The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 75

From a narrow strip of land, extending about 40 miles northerly from Wilmington (North Carolina), comes nearly the entire quant.i.ty of earth nuts (known as pea-nuts) grown in the United States for market. From that tract and immediate vicinity, 80,000 bushels have been carried to Wilmington market in one year.

The plant has somewhat the appearance of the dwarf garden-pea, though more bushy. It is cultivated in hills. The pea grows on tendrils, which put out from the plant and take root in the earth, where the nut is produced and ripened. The fruit is picked from the root by hand, and the vines are a favorite food for horses, mules, and cattle. From 30 to 80 bushels are produced on an acre. There are some planters who raise from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels a year.--("Hunt's Merchant's Magazine," vol. xv., p. 426.)

The ground-nut is exceedingly prolific, and requires but little care and attention to its culture, while the oil extracted from it is quite equal to that yielded by the olive. Almost any kind of soil being adapted for it, nothing can be more simple than its management. All that is required is the soil to be turned over and the seed sown in drills like potatoes; after it begins to shoot it may be earthed with a hoe or plough. In many parts of Western Australia they are now grown in gardens for feeding pigs, the rich oil they are capable of yielding being entirely overlooked. In regard to their marketable value at home, I will give a copy of a letter of a friend of mine, received from some London brokers, largely engaged in the African trade:--

"Wilson and Rose present compliments to Mr. N., and beg to inform him the price of African ground nuts is as under:--Say for River Gambia, 11 per ton here. Say for Sierra Leone, 10 per ton here.

For ground nuts free on board at the former port, 8 per ton is demanded; these are the finest description of nut, the freight would be about 4 per ton; the weight per bushel imperial measure, and in the sh.e.l.l, is about 25 lbs."

The following, also, is an extract from a letter written in 1842, by Mr. Forster (the present M.P. for Berwick), an eminent African merchant. Speaking of the staple of Africa, he says:--

"I have lately been attempting to obtain other oils from the coast, and it was only yesterday I received from the hands of the oil presser the result of my most recent experiment on the ground nut, which I am happy to say is encouraging. I send you a sample of the oil extracted from them. They are from the Gambia. It is a pure golden colored oil, with a pleasant flavor, free from the frequent rancidity of olive oil."

Since then the cultivation has gone on, and the exportation largely increased. The French also have entered into the trade, and several vessels are exclusively employed in exporting this product from the river Gambia, conveying it to oil factors on the continent, who extract its oil. Seeing, then, the many advantages the cultivation of such a product bestows, and its adaptation to the soil and climate of Australia, I cannot refrain from expressing a hope that some of the influential landowners in the cultivated districts will give the matter their consideration.

I am informed by an American merchant that he cleared 12,000 dollars in one year, on the single article of ground or pea nuts obtained from Africa. Strange as it may appear, nearly all these nuts are trans.h.i.+pped to France, where they command a ready sale; are there converted into oil, and thence find their way over the world in the shape of olive oil; the skill of the French chemists enabling them to imitate the real Lucca and Florence oil, so as to deceive the nicest judges. Indeed, the oil from the pea nuts possesses a sweetness and delicacy that cannot be surpa.s.sed.

Advices from the West Coast of Africa to the 16th August, 1853, report that the ground nut season had closed; the quant.i.ty s.h.i.+pped during the season having exceeded 900,000 bushels. The yield has increased 20 per cent, each year for the last three years, and it is expected the increase will be still greater in the forthcoming season.

TEUSS OIL.--The Chinese use what is called teuss or tea oil, for food and other purposes. I have alluded to it under the head of pulse, at page 312. It is obtained, however, from a species of the ground nut, and is sold in Hong Kong, at 2s. 6d. the gallon, being imported from the main land. By a local ordinance it is imperative on every householder at Victoria, Hong-Kong, to have a lamp burning over his door at night. When burning, this oil affords a clear, bright light, and is not so offensive to the smell as train and other common lamp oils.

TOBACCO SEED OIL.--A discovery, which may prove of some commercial importance, appears to have been made by a British resident in Russia, namely, that the seed of the tobacco plant contains about fifteen per cent. of an oil possessing peculiar drying properties, calculated to render it a superior medium, especially for paints and varnishes. The process employed for the extraction of the oil is to reduce the seed to powder, and knead it into a stiff paste with _quantum sufficit_ of hot water, and then submit it to the action of strong fires. The oil thus obtained is exposed to a moderate heat, which, by coagulating the vegetable alb.u.men of the seed, causes all impurities contained in the oil to form a cake at the bottom of the vessel employed, leaving the oil perfectly limpid and clear.

