Oil palm

“ One of its largest tasks is to safeguard the immense natural palmeries on its concessions. The oil palm requires constant attention. [Pg 211] The undergrowth spreads rapidly and if it is not removed is liable to impair the life of the tree. Thousands of natives are employed on this work. ”

“ The oil palm does not appear to be able to thrive in heavy forest, and in a natural state occupies open valleys with low undergrowth, but upon the clearance of primary forest it soon becomes established.
The seeds or nuts, which are large and heavy, are distributed by the agency of frugivorous birds and mammals. The grey parrot, for example, may be observed extracting the ripe fruits from the heads or picking them from the ground where they have fallen, and, after conveying these to a convenient tree, carefully removing the oily pericarp before dropping the nut in a new position. ”

“ Large quantities of palm oil are prepared, and rubber is collected, the labour available for farm work being thereby reduced.
The most important product of the Eastern Province is undoubtedly palm oil, but fairly large quantities of yams and maize are grown outside the forest zone and are transported by native canoes to the coast ports, in the vicinity of which there is very little cultivation.
With the exception of the oil palm, which is of general occurrence throughout the country, the Lagos silk rubber tree (Funtumia elastica) is of the most importance from a commercial standpoint. ”

“ It is made from the fruit of the oil palm, which is an olive-shaped, plumlike fruit with a kernel inside a thick, fleshy outer envelope. The fruit grows in long red and yellow clusters. When the men have climbed up the palm tree and brought down the bunches, the fruits are cut off the main stem and cooked in water until they are soft and the kernel is loosened from the pulp. Then this pulp is pounded in a large mortar to free the kernels, which are put aside in a pile, and the thick, orange-colored, oily mass is dumped into a hollow log of wood like a trough. ”

“ Experiments have been made in the introduction of South American rubber plants, but opinions differ as to the prospects of success, as the plants in question seem to demand very definite conditions of soil and climate. The second product, palm-oil, is derived from a much more limited area than rubber, for although the oil palm is found throughout the greater part of West Africa, from 10° N. to 10° S., the great bulk of the export comes from the coast districts at the head of the Gulf of Guinea. A larger supply, equal to any market demand, could easily be obtained. ”

“ The nuts of the oil-palm (Elæis Guineensis) are about the size of large chestnuts, the inner part being excessively hard and stony, and containing an almond (technically “palm-kernel”) . It is enclosed or surrounded by a thin outer mass of fibre and pulp containing the oil, and covered with a rich red-brown skin or husk somewhat thinner than that on a chestnut. ”

“ A thoughtful person cannot fail to be impressed with the remarkable adaptation of the palm family to the requirements of the natives of this region. Take, for instance, the cocoanut-tree, and realize for a moment its bountiful, beneficent products. It affords never-failing water in an always thirsty clime. Nutritious and palatable cream is obtained from its luscious nut; toddy to refresh the weary traveler, or arrack when fermented, comes from the same source, besides a rich oil for various domestic uses. ”

“ Concessions have recently been granted to Europeans for planting as well as exploiting the wild palms, and experimental work in the mechanical extraction of pericarp and kernel oil have given some promise. Two British companies that have erected extraction plants in the Western Province have laid tram-lines designed to keep them constantly supplied with the palm fruit.
Trees that have become old and practically barren are usually tapped for the extraction of “palm wine,” being frequently cut down for the purpose. ”

“ Inside the palm nut is a hard kernel which remains after the oil has been extracted; this kernel at first was wasted; to-day it is known to yield a finer oil than the pulp; the idea of exporting palm nut kernels originated with a Liberian, and the first shipment was made in 1850; to-day there is a large demand for palm kernels which sell at prices ranging from $60 to $68 per ton, the oil derived from them selling at $130 to $133 per ton. ”

“ It grows to a height of 20 to 30 [20] feet and bears dense heads of fruit. The oil is obtained by boiling the fruits in water and skimming off the oil as it rises to the surface. It is used in the manufacture of candles. In Africa it is eaten as butter by the natives.
180. Elæis melanococca.—A palm from tropical America which produces large quantities of oil.
181. Elæocarpus hinau.—A New Zealand tree, of the linden family. The bark affords an excellent permanent dye, varying from light brown to deep black. ”

“ The most valuable article we get from tropical Africa is the oil of a certain palm, which contributes largely towards an excise duty of about a million and a half a year, levied on what has been justly called a second necessary of life—to wit, soap. ”

“ The palm-oil tree is native to the country between the Gambia and the Congo, and is found in great abundance. The oil from the nuts, however, is manufactured chiefly in the country of the Gold and Slave coasts. ”

“ Export trade in the delta and forest regions is almost entirely confined to “jungle produce,” the most important articles being palm oil and palm kernel. Rubber, ebony and other timber, cocoa and gum copal come next in importance. Cotton is also grown for export. The quantity of palm oil exported annually exceeds 12,000,000 gallons, and is worth over £600,000. ”

“ Of course, a European who trades in palm-oil prefers to collect it in the form of coppra—i.e., dried cocoa-nut—as a much larger amount of oil is obtained by pressure of machinery.
Another hardy child of these coral-isles is the pandanus, or screw-pine, as it is commonly called, because its leaves, which grow in tufts at the tips of the branches, are all set like a screw, twisting round the stem, which is thus marked with a spiral pattern from the root upward. Like the cocoa-palm, it grows in the clean dry coral-sand, where there is apparently no moisture ”

“ When pure and fresh they usually have little or no taste or smell; but, when exposed to the air, they become darker in color, have a disagreeable taste and smell, and are called rancid. As examples of vegetable oils we have cottonseed-oil, linseed-oil, olive-oil, almond-oil and cocoa-butter. Linseed is brought largely from Russia and India; Africa supplies palm-oil; India and the Pacific islands cocoanut-oil; while the best olive-oil is brought from Italy. In animal oils the principal ones are butter, lard, tallow, neatsfoot-oil and sperm-oil. ”

