THE INDUSTRY in OIL SEEDS. the United States Has

THE INDUSTRY IN OIL SEEDS.

By CHAULES ]\Í. DAUGHERTY, Of the Bureau of Statist'ics.

COTTON SEilD AND FLAXSEED IN THE UNITED STATES.

The United States has, within the past quarter centiny, become by far the heaviest producer of oleaginous seeds in the world. This has been wholly due to the utilization of the cotton-seed crop and the expansion of flaxseed cultivation. Previous to these developments little attention was paid in this country to this class of agriculture. None of that great variety of purely oil-yielding seeds, the oils of which are of well-known edible and industrial importance in many foreign countries, was indigenous to the United States; and, notwithstanding the diversity of tastes and customs introduced into this country by a heterogeneous immigration, little or no effort was made to transplant them for their oil-yielding properties. In fact, it is solely due to the fact that some of the oleaginous-seed plants also yield valuable libers that their cultivation was originally undertaken in this country. Textile materials being a prime necessity of civilized peoples, the flax plant was one of the first agricultural products introduced into the American Colonies. The cotton plant is believed to be indigenous to the New as well as to the Old World. W ith the exception of castor beans, the culture of which is a specialized industry in a few Western States, cotton and flax are the only oleaginous-seed plants that have ever been utilized to a notable extent in the United States for oil- making purposes. Oil has been manufactured in recent years, it is true, from corn, but only as a by-product of the glucose industry. Hemp, which is raised extensively in Russia for the oil from its seed, and peanuts, large quantities of which are imported into France from Senegal and the East Indies for manufacture into oil, are also raised in the United States, but not because oí their oleaginous properties; and the small esteem in which the like properties of flax and cotton were originally held is evidenced by the fact that for two and a half centuries after the settlement of this country flax was cultivated chiefly and cotton exclusively for the value of the fiber. It is only within the X)ast half century that, by an economic revolution almost unique in an age ncfted for the utilization of waste, the once most valued part of the flax plant has degenerated in this country into a waste product, and 411 412 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

the .seed, f ormerl}^ a secondary consideration, has become the sole object of cultivation. Within the same period, too, the rapidly increasing cotton-seed crop, previousl}'^ only a troublesome waste product, has been made available as the greatest single resource for oleaginous seed in the world.

CULTIVATION OF OIL-YIELDING SEEDS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. The cultivation of sunflower seed, rape seed, colza, poppy seed, scsamum, ravison, mustard seed, and many other exclusively oil- yielding seeds is a factor of considerable importance in the rural econom}^ of many foreign countries. Some of these seeds yield edible oils, and hence are ranked among the necessities of life. Sunflower seed is extensively cultivated in Russia, where sunflower oil is one of the most popular of table oils; the seeds are also roasted and eaten as peanuts are in the United States. It is stated on good authority that 700,000 acres are annuall}^ devoted to the cultivation of sunflowers in Russia, and that 150 mills turn out an annual product of upwards of 25,000,000 gallons of sunflower oil. The other seeds mentioned are objects of special cultivation in British India and other Oriental countries, and, in a smaller way, in many parts of Europe. In France, Germany, and in most of the western and northwestern sections of Europe the culture of oil seeds has greatly declined, and is now of small importance. But an import demand exists there for practically the entire surplus oleaginous-seed crop of the world. The surplus of the flaxsced crop of Argentina, of the various oil-seed and nut crops of the East Indies, of the peanut and palm-kernel crops of the European possessions on the east and west coasts of Africa, of the cotton-seed crop of Egypt, and of various other crops of oil-yielding seeds and nuts from all parts of the world is annually absorbed by the European trade and converted into oil and oil cake in European factories for the use of European consumers.