POPPY OIL.--About 80 cwt. of poppy seed is imported annually into Hull, and small quant.i.ties come into other ports to be crushed into oil. The seeds of the poppy yield, by expression, 56 per cent. of a bland and very valuable oil, of a pale golden color, fluid to within ten degrees of the freezing point of water. It dries easily, is inodorous, and of an agreeable flavor like olive oil.

Dr. J.V.C. Smith, writing from Switzerland, to the editor of the "Boston Medical Journal," says:--

"Immense crops are raised here of articles wholly unknown to the American farmers, and perhaps the kinds best fitted to particular localities where grain and potatoes yield poorly under the best efforts. One of these is poppies. Thousands of acres are at this moment ready for market--which the traveller takes for granted, as he hurries by, are to be manufactured into opium. They are not, however, intended for medical use at all, but for a widely different purpose. From the poppy seed a beautiful transparent oil is made, which is extensively used in house painting. It is almost as colorless as water, and possesses so many advantages over the flax seed oil that it may ultimately supersede that article. Where flax cannot be grown poppies often can be, in poor sandy soil. Linseed oil is becoming dearer, and the demand for paint is increasing. With white lead, poppy oil leaves a beautiful surface, which does not afterwards change, by the action of light, into a dirty yellow.

Another season some one should make a beginning at home in this important branch of industry. The oil may be used for other purposes, and even put in the cruet for salads."

TALLIc.o.o.nAH or KUNDAH OIL, is obtained from the seeds of the _Carapa Touloucouna_ (of the Flore de Senegambie). The tree grows to the height of 40 feet; the fruit is a large, somewhat globular five-celled capsule. The seeds (of which there are from 18 to 30 in each capsule), vary in size from that of a chesnut to a hen's egg. They are three-cornered, of a brownish or blackish red color. It is found abundantly in the Timneh country, and over the colony of Sierra Leone.

It is manufactured in the following manner:--The nuts having been well dried in the sun, are hung up in wicker racks or hurdles, and exposed to the smoke of the huts, after which they are roasted and subjected to trituration in large wooden mortars, until reduced to a pulp. The ma.s.s is then boiled, when the supernatant oil is removed by skimming.

The natives princ.i.p.ally prepare the oil to afford light; the leaves are used by the Kroomen as a thatch. It is held in high estimation as an anthelmintic. The oil is sold in Sierra Leone at 2s. a gallon, and could be procured in abundance from the coast as an article of commerce.

CARAP or CRAB OIL (_Carapa guianensis_).--This is a sort of vegetable b.u.t.ter, being sometimes solid and sometimes half fluid, which is obtained from the seed of a large tree abundant in the forests of Guiana, and also found in Trinidad. It is said to turn rancid very soon when exposed to the air, but this is probably caused by the presence of impurities, arising from the crude and imperfect way in which it is prepared by the natives, who boil the kernels, leave them in a heap for a few days, then skim them, and lastly reduce them into a paste in a wooden mortar, which is then spread on an inclined board, and exposed to the heat of the sun, so that the oil may melt and gradually trickle down into a vessel placed below to receive it. A prize medal was awarded for this oil at the Great Exhibition in 1851.

Carap oil in Trinidad is highly esteemed as an unguent for the hair, and also for applying to the wounds of animals, for destroying ticks and other insects which infest cattle--also for the cure of rheumatism. An oil called Carap oil is also obtained in the East, from the almonds of _Xylocarpus granatum_, or _Carapa Molluccensis_, of Lanark, which is used by the natives to dress the hair and anoint the skin, so as to keep off insects.

Cacao fat, the b.u.t.ter-like substance obtained from the seeds of _Theobroma cacao_, is esteemed as an emollient.

The nuts of the Great Macaw tree (_Acrocomia fusiformis_), a majestic species of palm, furnishes much oil. This tree is the _Cocos fusiformis_, of Jacquin, and other intertropical botanists. It is a native of Trinidad and Jamaica, and is found also very commonly in South America.

The method of extracting the oil is as follows:--The nut or kernel is slightly roasted and cleaned, then ground to a paste, first in a mill, and then on a livigating stone. This paste, gently heated and mixed with 3-10ths of its weight of boiling water, is put into a bag, and the oil expressed between two heated plates of iron; it yields about 7-10ths or 8-10ths of oil. If discolored it can be purified, when melted, by filtration. It is then of the consistence of b.u.t.ter, of a golden yellow hue, the odor that of violets, and the taste sweetish.

If well preserved it will keep several years without spoiling, which is known to have taken place by the loss of its golden hue and delightful aroma.

It is frequently sold in the shops as palm oil, and of late has entered largely into the composition of toilet soaps. As an emollient it is said to be useful in some painful affections of the joints; the negroes deem it a sovereign remedy in "bone ache." The nut itself is sometimes fancifully carved by the negroes, and is highly ornamental, being of a s.h.i.+ning jet black, and susceptible of a very high polish.

