The Hillsborough Recorder

From the New Orleans Times

SUN-FLOWER SEED.
(Helianthus annuus et perennis.)

From experiments made by the Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem, who were the first to introduce its manufacture, it appears that a bushel of sunflower seed will yield, on expression, near a gallon of mild oil. The process is the same as that of making linseed oil. The oil-cake is believed to be quite as valuable for stock-feeding. The percentage of oil is not so great as that from many other seeds, being stated by Ure at fifteen per cent. But the number of bushels of seed per acre is great, being variously stated at from 50 to 150—the lowest estimate being, perhaps, the nearest the truth. Even at that rate, and as food for stock, this must be one of the most valuable crops.

A letter, now before us, from our old friend, Thomas S. Hinde, of Mount Carmel, Illinois—one of the few pioneers who have kept a record of events during the early settling of the West; and which, he informs us, he is about giving to the world—states that "Mr. John Matthews, of Urbana, Ohio, informed me that he was offered 4,000 bushels of sunflower seed, to be delivered him, from the banks of the Scioto, forty or fifty miles distant, at twenty-five cents per bushel." Mr. H. makes the deduction that as it can be produced so cheap, and as the stock of all kinds are fond of it and thrive on it, it will prove a profitable crop of food for stock: the more as the leaves make capital fodder. Mr. H. promises us a supply of seed, of a superior variety, to test its growth thus far south.

Since writing the above, we found an article in the Western Farmer and Gardener (Indianapolis, Ia.) from the pen of the editor, from which we make the following extracts:

Sunflower Seed.—To some extent this is likely to become a profitable crop. Mr. Clark Kitchener in this (Marion) county, tried about an acre of it this year. A part of it did not do well; but off from one-half acre he raised thirty five bushels; or seventy bushels to the acre. Medium lands will yield, on an average, fifty bushels; while first rate lands will yield from seventy to one hundred bushels.

Mode of Cultivation.—The ground is prepared in all respects as for a corn crop, and the seed sown in drills four feet apart—one plant to every eighteen inches in the drill. It is to be ploughed and tended in all respects like a crop of corn.

Harvesting,—As the heads ripen, they are gathered, laid on a barn floor and thrashed with a flail. The seed shells very easily.

Use.—The seed may be employed in fattening hogs, feeding poultry, etc., and for the last purpose it is better than grain. But the seed is more valuable at the oil mill than elsewhere. It will yield a gallon to the bushel without trouble; and by careful working more than this. Hemp yields one and a fourth gallons to the bushel, and flax seed one and a half by ordinary pressure; but two gallons under the hydraulic press.

The oil has, as yet, no established market price. It will range from seventy cents to a dollar, according as its value shall be established as an article for lamps and for painters' use. But at seventy cents a gallon of oil, the seed would command fifty-five cents a bushel, which is a much higher price than can be had for corn.

It is stated, but upon how sufficient proof I know not, that sunflower oil is excellent for burning in lamps. It has also been tried by our painters to some extent; and for inside work, it is said to be as good as linseed oil. Mr. Hannaman, of this place, who has kindly put me in possession of these facts, says, that the oil resembles an animal, rather than a vegetable oil; that it has not the varnish properties of the linseed oil.

We suppose by varnish is meant, the albumen and mucilage which are found in vegetable oils.

*The existence of impurities in oil, such as mucilage, albumen, wax, gum, etc., which increase its value to the painter, diminish its value for the lamp, since these substances crust or clog the wick, and prevent a clear flame. All oils may, therefore, the less excellent they are for painting, be regarded as the more valuable for burning. Rape seed is extensively raised in Europe, chiefly in Flanders, for its oil, and is much used for burning. Ten or quarts may be extracted from a bushel of seed. It is beginning to be raised in Ohio for this purpose.