10 or twelve feet
apart. They will bear the first season, and continue to yield for
years. When the seed-pods become brown, they are in a fit state to
pluck. It is often grown in the East intermixed with other crops. The
primitive mode of obtaining the oil is to separate the seeds from the
husks, and bruise them by tying them up in a grass mat. In this state
they are put into a boiler amongst water, and boiled until all the oil
is separated, which floats at the top, and the refuse sinks to the
bottom; it is then skimmed off, and put away for use. The purest oil
is obtained, as before-mentioned, by crushing the seeds (which are
sewed up in horsehair bags), by the action of heavy iron beaters. The
oil, as it oozes out, is caught in troughs, and conveyed to receivers,
whence it is bottled for use.

Castor oil is used for lamps in the East Indies, and the Chinese have
some mode of depriving it of its medicinal properties, so as to render
it suitable for culinary purposes.

That which we import from the East Indies comes from Bombay and
Calcutta, and is obtained at a very low price. It is exceedingly pure,
both in color and taste.

In the West Indies the shrub grows about six feet high. The stalks are
jointed, and the branches covered with leaves about eighteen inches in
circumference, forming eight or ten sharp-pointed divisions, of a
bluish green color, spreading out in different directions. The flowers
contain yellow stamina; the seed is enclosed in a triangular husk, of
a dark brown color, and covered with a light fur, of the same color as
the husk. When the capsule is thoroughly ripened by the sun, it
bursts, and expels the seeds, which are usually three in number.

In Jamaica this plant is of such speedy growth, that in one year it
arrives at maturity, and I have known it to attain to the height of
twenty feet. A gallon of the seed yields by expression about two
pounds of oil.

The wholesale price in Liverpool, in October, 1853, was 3d. to 5d. per
lb.

It is brought over from the East Indies in small tin cases, soldered
together and packed in boxes, weighing about 2 cwt. each.

In Ceylon castor oil is obtained from two varieties of the plant, the
white and the red.

The native mode of preparing the oil is by roasting the seed; this
imparts an acridity to the oil, which is objectionable. By attending
to the following directions, the oil may be prepared in the purest and
best form. The modes of preparation are