ANIMAL FATS AND VEGETABLE OILS. That none of the exclusively oil-yielding seeds has ever been cultivated in the United States for oil-making purposes has been due primarily to a lack of demand for their products. A distinctive characteristic of the American people, though modified in recent years, has been the use of animal fats, both in domestic and in industrial life, for many purposes for which the inhabitants of other countries largely employ vegetable oils. In domestic life there has alwaj^s been in the mind of the American housewife a somewhat inexplicable prejudice against the use of vegetable oil for cooking purposes; and until recent years lard had completely usurped the functions here that from remote antiquity had been accorded in many countries to vegetable oils. That THE INDUSTRY IN OIL SEEDS. 413

this prejudice is being gradually mollified there is no doubt, but it is a tribute to its persistency that vegetable cooking oil even now gains surreptitious access to the American kitchen only under the guise of packages and labels suggestive of lard. For most industrial purposes, likewise, animal fats have been utilized to a large extent in the United States when for the same purposes vegetable oils were chiefly used abroad. Until the discovery of petroleum, the tallow candle and animal oils furnished an illuminating power in this country that in older ones was, and to some extent still is, supplied by colza oil and divers other oils of vegetable origin. For lubricating purposes, also, animal fats have been extensively used in the earlier history of the United States when for like purposes abroad the demand has been for rape-seed oil or other vegetable oils. In the manufacture of soap, wherein large quantities and many varieties of vegetable oils have always been utilized abroad, grease has been extensively used in the United States, especially in the homemade product of the farm. In fact, though several varieties of oil-yielding seeds, such as rape seed, poppy seed, and their oils, have been annually imported into the United States in considerable quantities for special purposes, the popularity of animal fats for all uses to which they arc adapted has, together with other causes, had a tendency to restrict the use of such oils, and thereby not only to place a limit upon their importation, but also to discourage the production of the exclusive^ oil-yielding seeds upon American soil.

DEVELOPMENT OF FLAXSEED CULTIVATION IN THE UNITED STATES. As late as 1860 the quantity of linseed oil manufactured from seed grown in the United States did not much, if at all, exceed 1,000,000 gallons a year; and, since the value of the oleaginous properties of the cotton-seed crop was then practically unrecognized, this quantity closely represents the total output at that date of all oil made from home-grown oleaginous seed. The use in this country of the products of oil-yielding seeds was at that time largely confined to linseed oil, valuable for its use in paint and varnish. But the domestic output of this product was entirely inadequate to the demand, and the imports of oil and seed, expressed together in terms of oil, amounted to about 6,000,000 gallons. Imports of other fixed or expressed oils, including rape seed, hemp seed, cocoanut, and palm oil, amounted to less than 2,000,000 gallons. The domestic cor sumption, therefore, of all oils of this class amounted in 1860 to less than 9,000,000 gallons. The marvel- ous advance that has been made in the production of oleaginous seeds and in the consumption of their oils in the United States since that date is illustrated b}^ the fact that at the present time there is annually manufactured from the domestic crops of ñaxseed and cotton seed a product of from 160,000,000 to 170,000,000 gallons of oil, three-fourths of which probably enters into home consumption. 414 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPAETMENT OF AÖRICÜLTÜEE.

The development of flaxseed cultivation on an important scale in the United States dates from the cessation of the civil war. In the activity of the westward movement of population, incident to the disbandment of the military forces, ilaxseed culture, specialized and limited in terri- torial extent, moved with the tide of progress gradually westward and northwestward from the Ohio into the territory then known as the West and Northwest. Virgin soil seemed to be essential to its profitable cultivation. In the wake of agricultural expansion followed another economic movement, that of industrial enterprise, the course of which was marked by the building of homes and factories, the equipment of railways, and the growth of towns and cities—a movement that gave great impetus to flaxseed production in that it increased enormously the demand for paint, and hence for linseed oil, the principal object of flaxseed cultivation. The efl'ect was immediately apparent. The flaxseed crop, which by 1869 had already increased to 1,730,000 bushels, was more than quadrupled in the next ten years. In 1879 it amounted to 7,170,000 bushels, and upward of 90 per cent of the crop was produced in the Western States, manufactured by Western mills, and consumed in territory west of the AUeghenies. There was little or no surplus, and the markets of the East were chiefly supplied by imports of flaxseed from British India. It was not until 1891, however, that the important point was reached in the history of the crop, when domestic supply overtook demand. Regular foreign imports to Eastern mills after that date ceased, and the united States took rank among exporting nations. Meanwhile the domestic demand for linseed oil had greatly increased, but the domestic production of flaxseed more than kept pace with this increased demand. The crop of 1903 amounted to 27,300,000 bushels, or 764,400 tons, and, notwithstanding the fact that the average exports of the previous five years had amounted to upward of 3,000,000 bushels annually, this crop came upon markets heavily overloaded with the surplus of the two preceding years. The industrial demand for flaxseed in the united States is practically limited to the domestic demand for oil, the export trade in the manufactured product being of small proportions. Poten- tially, the 1903 crop represents (after deducting 1,500,000 bushels for next year's seeding) 64,450,000 gallons of oil, or fully 15,000,000 gallons more than the country's requirements. The quantity actually manufactured each year does not exceed 50,000,000 gallons.

