The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom / Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.

by P. L. Simmonds

	tons.
1849	59,462
1850	65,055
1851	55,076
1852	53,616

Cargoes of oil-cake, to the value of £22,207, were exported from the port of Shanghae, in China, in 1849.

2,467 tons of oil-cake were brought down to New Orleans from the interior in 1848, and 1,032 tons in 1849.

Seven samples of American oil-cake gave the following results:—

Oil	11.41
Water	7.60
Nitrogen	4.74
Ash	6.35

From the above figures, the scientific farmer will see that the manure formed by 100 lbs. of oil-cake is more than that derived from 300 lbs. of Indian corn. 300 lbs. of corn contain about l¼ lbs. phosphoric acid; 100 lbs. oil-cake contain about 2½ lbs.

VOLATILE OR ESSENTIAL OILS occur in the stems, leaves, flowers and fruit of many odoriferous plants, and are procured by distillation along with water. They are called "essences," and contain the concentrated odor of the plant. They usually exist ready-formed, but occasionally they are obtained by a kind of fermentation, as oil of bitter almonds and oil of mustard. Some of them consist of carbon and hydrogen only, as oil of turpentine, from Juniperus communis; oil of savin, from Juniperus Sabina; oil of lemons and oranges, from the rind of the fruit; and oil of nerole, from orange flowers. A second set contain oxygen in addition, as oil of cinnamon, from Cinnamonum verum; otto or attar of roses, from various species of rose, especially Rosa centifolia; oil of cloves, from Caryophyllus aromaticus.

Those principally obtained from tropical shrubs and plants are citronella, oil of oranges and lemons, from the rind of the fruit oil of cinnamon and cloves, croton oil, &c.

The oil of Sandal or Sanders wood (Santalum album), grown on the Malabar coast, is much esteemed as a perfume. Keora oil, from Pandanus odoratissimus, in Bengal. Oil of spikenard, so highly prized, on account of its perfume, by the ancients, may be procured in Sagur, Nepaul, and the mountains of the Himalaya.

956 lbs. of essential oils were imported into Hull in 1850. There were exported from Ceylon in 1842, 902 cases; in 1843, 138; in 1844, 20; in 1845, 25 cases of essential oils, and in the last two years as follows :—