The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-10-09

ak palm-oll CrauerS HaVe nl0y'nV0
trading establishments in seven
| rivers, and employ two hundred and
seven white agents, clerks, etc, four
hundred and nineteen blacks, and
two thousand kroonen. The Fer
nando Pc oil crop never exceeds
four: hundred tons a year, and yet
from the number of oil palms there
st least Tour thousand tons might be
| obtained, but the twenty-five thou
sand aborigines do not care to pro-
duce more, More oil palms might
be grown, for there is abundance OF
room for them in the oil district,
though it is hut mere fringe of the
African continent. But the natives
never think OF planting oil palms
The river chiefs, now oil brokers'
were slave brokers formerly.
PALM KERNEL OIL.
The kernels, with the. exception of
SIN insignificant quantity used for the
manufacture of oil for domestic pur-
poses in Africa, were formerly thrown
away. Attention was first drawn to
their utilization in Liberia. Within
the last fifteen years they have been
more generally collected and en-
ployed. The shell being broken, the
kernols are shipped to be pressed FOR
oil, &c. Vast extension OF the African
trade has arisen out OF this new arti-
Gle of export.
It has been estimated by compe-
tent authorities that from the oO,OOO
tons Of palm oil shipped there must
be 10,060OOO bushels of kernels,
equal to 223, 900 tons in weight The
| average yield from these kernels be-
ing about so per cent, if all were ere
utilized this would furnish 76,0VO
tons more Of oil, worth at the price
| of cocosnut oil (which it closely re.
| sernbles, about 9, 700,000. IF we add
| to this the value of the oilcake, llI,-
| 600 tons, at 81. per ton, we should
have a very large increase to the val
ue Of tho oil-palm trade with west
| ern Africa.
| Palm nus oil is Obtained on the
| coast from the seed or kernel, by
roasting, beating and boiling. In
Iiheria. OF, q small scale, bushel OF
kernels were found TO yieAae 'ss<' ssSA
lions. Of oil, bnt with good presses
tanned.
| The palm kernels are quoted in
London, January, 1877, at 12l los. to
III per ton. The kernel, which is
nearly white, is covered by thin
brownish layer of woody fibre. and
| in consequence OF this the palm-nut
meal has light brown or dirt col
ored appearance. The size Of the
! kernel varies from that of a hazel nut
to that Of small pigeons egg. They
are very hard, nearly inodoroas,
rather insipid to the taste, and e2-
tremely rich in fatty matter, possess
ing the consistency of butter, with
the useful property of not readily
turning rancid. The extraction OF
the oil necessitates the reduction OF
the kernels into q tolerabiy fine pow.
der, and the application of powerful
crushing machinery and gentle heat.
| Notwithstanding these means, the
cake or meal left in presses contains
usually alarger proportion offat than is
found in most other kinds Of oilca1e.
1t surpasses all other articles Of cat
tic food in it's theoretical value
as a fat producer, as the following
I analysis by DR.. Voelcker will
show. la the best inseed cake
| the PERCENTAGE OF oil rarely amounts
to IL por cent, indeed 10 per cent,
may be taken as fair average;
| Moisturn 749
h hinSrS a'sSss1 Compounds flesh form
| Starch. maoilagc. sugar, and discs- 49, 90
Woody fibrc {cellnlose) ....... SO
| Mineral matters tash} -.-.-.-.-.....- OBJ
Total 10000
! Containing nitrogen. 2.5o.
In 1868 the palm kernal trade,
then newly introduced, furnished
1865 tons Of kernels from Lagos.
The value Of the palm kernel now
shipped form this single port avera-
ages nearly 100000, or double that
OF the palm oil {; and of those ship
ped from the Gold Coast in the two
years ending 1870 was 0,9l6L From
Sierra Leone there were also shipped
/ n \ n n 4 n a = ~ X,