THE UNITED STATES AS A rRODUCER OF OLEAGINOUS SEEDS.

The position of the United States in the first rank as a producer of oleaginous seeds, however, is principally due to the utilization of the cotton-seed crop, and is the result of industrial rather than agricultural development. From the beginning of cotton cultivation in this country cotton seed had been in weight a relatively important, but in value THE INDUSTRY IN OIL SEEDS. 415

a worthless product of the cotton belt. Constituting in weight two- thirds of the seed cotton as picked from the boll, each annual increase in valuable cotton lint resulted in a double increase of worthless cotton seed. And a few j^ears previous to the civil war something like 2,000,000 tons of this useless and cumbersome product was a result of each year's harvest. Beyond the small quantities used for cattle feed- ing and for fertilizing, there was probably little thought, less prospect, of its profitable utilization. The economic field that it was afterwards to share as a cooking oil and in the manufacture of soap was com- j)letely filled in the one case by lard, and in the other by other greases. Moreover, the building up of an export trade was debarred by the liability of the seed to heat in transportation. Cotton-seed oil was then manufactured in Europe from seed imported from Egypt; and a few sporadic attempts, probably based on the hope of an export trade in cotton-seed oil, were made to establish the industry in this country. The civil war checked whatever chance there might have been of success.

GROWTH OF THE MANUFACTUKE OF COTTON-SEED OIL.

Within a few years after the cessation of hostilities, cotton production regained the ground lost during the war, and the utilization of the enormous waste represented by the seed became a subject of renewed interest. With the prospect of millions of tons of raw material produced without the cultivation of a single additional acre of land, without the employment of additional labor, or the investment of additional capital over and above that required for the production of the staple, cotton, the utilization of the seed presented an alluring field for exploitation. A few mills were erected late in the sixties, equipped with hj^draulic presses identical with those then in common use in the North for the expression of oil from flaxseed. Probably the utilization of Avaste was the most active principle underlying the early experiments. Contrary to what had been the case with linseed oil, no important domestic demand preexisted for the cotton-seed product. Unadapted to general illuminating and lubricating purposes, deficient in the dry- ing properties essential to its use in paint, its edible properties unknown, its sphere of usefulness seemed limited. Interest became centered in the export trade. The foreign demand increased with each successive year, and soon became the chief support of the new industry. In 1879-80 the quantity of cotton-seed oil manul;ctured in the United States had increased to about 9,000,000 gallons; and the importance of the export trade was apparent in the fact that almost 7,000,000 gallons were shipped abroad against a little over 2,000,000 gallons consumed at home. In the following jenr the discovery was made that cotton-seed oil mixed with certain animal fats made an acceptable and valuable 416 YEAKBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUBE.

substitute for lard. This gave an immediate impetus to the industry and eventually resulted in making it one of the most important industries of the Southern States. A domestic demand sprang up that absorbed practically the entire output of the then existing mills, and foreign trade, as a result of the active domestic competition, dwindled to insig- nificant proportions. In 1881-82 the output of cotton-seed oil increased to about 12,000,000, and 1882-83 to about 15,000,000 gallons. Of these quantities, 11,000,000 and nearly 15,000,000 gallons, respectively, were taken by the home trade. The combined exports of the two years amoinited to only 1,129,160 gallons. From the date of this discovery began a period of activity in this industry that has continued almost without abatement up to the present day. New mills were constructed year after year throughout the South until they now number upwards of 600. The quantity of cotton seed utilized, w^hich, previous to 1881, had never amounted to one-tenth of the total crop, has increased until fully 60 per cent of the average crop is now converted into valuabJi products; this, too, notwithstanding the fact that the production (>f cotton seed has meanwhile increased in about the same proportions. New uses found from time to time for cotton-seed oil have given additional stimulus to both foreign and domestic demand. A few years after the decline in the export trade in 1882 it was restored to its old proportions. Meanwhile the domestic trade, primarily as a result of the demand from packing houses, was increasing by leaps and bounds. By 1893-94 exports had increased to 15,000,000 gallons; the domestic demand in the same year absorbed about 40,000,000 gallons. Between 1894-95 and 1902-1903 the production of cotton-seed oil in the united States was doubled. In the former year arose a greatly increased demand.for this product in Europe; in 1898-99 it culminated in exports of upwards of 50,000,000 gallons, domestic demand in the meantime averaging about 40,000,000 gallons. This remarkable increase in the foreign trade attracted to the industry new capital an 1 enterprise and resulted in a period of the greatest activity in the erection of mills known in its history. Since 1898-99 exports have declined irregularly, and in the fiscal year 1902-1903 the}'^ amounted to only 35,642,994 gallons. But the manufacture of oil has increased steadily, and is estimated to have amounted in 1902-1903 to a total of from 110,000,000 to 115,000,000 gallons. Of this enormous output, the domestic demand absorbed from 75,000,000 to 80,000,000 gallons.

