“I have lately been attempting to obtain other oils from the coast, and it was only yesterday I received from the hands of the oil presser the result of my most recent experiment on the ground nut, which I am happy to say is encouraging.  I send you a sample of the oil extracted from them.  They are from the Gambia.  It is a pure golden colored oil, with a pleasant flavor, free from the frequent rancidity of olive oil.”

Since then the cultivation has gone on, and the exportation largely increased.  The French also have entered into the trade, and several vessels are exclusively employed in exporting this product from the river Gambia, conveying it to oil factors on the continent, who extract its oil.  Seeing, then, the many advantages the cultivation of such a product bestows, and its adaptation to the soil and climate of Australia, I cannot refrain from expressing a hope that some of the influential landowners in the cultivated districts will give the matter their consideration.

I am informed by an American merchant that he cleared 12,000 dollars in one year, on the single article of ground or pea nuts obtained from Africa.  Strange as it may appear, nearly all these nuts are transhipped to France, where they command a ready sale; are there converted into oil, and thence find their way over the world in the shape of olive oil; the skill of the French chemists enabling them to imitate the real Lucca and Florence oil, so as to deceive the nicest judges.  Indeed, the oil from the pea nuts possesses a sweetness and delicacy that cannot be surpassed.

Advices from the West Coast of Africa to the 16th August, 1853, report that the ground nut season had closed; the quantity shipped during the season having exceeded 900,000 bushels.  The yield has increased 20 per cent, each year for the last three years, and it is expected the increase will be still greater in the forthcoming season.

TEUSS OIL.—­The Chinese use what is called teuss or tea oil, for food and other purposes.  I have alluded to it under the head of pulse, at page 312.  It is obtained, however, from a species of the ground nut, and is sold in Hong Kong, at 2s. 6d. the gallon, being imported from the main land.  By a local ordinance it is imperative on every householder at Victoria, Hong-Kong, to have a lamp burning over his door at night.  When burning, this oil affords a clear, bright light, and is not so offensive to the smell as train and other common lamp oils.

TOBACCO SEED OIL.—­A discovery, which may prove of some commercial importance, appears to have been made by a British resident in Russia, namely, that the seed of the tobacco plant contains about fifteen per cent. of an oil possessing peculiar drying properties, calculated to render it a superior medium, especially for paints and varnishes.  The process employed for the extraction of the oil is to reduce the seed to powder, and knead it into a stiff paste with quantum sufficit of hot water, and then submit it to the action of strong fires.  The oil thus obtained is exposed to a moderate heat, which, by coagulating the vegetable albumen of the seed, causes all impurities contained in the oil to form a cake at the bottom of the vessel employed, leaving the oil perfectly limpid and clear.