Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-06-11
TIE FARM.

Castor Memm m th9 H@Ht1eFm
ssassss
This plant Is know through the
Southern States chiefly by IT, OBJ
solete botanic name. "Palma
Christi" also as the "Mole Bean"
and as the "Oil Bean" Its proper
botanic name Is Ricinas C0mma-
Ris, derived from the peculiar re-
semblance Of the seed TO q com
mon tick. In commerce, it Is
called castor Seed in its native
countries, East Indies and Africa,
it often attains a height OF thirty
or forty feet, and has q perennial
character, which it assumes also
in the same isOthermal lines on
our own coast, in the latitude Of
about 200 to 300 in Florida,
Texas, and Louisiana. Although
1t has been grown north of the
Ohio with some success, yet the
small yield, owing to the short
summers, proves that Is not its
proper latitude. As an ornamen-
tai annual, it holds a prominent
place in many Northern lawns
and gardens. The flowers usually
in Northern gardens appear in
July, and ripen during August and
September, successfully. In
Florida, it commences ripening
in June and continues up to the
month of December, and some
times through the entire winter
months.
Castor-oil having been recently
applied with entire success to new
and various uses, there is In con-
sequence, an increased demand.
The extensive manufacturers Of
castor and other oils send yearly
large sums to the coast Of India
for supplies Of the bean in ques-
ton, while the soil and climate Of
Florida, Texas, and Louisiana are
eminently adapted to its success
full growth. Acting in behalf Of
gentlemen whose main object was
to have the seed raised for them
in our own country, | visited, in
the winter Of 1868 and 1869,
twenty-six Of the best cultivated
counties in Texas, and addressed
the planters. urging at least a par
tial substitution of this for other
crops.
The climate and soil of Florida
and Texas nearly resemble that OF
the coast Of India, where between
Madras and Calcutta this plant il
q native, and from whence large
quantities Of castor.beans are an.
nually imported. The large plants
here, as there, assume the peren
NAL form, and will produce five Of
six annual crops without replant
ing. In proof Of the perennial
tendency Of this plant in Southern
Texas, Judge B. c. Franklin, o
? Galveston, had a plant in his gar
den, the stem of which wa
seven inches in diameter, ant
yielded seed for eight years; ant
Captain Sleight had similar expe
rience at Chapel Hill, Washington
County. Splendid samples of larg
seed / found in Mr.. Zimmerman
$ garden at Fayetteville, and a 10
was raised near New Ulm, by NJ
Thomas Henderson, at Post Ga
! Point. Another instance of thi
"WOnder.tree," as some German
termed it who sold the seed at
$ fabulous price,, was found at MI
t Behren's garden in La Grange
the number Of spikes or bunche
/. averaged fourteen to a plant. D
trying the weight Of seed in
spike, they weighed about fv
ounces each, or about four and
e quarter pounds to each uncultivG
ted pant. Strange to say, the.
had in each case branched out, a
if pinched Of while small, by chi
dren probably. Mr.. McIntire, q
: Washington, Texas, reports hal
ing raised seventy bushels pc
q acre, and the Hon. E. Bellinger, {
+, Gonzales, Texas, assured me thI
! he had raised one hundred busheI
n from a single acre. The enoI
Il nous yield would reach, at preseT
G prices, one hundred and seventy
!, five dollars per acre. l sc
no reason to doubt that tn
u important examples before a
!uded 70 would reach a Gro
equal to Judge Bellinger's exper
eace; and let it he remember
so that while the cotton crop has I
y encounter enemies, the castor.bea
: is not known to have any.
Suppose, for instance, the Al
=, giles Of tue worm. fences, in an
outside Of the cotton and col
l. fields, were simply planted in tn
~ way; I doubt not the cost of Il
fence would be paid for in tw
~ years. Nay, more, instances a
= known where the clouds of grasi
~ hoppers were repulsed by col
"a fronting a few castOr-bean plant
II while every green thing beside
70 (even onions) were consume
: Captain Tucker, on the BrazC
bottom, planted the bean (whe.
a his cotton plants had failed inc
., dentally over his cotton field, az
+. such was his success that he h'