“ Carludovica palmata (Central America) yields the raw material for Panama hats, the Corypha australis (Australia) yields a similar product. The leaves of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, are employed locally in making baskets and mats, and the fibro-vascular bundles are isolated for working up into coarse twine and rope; similarly, the leaves of the Elaeis guineensis, the fruit of which yields the “palm oil” of commerce, yield a fibre which finds employment locally (Africa) for special purposes. ”

“ Almost every sort has its particular use in the economy of human life. Not only do they serve certain purposes in Africa, Asia, America, and Oceanica, but in all these divisions of the earth there are whole nations who live almost exclusively upon one or another species of palm.
A discovery has lately been made in regard to an African species, which it is to be hoped will have an important influence in doing away with the infamous slave traffic so long existing in that unhappy country. You have heard of palm-oil. Well, it is extracted from the nuts of a species of palm. ”

“ The neglect in West Africa of the wild trees, the imperfect methods followed in extracting the palm oil, and the large number of palms unutilised are questions which now need renewed attention, and in fact the entire subject of the development of the palm-oil industry in West Africa demands the most serious [vi] study in all its aspects if the industry is not to be supplanted by the enterprise of other countries. ”

“ It is impossible to overestimate the utility of palms. They furnish food, shelter, clothing, timber, fuel, building materials, sticks, fibre, paper, starch, sugar, oil, wax, wine, tannin, dyeing materials, resin and a host of minor products, which render them most valuable to the natives and to tropical agriculturists. The Coco-nut palm, Cocos nucifera, and the Date palm. ”

“ It is principally with this oil that the skin is anointed, a process which is really needful for those who wear no clothing in such a climate. Palm oil is sometimes employed for the same purpose, but it is too dear to be in general use. Even the natives cannot endure a very long course of this manioc, and, when they have been condemned to eat nothing but vegetable food for several weeks, have a positive craving for meat, and will do anything to procure it. ”

“ It inhabits those parts of the country where the slave trade is carried on, and it is thought by persons best acquainted with the subject that the extension of the trade in palm oil will be the most effectual check to that inhuman traffic; so that a palm tree may be the means of spreading the blessings of civilization and humanity among the persecuted negro race. ”

“ Sugar-cane, bananas, cocoanut-palms, plantains, and various other fruits are cultivated; vanilla, sarsaparilla, sapodilla or chewing-gum, rubber, and the cahoon or coyol palm, valuable for its oil, grow wild in large quantities. ”

“ Three or at most five years will cover the period during which land is continuously cultivated. The commonest native dishes are palm-oil chop, a bowl of palm oil, produced by boiling freshly ground palm nuts, in which a fowl or fish is then cooked ”

“ It sometimes happens that different parts of the same plant contain different oils; the orange, for example, furnishes three different oils, one of which resides in the flowers, another in the leaves, and a third in the skin or epidermis of the fruit. The quantity of oil varies not only with the species, but also in the same plant, with the soil, and especially the climate; thus in hot countries it is generated most profusely. ”

“ There are many other vegetable products, besides those already exported from the Amazons, which will one day be poured into the market from its fertile shores. The clearest and purest oils are made from some of the nuts and palm fruits, while many of the palms yield the most admirable fibrous material for cordage, singularly elastic and resistant. Besides its material products,—and of these the greater part rot on the ground for want of hands to gather them,—the climate and soil are favorable for the growth of sugar, coffee, cocoa, and cotton ”

“ Malcolm was about to exclaim at this idea, but he remembered just in time that, should Miss Harson happen to question him, he himself could not tell where the oil came from.
"The oil is pressed from the olives," was the reply; "a large, vigorous tree is said to yield a thousand pounds of it. It is such an important article of commerce in the regions where it is prepared that every one desires to get as much as he can out of his olive trees, but those who are too greedy of gain will spoil the quality of the oil to make a larger quantity. ”

“ On the other hand, the oils are extremely inert substances, and undergo chemical changes very slowly; so that there is no likelihood of their being converted into carbonic acid, or any other substance which may be useful to the plant; and as they contain no nitrogen, and consist only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, they can yield only those elements of which the plant can easily obtain an unlimited supply. I can conceive cases in which the oil might possibly produce some mechanical effect on the soil, but none in which it could act as a manure, in the proper sense of the term. ”

“ Lime, abounding phosphates, magnesia, with an abundance of silicates of alum and mercury, and a sufficiency of potash and soda, are the chemical and physical requisites which this tree will find most advantageous to its development, and cause it to produce abundantly, and, provided other circumstances are equal, give the very best oil. It is seen that the olive will flourish wherever its roots will penetrate easily, and there is no deficiency of lime and alkali, such as a loose soil of rocky clay, or sand of volcanic or granite formation. ”

“ The best oil comes from the first crushing, and the pulp is afterwards heated, when a second quality of oil is obtained. Olive trees grow very slowly, and do not fruit for seven years after they are planted. But they live a hundred years, and bear more olives every season. ”

“ Besides the general constituents of a ligneous vegetation, the Eucalyptus contains a gum-resin, a volatile acid, and a peculiar volatile oil. The finest forests, Eucalyptus amygdalina, extend inland about one hundred miles, beyond which the scrub species prevail. When by vicissitude of season the seaward species are poor in volatile oil, then the scrub is rich, and vice versâ. The extent of scrub and forest in the three colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia is so great that the quantity of oil therein contained is estimated at 96,877,440,000 gallons. ”