192 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Seprr., 1898. 
calling elsewhere. If a great industry like agriculture cannot rest upon its 
own bottom, there must be something wrong in the conditions under which it 
is pursued. Nor are we at all satisfied that the present report makes out a 
case for German agriculture which political economy could approve. 
CASTOR OIL MANUFACTURE. 
THERE is so little difficulty in the manufacture of castor oil that it seems 
wonderful that the industry has not been commenced in Queensland on a 
commercial scale. One variety of the plant grows most luxuriantly all over 
the eastern coast lands, and if cultivated, the best variety only being selected, 
the returns should give some profit on the necessary preliminary outlay. We 
gather the following simple method of preparing the oil from the Western 
Australian Producers’ Guide and Settlers’ Record :— 
Up to the present, nothing has been done locally in the way of extracting 
oil from the castor-oil plant. Briefly, the operations of oil extraction are by 
expression, by boiling with water, or by the agency of alcohol. A compara- 
tively simple process can be tried by anyone interested, and a good oil should 
result if the seed is of the right variety. 
The seeds are first cleansed from dust and fragments of the capsules, and 
submitted to a gentle heat, not greater than can be borne by the hand, which 
is intended to make the oil more fluid and more easily expressed. A whitish 
oily fluid is thus obtained, which is boiled with a large quantity of water, and 
all impurities are skimmed off as they rise to the surface; the water dissolves 
the mucilageand starch and the albumen is coagulated by the heat, thus forming 
a layer between the oil and the water; the clear oil is then removed and boiled 
with a small quantity of water until aqueous vapour ceases to rise, and a small 
quantity taken out ina phial remains perfectly transparent and cool. The 
effect of this is to clarify the oil and rid it of volatile acid matter. Care is 
necessary not to carry the heat too far, as the oil would acquire a brownish 
colour and an acid taste. In India the seed is first shelled and then crushed 
between rollers, placed in hempen cloths, and pressed. The oil is afterwards 
heated with water in a tin boiler until the water boils. This serves to separate 
the mucilage and albumen, the product being then strained through flannel 
and put into canisters. Any oil-press would suffice for extracting oil for 
ordinary purposes, and by decantation and some process of filtration it could 
be purified. 
The use of castor oil as a lubricant for the cylinders of locomotives and 
other steam-driven engines ensures a market for the product if the quality is 
equal to the imported article. For use medicinally the oil is cold drawn, and 
is only fitted for a medicine in that form. 
The plant itself is easily cultivated, it requires little care, is hardy, and is 
said to enhance the value of the land on which it has been grown. It is said 
that locusts are killed by eating the leaves, and this is quoted as a reason fcr 
planting the shrub around paddocks and cultivated land in districts infested by 
locusts. Cattle should be kept from the plant, as in times of scarcity the 
green leaves might prove tempting to them, and the effect would probably be 
that the animals would be seriously affected, if not actually killed. J udging 
by the reported luxuriance with which the plant grows in the Esperance 
district, the extraction of the oil should be a profitable industry. 
ACTION OF FRESH WATER ON SOILS. 
Some soils are so saturated with soluble salts that no crop plant will grow 
upon them. This fact is well exemplified along the whole coast of Queens- 
land on low-lying flats, and on very low, once swampy islands. Such land at 
present would not be looked at by the farmer, and indeed the man who set 