THE PRODUCTION OF FLAXSEED AND COTTON SEED. The production of flaxseed and cotton seed—the two crops practically constituting the oleaginous-seed crop of the United States—now aggregates annually upwards of 5,500,000 tons. It is estimated that with every 500-pound bale of cotton picked there is gathered one-half THE INDUSTRY IN OIL SEEDS. ál7

ton of seed, and hence a cotton crop of 10,000,000 bales indicates a production of 5,000,000 tons of cotton seed. The average annual production of flaxseed for the past five years has been about 672,000 tons. A 10,000,000-bale cotton crop and an average production of flaxseed therefore result in an output of 5,672,000 tons of oleaginous seed. Although statistics upon the production of the many varieties of oleaginous seeds in the principal producing countries are incomplete, there is no doubt that the production of the United States exceeds the combined crops of any other two countries in the world. It is true that not all of the United States crops is utilized for oil-making purposes. Probably not over 60 per cent of the cotton-seed crop finds its way to the oil mills, and of late years there has been an overproduction of flaxseed. But, assuming that 3,000,000 tons of cotton seed are now annually converted into oil, and, putting the average quantity of flaxseed crushed annually during the past five 3^ears at 500,000 tons, the total crush of these seeds may be conservatively estimated at 3,500,000 tons. Whether considered separately or collectivclj^, tliese figures indicate that the United States stands first among all countries as a manufacturer of oil as well as a producer of oleaginous seeds.

BRITISH INDIA AXD RUSSIA AS PRODUCERS OF OLEAGINOUS SEEDS. Next to the United States, British India and Russia are the most important producers of oleaginous seeds; British India of rape seed, mustard seed, sesamum, flaxseed, poppy seed, cotton seed, and a great variety of other oleaginous seeds and oil-yielding nuts; Russia chiefly of flaxseed, hemp seed, sunflower seed, and rape seed. Both countries are also manufacturers of oil, Russia especially on a scale of considerable importance; but the scope of their industrial operations iá not capable of statistical expression. Excepting Russia, the great centers for the manufacture of oil from oleaginous seeds, outside of the United States, are the countries of northwestern Europe. And, since oleaginous seeds are not produced in those countries on an extensive scale, the magnitude of their industrial operations in this line and of their consumption of the products of such seeds may be indicated in a general way by their import trade.

COUNTRIES IMPORTING AND EXPORTING OIL-PRODUCING SEEDS AND NUTS.

