The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-14
Culture of Cnstor Renns.

The castor bean thrives in the sandiest
soil and its culture is very simple. The
seeds terminate with difficulty owing to
their thick and impervious coating; hence
nearly boiling water should be poured over
them before painting, and they should re-
main in this for twenty-four hours, the
temperature of the water in the meantime
gradually lowering to that of the atmos-
phere, They should be planted in hills
two inches deep. eight or ten seeds to a
hill, and afterward be thinned out to one
or a most two stalks to a hill. The rows
are five or six feet apart Between every
sixth and seventh row should be left a
road wide enough to permit the passage of
a wagon for the purpose of harvesting the
beans. In the south, in rich land, where
the plants grow large, the hills may be
six or seven feet apart. Painting should
be done in the spring as early as possible
making allowance for frosts, to which the
castor bean is very susceptible. The cut
worm is sometimes a serious obstacle to its
cultivation. The land should be kept
free from weeds and the crop grown very
much as corn or beans and on similar
soil.
In harvesting, the fruiting branches
should be cut off as soon as the pods
begin to pop open, which is in July in
the West Indies; in Florida, August or
September. This process must be repeat
ed at least once or twice a week, as fast
as the beans ripen, or else they will fall
on the ground and be lost. The branches
are spread out to dry, either on the floor
of barn or other close room or in a dry
yard built near the castor bean field.
This yard is made by cutting away the
sod, rolling the ground hard and building
a tight board fence around it to prevent
-
and fly about. 1t is better to make a
board floor in the dry yard. which should
be in a sunny PLACE, slopihg to the south.
The branches are turned over occasionally
and kept protected from moisture. After
the beans have popped out they are sep
arated from the pods with, a common fan
ming mill
The castor bean has been cultivated TO
some extent in this country for over TWEEN
ty years According to Simmonds, Kansas,
in 1895, produced 361 1855 bushels from "a las
acres. nearly fifteen bushels per acre. the
beans weighing forty7six pounds to the
bushel. In Iowa the yield is fifteen to
twenty-five bushels per acre. In the
southern states, with a hotter climate and
rich soil forty-fve or fifty bushels per
acre can be raised. The pomaoe is val
liable for fertiling purposes.
The castor bean would do well in the
south, but II is a gross feeder, and must
| nave fertile SOIL. 1t would not be profita-
| Bile to plant it on pine land; 1t would re-
! quire so much manuring as to consume
the profits. But on rich hammocks II
! would probably pay. In South Florida il
is a perennial. growing twenty-five OF
thirty feet high, with a trunk as large
as mans body. Further north it lies
! down under the frost. s-
| The castor bean is inodorous and has
| at first a sweetish taste, becoming SHARP
afterward. The shell amounts to 20 to p
| per cent of the entire seed. The kernels
contain from 50 to go per cent. of oil
which is higher percentage than is yield,
| ed by most other seeds. The best kinds
of castor oil are produced in Italy; the
American ranks second, and after these In
| quality come the importations from India
which, in 1S94-5. amounted to ISIS, 236 gal.
Ions. In India the shell is removed from
| the seed by women, who pound 1t with
wooden hammers. In America this is done
| by special machinery. The seed is press
! ed, twice cold a third time warm. and Il
! then boiled with water and treated with
! alcohol. This oil soon becomes rancid
| upon exposure to the atmosphere II Is
extensively used in medicine as a purga.
| tive, also in pomades for illumination. fol-
| lubricating machinery. In veterinary
| pr&tice, and in China, 1t is SAID as con.
| dfrnept IT