100  ON  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  CASTOR  OIL 
ception  that  there  is  but  one  seed  put  into  each  hill,  and  that  at 
every  fourth  row  a  space  is  left  sufficiently  wide  to  admit  of  the 
passage  of  a  team  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  the  crop.  Un- 
like the  cereal  grains  the  ricinus  bears  at  the  same  time  flowers 
and  fruit,  and  the  severity  of  our  climate?  which  renders  it  in 
this  latitude  an  annual  plant,  destroys  its  vitality  whilst  yet 
decked  with  bloom.  The  ripening  commences  in  August,  and 
the  crop  is  gathered  at  intervals  from  this  date  till  the  plants  are 
destroyed  by  the  frost* 
The  yield  of  course  varies  with  the  quality  of  the  soil,  and 
the  care  of  the  culture.  Twenty-five  bushels  from  an  acre  of 
ground  is  considered  a  very  large  crop,  and  is  but  seldom  ob- 
tained. From  sixteen  to  twenty  bushels  per  acre  is  a  very  fair 
yield  in  a  season  not  marked  by  drought  or  other  unfavorable 
feature. 
In  regard  to  the  manufacture  of  castor  oil,  (says  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain,) I  cannot  do  better  than  to  give  you  the  following  state- 
ment which  was  kindly  furnished  by  the  proprietor  of  one  of 
the  oil  mills  in  St.  Louis.  "  The  primitive  mode  of  making  cas- 
tor oil  was  by  putting  the  [bruised]  beans  in  a  bag  and  placing 
the  same  in  a  kettle  of  water,  and  as  the  beans  were  boiled,  the 
oil  came  to  the  surface  and  was  skimmed  off.  Subsequently? 
there  was  adopted  the  screw  and  lever  presses,  and  other  devices 
for  pressing  the  beans,  and  many  mills  sprang  up  throughout 
the  southern  portion  of  Illinois,  some  of  which  remain  in  use 
until  this  time.  The  beans  are  first  kiln-dried,  and  then  pressed 
without  grinding,  the  oil  thus  obtained  being  called  « cold 
pressed,"  to  distinguish  it  from  the  boiled  oiI?  (that  obtained  by 
boiling  the  beans  in  water). 
About  nine  years  ago,  Mr.  Henry  T.  Blow  commenced  using 
the  ordinary  hydraulic  press  in  its  manufacture,  increasing  the 
yield  from  the  raw  material,  and  working  the  beans  with  greater 
rapidity  and  economy.  About  two  years  since,  Mr.  Latourette 
introduced  a  new  press  of  his  own  invention,  which  was  patented 
October  28th,  1851,  which  has  brought  the  business  to  a  greater 
state  of  perfection  by  increasing  the  product  of  oil  from  the 
bean  37  J  per  cent,  over  the  ordinary  hydraulic  press,  and  se- 
curing other  advantages,  such  as  saving  of  labor  and  fuel.  One 
of  these  presses  will  work  150,000  bushels  of  beans  per  annum. 