TnE UNITED KINGDOM. The United Kingdom is the heaviest importer of oleaginous seeds in Europe and, next to the United States (and possiblj'^ Russia), the most important manufacturer of oils from these products in the world. The English demand, unlike that of most other European countries, is 2 A1903 27 418 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. chiefly for cotton seed and flaxsecd. For the former, Egypt and British India arc the ahnost exclusive sources of suppW. Until within the last two or three years practically the entire imports of cotton seed were draw^n from Egypt, but, stimulated by recent high prices, an important trade W'itli British India has teen established, and in 1903 about one-third of the English supply was draw^n from that source. For flaxseed there are but four important sources of supply in the w^orld—Argentina, British India, Russia, and the United States; and though the English trade derives supplies from all these soui-ces, the bulk of trade is ordinaril}^ from Argentina and British India, Russia seldom furnishing as much as 10 per cent of the total imports, and the United States as a general rule a smaller proportion. The rape seed imported into the United Kingdom comes principally from British India and Russia. Below is given a statement which shows the net imports (that is, the total imports less the reexports) into the United Kingdom of cotton seed, flaxseed, rape seed, and oil-yielding nuts each year from 1897 to 1902. In the oflicial publications of the British Government the imports of flaxseed and rape seed are given in impe- rial quarters or units of measure; the other imports are stated in tons or units of weiglit. For convenience of comparison units of measure have here been reduced to units of Aveight by somewhat arbitrarily estimating a quarter of flaxseed to be equivalent to 8 bushels of 56 pounds each, and a quarter of rape seed to 8 bushels of 52 pounds each. Net imports of olecuj'mous seeds and nuts into tíie United Kingdom,

Seeds and nuts. 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 1897

Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Poiinds. Pounds. Cotton' sîeed 1,233,388,800 979,213,760 Q1Í). ñ1 ft. 72ft ftfti. Q-tß «Hft 964,167,680 924,842,240 FlaKseed 744,305,408 078,502,272 684,793,536 766,620,288 693,119,616 818,514,816 Rape seed 79,260,480 61,528,896 46,610,256 74,296,352 97,367,296 67,096,640 Nuts and kernels for expressing oil therefrom 120,884, IGO 112,101, GOO 126,936,320 128,056,320 115,610,880 121,434,880 Total 2,18Ü, 838, &48 1,831,346,528 1,768,880,832 1,770,919,840 1,870,265,472 1,931,888,576

In addition to the above totals, there has been an average net import for the six years of 812,570 bushels of "seeds, not enumerated, for expressing the oil therefrom." These (quantities obviousl}^ not being convertible into terms of weight, on account of a lack of knowledge of the varieties of the seeds and the proportion each variety forms of the whole, it can only be said in a general w^ay that the mills in the United Kingdom crush annually upwards of 1,000,000 tons of oleaginous seeds, against an estimated crush in the season of 1902-1903 of about 3,500,000 tons in the United States. TnE INDUSTRY IN OIL SEEDS. 419

France for the past few years has imported annually ])etween 700,000 and 800,000 tons of olcaghious seeds and nuts, and as an importer of these products ranks se^^ond only to the United Kingdom. The most inlxn-esting feature of the French trade is the heavy imports of peanuts, both shelled and unshelJed. The unshelled pcii- nuts are imported chieflj^ from the west coast of Africa, TO per cent of them from the French colony of Sen(igal, where peaiuits are the principal and almost tie only crop. They are shipped from Senegal only in cargo lots, and the trade is monopolized b\' French houses, to w horn buye]\s in otlier countries must look for their supplies of this variety. The shelle<^l product is from the French and British Indies, and is imported in a shelled state because of the risk of deterioration from climatic causes in passage through the Ked Sea. Formerly unshelled Y)eanuts from Africa constituted the bulk of the French supply, but in recent years the trade with the East Indices has increased rapidly, and in 1902 filled the greater part of the demand. Tlie greatest mar- ket for these products, not onl}'^ in France, but in the world, is the city of Marseilles, where large quantities are annually converted into oil, the higher grades for edible uses, and the lower for manufacture into soap and for other industrial purposes. Next to peanuts as to the quantities imported is flaxseed, of which British India and Argentina combined supply about 80 per cent, ordinarily in about equal proportions. Third in importance is copra (dried meats of the cocoanut), of which the chief sources of supply are the British and Dutch Indies and the Philippine Islands. Smaller quantities are also imported from the French Indies, the European possessions in Africa, and other sources. The oil from this product is used in France to a limited extent as a substitute for butter; but, on account of its tendency to become raiicid very readilj^ it is generally used for industrial purposes, such as the manufacture of perfumer\^, soap, etc. Of the great variet}" of oleaginous seeds imported into France, three others are espociallj^ conspicuous because of their volume—sesamum, mustard, and cotton seed. For sesamum, the British Indies is the chief and for mustard the almost exclusive source of supply. The cotton- seed oil mills of France are run, as were formerly those in England, almost entirely on seed imported from Egypt, supplemented with small quantities from the United States, Turkey, and a few other sources. A new feature ha3 been introduced into this trade, however, within the past two years by the annual importation of about 16,000,000 pounds from the British Indies. Colza, 3'ape seed, and ravison produce oils of similar properties, used chieil}" for illuminating and lubricating purposes. They are produced on an extensive scale in some sections of southeastern Euroj)e, whence France draws the principal 420 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AaRICULTUEE. part of her supplies. The bulk of the imports of colza and rape seed are from lloumania, and of ravison from Kussia. And the magnitude of the manufacturing industries which depend upon these three products may be measured by the fact that their combined imports exceed in quantity the total imports of cotton seed. The only other oil seeds of European production imported into France are hemp seed and black poppy seed, the former chiefly from Russia and Austria-Hungar}^, and the latter, though in very small proportions, exclusively from Belgium. Of the nuts imported into France for oil-making purposes, the most important, after peanuts, is the palm kernel, the oil from which is used for the manufacture of wax candles and of soap. The palm from which is derived the fruit of which this product is a seed is common on the tropical part of the west coast of Africa, and from that source France draws her entire supply. Other nuts imported in quantities deserving special mention are touloucouna, mowra, and illipe, all products of British India. The following statement shows the imports of oleaginous seeds and nuts into France for home consumption each year from 1897 to 1902. The original figures as published by the French Government are in kilograms, which have been here reduced to equivalents in pounds.