This tree may be increased from suckers.

_A. sclerocarpa_ is the Macahuba palm of Brazil.

THE AGAITI, as it is called by the Portuguese, or napoota by the natives and Arabs (_Didynamia Gymosperma?_), much cultivated in all Eastern Africa for its oil, which is considered equal to that of olives, and fetches as high a price in the Indian market. The plant, which is as tall and rank as hemp, and equally productive, having numerous pods throughout the stems, is found everywhere in a wild as well as cultivated state.

The "Cape s.h.i.+pping Gazette," of August, 1850, says:--

"The attention of the George Agricultural and Horticultural Society having been drawn to the fact that an excellent oil, equal to the olive oil of Italy, can be extracted from the kernel of the fruit known by the name of "T Kou Pijte" and "Pruim Besje," they have offered a reward of 10 for the best sample, not less than a half aum of this oil--and 15 if it shall be adjudged equal to the best oil of Italy. This fact is deserving of notice, as an instance of the advantages which are likely to result from the attention now being devoted to the natural productions of the colony."

_Madia sativa_ is a handsome annual plant, native of Chili, which has been naturalised in Europe. It grows about two feet high, and produces flowers in July and August, of a pale yellow color.

The whole plant is viscid and exhales a powerful odor, which is somewhat like heated honey. It requires rather a rich soil, of a ferruginous character. The root is fusiform, the stem cylindrical, and furnished with sessile, three to five longitudinally-nerved leaves, which are apposite on the lower portion of the stem, and alternate on the upper. M. Victor Pasquier, who has written on the culture of the plant, a.n.a.lysed the seed, and found 100 parts to consist of 26.5 of testa, and 73.5 of kernel; 100 parts of the latter yielded 31.3 of vegetable alb.u.men, gum, and lignine, 56.0 of _fixed oil_, and 12.5 of water. In dry seasons the oil is both more abundant and better than in damp seasons. The produce of oil, compared with that of the poppy, is equal; with colza, as 32 to 28; with linseed, 32 to 21; with the olive, 32 to 16.

The leaves and stems of this plant are rejected by cattle; but the oil-cake, which always contains a considerable portion of the oil, forms a nutritive food, of which they are very fond. The oil expressed without heat is transparent, of a golden yellow color, inodorous, rather fatter than the oil of rape or olives, and of a soft, agreeable, nutty taste. It is fit to be employed in the preparation of food, in salads, and for all the purposes of the best and mildest fixed oils. It burns with a brilliant, reddish-white flame, and leaves no residue. It is little liable to become rancid, and is completely decolorised by animal charcoal.

The oil of the seeds of this plant, now extensively cultivated in France, will yield, according to the observations of Braconnet, a solid soap, similar to that made from olive oil. Boussingault obtained from the oil a solid, as well as a fluid acid. The solid one is probably palmic acid, it fuses at exactly 140 degrees of Fahrenheit.

The fluid acid in its properties resembles the oleic acid discovered by Chevreul, and seems to dry easily.

The following is the composition of each, as determined by his a.n.a.lysis:--

Solid acid. Fluid acid.

Carbon 74.2 76.0 Hydrogen 12.0 11.0 Oxygen 13.8 13.0 ------ ------ 100. 100.

COc.u.m OIL, or b.u.t.ter, is obtained from the seeds of a kind of mangosteen (_Garcinia purpurea_), and used in various parts of India to adulterate ghee or b.u.t.ter. It is said to be exported to England for the purpose of mixing with bears' grease in the manufacture of pomatum. It is a white, or pale greenish yellow, solid oil, brittle, or rather friable, having a faint but not unpleasant smell, melting at about 95 degrees, and when cooled after fusion remaining liquid to 75 degrees.

An excellent solid oil, of a bright green color, is obtained from Bombay, having a consistence intermediate between that of tallow and wax, fusible at about 95 degrees, and easily bleached; it has a peculiar and somewhat aromatic odor. There is some uncertainty as to the plant from which it is obtained. It was referred to the _Salvadora persica_, and to the _Vernonia Anthelminticea_, a plant common in Guzerat and the Concan Ghats.

A pale yellow clear oil is obtained from the seed of _Dolichos biflorus_(_?_). Oil is also expressed in India from the seed of the _Argemone mexicana_, which is used for lamps and in medicine; and from the seeds of the cashew nut (_Anacardium occidentale_), from _Sapindus marginatus_, and the country walnut (_Aleurites triloba_.) The fruit of the _Chirongia sapinda_, (or _Buchanania latifolia_,) yields oil.

From the seeds of the _Pongamia glabra_, or _Galidupa arborea_, a honey brown and almost tasteless oil is procured, which is fluid at common temperatures, but gelatinises at 55 degrees.

