The “Cape Shipping Gazette,” of August, 1850, says:—­

“The attention of the George Agricultural and Horticultural Society having been drawn to the fact that an excellent oil, equal to the olive oil of Italy, can be extracted from the kernel of the fruit known by the name of “T Kou Pijte” and “Pruim Besje,” they have offered a reward of L10 for the best sample, not less than a half aum of this oil—­and L15 if it shall be adjudged equal to the best oil of Italy.  This fact is deserving of notice, as an instance of the advantages which are likely to result from the attention now being devoted to the natural productions of the colony.”

Madia sativa is a handsome annual plant, native of Chili, which has been naturalised in Europe.  It grows about two feet high, and produces flowers in July and August, of a pale yellow color.

The whole plant is viscid and exhales a powerful odor, which is somewhat like heated honey.  It requires rather a rich soil, of a ferruginous character.  The root is fusiform, the stem cylindrical, and furnished with sessile, three to five longitudinally-nerved leaves, which are apposite on the lower portion of the stem, and alternate on the upper.  M. Victor Pasquier, who has written on the culture of the plant, analysed the seed, and found 100 parts to consist of 26.5 of testa, and 73.5 of kernel; 100 parts of the latter yielded 31.3 of vegetable albumen, gum, and lignine, 56.0 of fixed oil, and 12.5 of water.  In dry seasons the oil is both more abundant and better than in damp seasons.  The produce of oil, compared with that of the poppy, is equal; with colza, as 32 to 28; with linseed, 32 to 21; with the olive, 32 to 16.

The leaves and stems of this plant are rejected by cattle; but the oil-cake, which always contains a considerable portion of the oil, forms a nutritive food, of which they are very fond.  The oil expressed without heat is transparent, of a golden yellow color, inodorous, rather fatter than the oil of rape or olives, and of a soft, agreeable, nutty taste.  It is fit to be employed in the preparation of food, in salads, and for all the purposes of the best and mildest fixed oils.  It burns with a brilliant, reddish-white flame, and leaves no residue.  It is little liable to become rancid, and is completely decolorised by animal charcoal.

The oil of the seeds of this plant, now extensively cultivated in France, will yield, according to the observations of Braconnet, a solid soap, similar to that made from olive oil.  Boussingault obtained from the oil a solid, as well as a fluid acid.  The solid one is probably palmic acid, it fuses at exactly 140 degrees of Fahrenheit.  The fluid acid in its properties resembles the oleic acid discovered by Chevreul, and seems to dry easily.

The following is the composition of each, as determined by his analysis:—­