Imports of oleaginous seeds and nuts into France.

Seeds and nuts. 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 1897

Peanuts: Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Unshelled 231,362,413 265,434,299 296,003,983 208,324,669 206,536,291 135,452,238 Shelled 2f)3,345,186 128,158,294 53,562,915 25,985,005 10,502,966 15,342,261 FlaJwseed 225,549,464 240,545,536 231,086,800 281,210,440 246,177,344 313,016,088 Sesamum 183,893,728 162,679,378 153,037,846 169,371,933 151,398,676 119,549,314 Colza 25,594,657 10,076,809 33,105,308 2,528,685 4,212,687 12,269,064 Black poppy seed 27,919 129,271 129,840 113,180 59,068 55,953 Mustard seed « 133,429,460 172,105,395 66,113,776 142,097,402 167,131,775 118,857,008 Rape seed 73,734,074 49,201,418 99,653,495 4,332,894 9,516,017 25,233,256 Ravison 14,064,730 12,197,^210 27,126,457 35,792,988 45,447,880 58,890,563 Cotton seed 103,526,885 98,650,277 110,505,701 100,233,488 124,246,199 116,880,822 Niger seed 5,024,847 333,600 324 7,331,993 . 755,949 251 Hemp seed 22,829,319 12,105,549 17,468,329 25,367,841 12,300,537 11,681,193 White poppy seed 02,412,949 58,410,864 48,809,245 57,457,205 39,275,948 53,437,549 Copra 202,721,560 178,725,191 233,911,583 182,994,390 153,115,888 150,076,487 Palm kernels 18,873,891 19,608,475 18,287,627 17,124,755 28,597,921 24,151,327 Touloucouna, mowra, and illipe 27,897,500 13,631,020 10,623,222 29,844,982 22,776,935 11,884,818 All other oil seeds 74,239,013 69,375,186 40,887,360 68,599,789 51,862,693 67,709,673 Total , 668,527,595 1,491,967,772 1,440,413,811 1,359,311,039 1,273,944,7741,234,490,865 Í a Includes red and white colza from India. The production of oleaginous seeds in France has declined in recent years, and is now of small importance. The following shows the total THE INDUSTliY IN OIL SEEDS. 421 production, by varieties, from 1897 to 1901, the latest date for which statistics have been issued:

Production of oleaguious seeds in France.

