14  lb. ;  the  oil  per  acre  275  lbs.,  being  15  per  cent,  and  the  cake  80 
per  cent.  Next  to  poppy-seed  oil,  sunflower  oil  burns  the  longest  of 
any  in  equal  quantities.  The  seeds  vary  in  color,  being  either  white, 
grey,  striped  or  black.  From  them  is  expressed  a  palatable  clear 
and  flavorless  oil,  the  demand  for  which  in  Russia  is  very  great.  It 
is  exported  from  St.  Petersburg  at  about  10s.  Qd,  the  cwt.,  and  is  said 
to  be  extensively  used,  like  cotton-seed  oil,  after  purifying,  for  adul- 
terating olive  or  salad  oil. 
In  Russia  a  considerable  quantity  is  grown  for  oil  pressing.  The 
plant  is  largely  cultivated  in  Kiels  and  Podolia,  eastward  on  the 
black  soil  lands.  The  stalks  are  used  for  fuel.  The  manufacture  of  the 
oil,  which  was  formerly  confined  to  the  Government  of  Voroneje,  has 
recently  been  carried  on  in  that  of  Saratov,  and  in  the  town  of  that 
name,  there  were,  in  1867,  at  least  thirty  oil-presses.  Mr.  Alexander 
Knobloch,  of  Sarepta,  has  one  worked  by  steam-power.  The  seed  is 
supplied  by  the  peasants  of  the  neighborhood.  The  production  in 
Russia  in  1867  (including  a  few  other  miscellaneous  oil  seeds)  was 
officially  stated  at  835,000  cwt.  At  Voroneje  6000  to  8000  poods 
(of  36  lbs.)  of  seeds  are  produced.  In  Russia  the  seed  sells  at  about 
40  copecks  the  pood,  or  2  roubles  60  copecks  the  chetwert ;  the  oil 
at  3 J  to  4  roubles  the  pood. — Pharm.  Journ.  and  Trans.,  August  5^ 
1871,  from  Journal  of  Applied  Seience. 
