The Farmer. Oil from Sunflower Seeds.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1830, 29 March 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Farmer. Oil from Sunflower Seeds.

Tin: bun flower has long been grown for its oil seeds m Russia and India, and the cultivation has been more recently taken up in Germany and Italy. The plant grows readily in most boils, but prefers light, rich, calcareous laud, unshaded by trees. In Russia the seed is drilled into lines 18 inches apart, and the plants are thinned out to 30 inches apart in the rows, thus giving about 11,000 plantsm an acre. The quantity of seed required for an acre is four to six pounds, and the sowing takes placp in September- October, the crop heinf ? ready to harvest in February. In England it is recommended to be planted G inches apart and 1 inch deep, ani to be earthed up when 1 foot high, requiiing no subsequent attention. The yield of sepd is much increased hy topping the plants, and the best feitiliser is old mortar. Bach plant produces about 1,000 seeds, chiefly on the main head. Experimental culture in France gave a Kiturn of 1,778 pounds of seed, yielding 15 per cent, of oil (275 pounds), and 80 percent. of cake, from an acre ; but the product varies considerably according to soil, climate, and cultivation, and the average may be roundly oto-tcd nt 50 bushels of seed from an acre, and 1 gallon of oil from 1 bushel of soed. The percentage of oil to seed ranges from 10 to 28 ; and that of husk to kernel from 11 to GO. The Italian cultivation is confined to the neighbourhood of Piove and Conegliano, in Venetia. In Russia the plant is most extensively grown in Kielce and Podolia, and the district of Birutch, in Voronej ; the production of seed is now estimated at 8,000,000 poods (of o(J pounds), from an area of 80,000 decsatines (of 13 OG7 square yards). In Tartary and Cliina it is cultivated in immense quantities, but no actual statistics are available. In India (Mysore) 1 acre of land gives 11', cwt. of seed, which yields 45 gallons of oiC which is time compared with ground nut oil, and applied to the same uses. The Russian sped is expressed on the spot, and the oil is largely employed for adulterating olive oil. The purified oil is considered equal to olive and almond oil for table use. The chief industrial applications of the oil are for woollen dressing, lighting, and candle and soap making ; for the last mentioned purpose it is superior to most oils. It is pale yellow in colour, thicker than hempseed oil, of 0 D2G specific gravity at 15 deg , dries slowly, becomes turbid at ordinary temperatures, and solidifies at 10 deg. C. — Dm;/ Repo)ter.