Seeds. 1901 1900 1891) 1898 1897

I'oundii. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Colza 83,028,000 93,765,000 136,722,000 140,707,000 126,323,000 llape seed 0,691,000 7,753,000 11,415,000 11,796,000 12,2(i6, 000 Black poppy seed 9,432,000 13, 672,000 16,319,000 17,900,000 17,823, 000 Cameliiic 452,000 617,000 538,000 031,000 912,000 Hemp seed 17,580,000 18,957,000 18,744,000 19,424,000 20,960,000 Flaxseed 34,215,000 27,591,000 19,333,000 19,995,000 29,335,000 Total 152,004,000 162,355,000 203,071,000 210,513,000 207,019,000

The imports for home consumption, plus the native production, give the total French supply of oleaginous seeds. Practically, this entire supply, excepting, of course, small quantities of some varieties, such as mustard, etc., that are used for other than oil-making purposes, is manufactured into oil in the French mills. There is a small export trade, it is true, in native-grown seeds; and, although in the official statements of domestic exports there are included those imported seeds and nuts which have been ''nationalized"—that is, changed by French labor (such as by cleaning, decortication, etc.) from the state in which they were originally imported—the total export trade in both native and "nationalized" seeds is comparatively unimportant. It never diminishes the total supply by more -than 3 or 4 per cent. The total "domestic" exports of peanuts, linseed, and cotton seed, varieties of most interest in the United States, together with the aggregate of other oil seeds, is given below for each year from 1897 to 1902: Exports of oleaginous seeds and mdsfrorn France.

Seeds and nuts. 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 1897

Teanuts: Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Un^lielled 14,790,081 10,014,045 15,803,687 12,723,825 13,122,454 2,973,274 Shelled 4,978,530 2,843,037 4,908,119 8,135,250 7,520,901 8,917,035 Flaxseed 0,402,349 23,741,897 15,284,846 3,387,002 6,070,086 7,162,810 Cotlou seed 1,724,037 1,287,922 3,086,350 29,823 653 All other oil seeds and nuts.. 13,352,200 19,404,918 11,799,756 7,986,005 12,415,281 8,071, 305

Total 11,307,857 62,003,897 48,583,830 35,318,432 39,159,115 27,125,077

The German trade in oleaginous seeds is also almost ex(dusivety an import one. The domestic cultivation of these products has declined greatly in recent 3-ears, as was the case in Franche. Statistics of production are not published, but the area sown to oil seeds was found at the last official investigation in 1900 to amount to only 285,925 acres, divided as follows: Rape and colza, 179,731; cameline, 422 YEARBOOK Oi^ THE DEPABETMENT OF AGKICULTUEE.

2,465; poppy, 8,091; mustard, 3,717; flax, 83,180; and hemp, 8,741. The total area was slit^htl}^ lar^-er than that in France, which in the same year was oflicially ^"iven at 246,544 acres. It is evident that the oil- making industries of Germany depend almost entirely upon foreign supplies. The imports for the past few yeürs have exceeded 700,000 tons annually, making Germany as an importer a close second to France. The varieties of oil se^ds imported into Germany are distinguished from those imported into France, in tliat they consist to a larger extent of seeds that yield industrial oils. Flaxseod, rape seed, and colza constitute over half the German imports. As cotton seed is quanti- tatively first in the imports of oil seeds into the United Kingdom and peanuts first in France, so flaxseed is in quantity the most important oil-yielding product imported into Germany. Next to the United Kingdom, this country is the heaviest consumer of flaxseed among the importing countries of Europe. The German demand for industrial oils is also reflected in the fact that the annual imports of colza and rape seed are almost double the imports of the like products into France and the United Kingdom combined. Kussia was formerly the chief source of supply for flaxseed, but Argentina and British India now each hold a larger share of the trade. In 1902, 993,513 bushels were imported from the United States. Over half of the suppl}^ of colza and rape s<3ed is imported from British India, the remainder chiefly from Roumania, Russia, and Austria-Hungar}^ Next in importance to the combined imports of flaxseed, colza, and rape seed are the rapidly increasing imports of palm kernels and copra. The imports of these products have increased almost 60 per cent in the past six years. They are drawn mostly from the same sources as are the supplies of the same products hy I'mnce. The following gives the imports of oleaginous seeds for home consumption into Germany, by varieties, for the six years 1897 to 1902: Imports of oleafjinous seeds and nuis into Germany.

