Of the six principal vegetable oils, namely—palm, coco-nut castor, olive, linseed, and rape, the first four are imported in the state of oil only; the two last chiefly as seed. The proportion in which they were imported is shown in the following tables; and if to these quantities are added about a million and a half cwt. of tallow, and nearly twenty thousand tuns of whale oil and spermaceti, they will nearly represent the total quantity of oil imported into Great Britain.
| IMPORTS IN 1846. | |||
| Palm oil. cwts. | Olive oil. cwts. | Castor oil. cwts. | |
| Western Africa | 475,364 | 1 | — |
| United States | 13,349 | — | 290 |
| Naples and Sicily | 14 | 9,661 | — |
| East Indies | — | — | 6,315 |
| Canary Islands | 3,719 | — | — |
| Malta | — | 2,237 | — |
| Turkish Empire | — | 1,712 | — |
| Tuscany | — | 832 | — |
| Spain | — | 753 | — |
| Brazil | 525 | — | — |
| Ionian Islands | — | 506 | — |
| Morocco | — | 368 | — |
| Madeira | 353 | — | — |
| Sardinia | — | 333 | 11 |
| Miscellaneous | 7 | 471 | 65 |
| Total | 493,331 | 16,864 | 9,681 |
| IMPORTS IN 1850 | |||
| Linseed. quarters. | Rape seed. quarters. | ||
| Russia | 482,813 | 3,235 | |
| Sweden | 870 | — | |
| Norway | 268 | — | |
| Denmark | 37 | 3,092 | |
| Russia | 87,273 | 645 | |
| Hanse Towns | 1,153 | 2,872 | |
| Holland | 7,734 | 201 | |
| Naples | 1,476 | — | |
| Austrian Territories | 40 | 2,580 | |
| Greece | — | 1,637 | |
| Wallachia and Moldavia | 910 | 1,280 | |
| Egypt | 17,517 | — | |
| East Indian Empire | 26,142 | 13,126 | |
| Miscellaneous | 262 | 922 | |
| Total | 626,495 | 29,495 | |
OIL-CAKE.—It has been observed by Evelyn that one bushel of walnuts will yield fifteen pounds of peeled kernels, and these will produce half that weight of oil, which the sooner it is drawn is the more in quantity, though the drier the nut the better its quality. The cake or marc of the pressing is excellent for fattening hogs and for manure.
Oats contain, as a maximum, about seven per cent. of oil, and Indian corn nine per cent. The cake of the gold of pleasure contains twelve per cent. Indeed the most valuable oil-cakes are those of the Camelina sativa, poppies and walnuts, which are nearly equal; next to these are the cakes of hemp, cotton, and beech-mast. In France the extraction and purification of oil from the cotton seed is a recent branch of labor, the refuse of which is likely to prove useful in agriculture; its value as a manure being nearly ten times greater than that of common dung. Oil is obtained from maize or Indian corn in the process of making whiskey. It rises in the mash tubs and is found in the scum at the surface, being separated either by the fermentation or the action of heat. It is then skimmed off, and put away in a cask to deposit its impurities; after which it is drawn off in a pure state, fit for immediate use. The oil is limpid, has a slight tinge of the yellow color of the corn, and is inoffensive to the taste and smell. It is not a drying oil, and therefore cannot be used for paint, but burns freely in lamps and is useful for oiling machinery.
Among the various seeds used in the manufacture of oil-cake, flour of linseed is the most important. Rape seed is also employed, but is considered heating. In Lubeck, a marc, called dodder cake, is made from the Camelina sativa. Inferior oil-cake is made from the poppy in India. Cotton-seed cake has lately been recommended on account of its cheapness, being usually thrown away as refuse by the cotton manufacturers. It is extensively used as a cattle food, in an unprepared state, in various parts of the tropical world, and to a limited extent in this country.
The cost of seed, freight included, was 2d. per lb. from Charlestown to Port Glasgow. Cotton oil-cake is now ordered at the same price as linseed cake. The produce of oil-cake and oil from cotton seed, is two gallons of oil to one cwt. of seed, leaving about 96 lbs of cake; 8 lbs. is the daily allowance for cattle in England.
Cotton seed oil, very pure, is manufactured to a considerable extent at Marseilles, by De Gimezney, from Egyptian seed; and he received a prize medal at the Great Exhibition.
Account of the export of linseed and rapeseed cakes from Stettin, principally to England, in—
| cwts. | |
| 1834 | 33,518 |
| 1835 | 27,038 |
| 1836 | 56,581 |
| 1837 | 70,643 |
| 1838 | 119,540 |
| 1839 | 115,416 |
| 1840 | 162,457 |
| 1841 | 143,816 |
| 1842 | 119,814 |
The quantity of oil-seed cakes imported into the United Kingdom was in—