Other sources of oil are the _Celastrus paniculatus_ (_?_) _Balanites Egyptictca_ and the saul tree (_Sh.o.r.ea Robusta_).

THE CANDLE-TREE or PALO BE VELAS, (_Parmentiera cereifera_, Seemann.)--This tree, in the valley of the Chagres, South America, forms entire forests. In entering them a person might almost fancy himself transported into a chandler's shop. From all the stems and lower branches hang long cylindrical fruits, of a yellow wax color, so much resembling a candle as to have given rise to the popular appellation. The fruit is generally from two to three, but not unfrequently four feet long, and an inch in diameter. The tree itself is about 24 feet high, with, opposite trifoliated leaves, and large white blossoms, which appear throughout the year, but are in greatest abundance during the rainy season. The _Palo de Velas_ belongs to the natural order _Crescentiaceae_, and is a _Parmentiera_, of which genus. .h.i.therto only one species, the _P. edulis_, of De Candolle, was known to exist. The fruit of the latter, called _Quauhscilote_, is eaten by the Mexicans, while that of the former serves for food to numerous herds of cattle. Bullocks especially, if fed with the fruit of this tree, guinea-gra.s.s, and _Batatilla_ (_Ipomoea brachypoda_, Benth.), soon get fat. It is generally admitted, however, that the meat partakes in some degree of the peculiar apple-like smell of the fruit, but this is by no means disagreeable, and easily prevented, if, for a few days previous to killing the animal, the food is changed. The tree produces its princ.i.p.al harvest during the dry season, when all the herbaceous vegetation is burned up, and on that account its cultivation in tropical countries is especially to be recommended; a few acres of it would effectually prevent that want of fodder which is always most severely felt after the periodical rains have ceased.--("Hooker's Journal of Botany.")

CINNAMON SUET is extracted by boiling the fruit of the cinnamon. An oily fluid floats on the surface, which on cooling subsides to the bottom of the vessel, and hardens into a substance like mutton suet.

The Singhalese make a kind of candles with it, and use it for culinary purposes. It emits a very pleasant aroma while burning. According to the a.n.a.lysis of Dr. Christison, it contains eight per cent, of a fluid not unlike olive oil; the remainder is a waxy principle.

CROTON OIL is obtained by expression from the seeds or nuts of _Croton Tiglium_, an evergreen tree, 15 to 20 feet in height, belonging to the same order as the castor oil plant, producing whitish green flowers, and seeds resembling a tick in appearance, whence its generic name. It is a native of the East Indies. 100 parts of seeds afford about 64 of kernel. 50 quarters of croton nuts for expressing oil were imported into Liverpool from the Cape Verd Islands, in 1849.

The _Croton Tiglium_ grows plentifully in Ceylon, and the oil, if properly expressed, might be made an article of trade. The best mode of preparing it is by grinding the seeds, placing the powder in bags, and pressing between plates of iron; allow the oil to stand for fifteen days, then filter. The residue of the expression is triturated with twice its weight of alcohol, and heated on the sand-bath from 120 to 140 degs. Fahrenheit, and the mixture pressed again. In this step the utmost caution is necessary in avoiding the acrid fumes. One seer of seed furnishes by this process rather more than eleven fluid ounces of oil, six by the first step, and five by alcohol.

The oil acts as an irritant purgative in the dose of one drop. In large doses it is a dangerous poison. When applied externally it produces pustules.

In 1845, eight cases of croton oil and six cases of the seed were exported from Ceylon.

Other species of Croton, as _C. Pavana_, a native of Ava and the north-eastern parts of Bengal, and _C. Roxburghii_, yield a purgative oil. The bark of _C. Eleuteria_, _C. Cascarilla_, and other species is aromatic, and acts as a tonic and stimulant. It forms the cascarilla bark of commerce already spoken of. When bruised, it gives out a musky odor and is often used in pastilles.

The oil obtained from the seeds of _Jatropha curcas_, a native of South America and Asia, is purgative and emetic, and a.n.a.lagous in its properties to croton oil. It is said to be a valuable external application in itch. In India it is used for lamps.

OIL OF BEN, known as Sohrinja in Bengal, and Muringo in Malabar is obtained from the seeds or nuts of the horseradish tree, _Moringa pterygosperma_, Burmann; the _Hyperanthera Moringa_, of Linnaeus. This clear limpid oil having no perceptible smell, is much esteemed by watchmakers and perfumers; it is expensive and not often to be procured pure, consequently the oil would be a very profitable export.

It grows rapidly and luxuriantly everywhere in Jamaica, particularly on the north side of the island--as well as Trinidad and other quarters of the West. It is easily propagated either by cuttings from the tree (the branches) or by seeds, and bears the second year. The produce of each tree may be estimated at from one to two gallons. From the flowers a very pleasant perfume might be easily distilled.