Seeds and nuts. 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 189*7

Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Peanuts - 50,531,800 42,073,000 44,373,528 31,008,449 28,100,470 33,483,359 PoppV seed C8,640,418 57,142,258 03,380,678 61,087,087 55,932,803 50,077,646 Rape, colza, etc.« 331,9S9,398 301,738,175 290,819,626 232,193,870 205,295,083 204,764,901 Mustard seed 12,309,066 11,680,748 10,941,319 8,416,789 8,434,883 7,909,082 Sesamum - 109,829,198 79,079,350 05,337,280 85,474,959 68,850,298 40,349,532 Sunilo\ver and other oil seeds not named .. 6,155,525 1,793,239 0,810,519 4,015,155 4,895,143 5,470,281 Cotton seed 33,516,207 13,059,398 7,075,611 2,295,073 3,873,080 1,997,388 Flaxseed - 542,248,616 522,340,896 589,893,752 580,471,530 595,129,528 578,171,384 Palm kernels, copra, shea nuts, etc 407,504,500 332,979,714 328,394,982 282,395,513 254,403,899 257,919,0C9 (!!ast()r beans .... 5,550,530 4,345,090 2,287,730 3,440,045 2,028,093 868,400 Hemp sce

a Includes hedge mustard and radish. THE INDUSTKY IN OIL SEEDS. 423 The imports of oil seeds into Germany represent closely the quantities of these products consumed in the oil mills of that country. The exiX)rts, as compared with the total supply, are of small proportions. As is the case in the official statements of the commerce of France, and from a like c^use, the official figures of exports of domestic oil seeds from Germany include products that are plainly of colonial and foreig-n origin. The total of su(ih exports, however, reduces the supplies of seeds available for manufacture in German mills by less than 5 per cent annually. The table following gives the total exports of domestic oil seeds from German}^, peanuts, naxseed, and cotton seed stated separate!}", for the past six years: Exports of olcaglnausi sef.ds and nuts from Gerinany.

Seeds and nuts. lOOiî 1001 1000 1890 1S08 1S07

Founds. Founds. Founds. Founds. Founds. Founds. Peanuts 4,850 1,044,209 29,983 1,704 001 1 543 Flaxsecd 15,()07,144 20,125,112 38,241,016 21,059,514 17,871,784 46,147,130 CottoTi seed 4,409 84,217 2,425 31,085 1,102 All other 38,371,787 33,560, 959 18,817,109 39,108,451 21,825,536 20,210,203 Total 53,991,190 55,414,557 57,091,133 03,800,844 39,699,083 72,304, 912

The imports of oleaginous seeds into Holland, officially given as for home consumption, usually amount to from 825,000 to 350,000 tons a year. This supply is not supplemented to any great extent by domestic production. In the official agricultural statistics for 1900 returns were niado on only two oil-seed crops—flax and hemp. The area sown to the former was given at only 28,250 acres and to the latter at 29Í) acres, Kape seed is also cultivated, the average annual area from 1891 to 1900 l>eing officially given at 12,889 acres. It is evident that the domestic production of oil seeds contributes little to the supply. About luilf of the quantities of oil seeds imported into Holland for homo cx)DSumption, however, are exported as the produce of the King- dom , tlie custom being, as in Fnince and Germany, to classify as domestic exportas all imported goods upon reexportation that have been changed in condition in any way by native labor. The exports of domestic seeds, as thus officially stated, usually amount annually to from 150,000 to 175,000 tons. The quantity of imported oil seeds actually retained for homo consumption rarely ever exceeds 175,000 tons a year. The linseed-oil industry is the most important industry of this class in Holland, its principal center being the city of Amsterdam. Flaxseed constitutifs over half of the total of oil seeds of all kinds imported for home consumption. There is, however, a considerable export trade, but the annual* sui:)ply of imported flaxseed retained for manufacture in the domestic oil mills amounts normally to from 180,000 to 140,000 tons a year. This quantity is increa^sed, of course, to a very limited extent by seed of native production, liussia and British India 424 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

former!}^ furnished the bulk of the flaxseed, but in recent years Argentina has become the chief source of suppl3\ Holland is also one of the most important customers in Europe for flaxseed grown in the United States. In 1902, according to the statistics of that King- dom, imports of flaxseed from the United States amounted to 1,884,659 bushels, being second only to those from Argentina, which were 2,546,764 bushels. The only other oil seeds imported into Holland which furnish the bases of considerable industries arc colza and rape seed, under Avhich classification are also included all other oil seeds not specially designated. The excess of the imports over the exports of those products amounted in 1902 to upward of 33,000 tons, which closely represents the present extent of their manufacture in the Kingdom. Copra is an article of growing commercial importance in Holland, It is imported almost exclusively from Java and other Dutch possessions in the East Indies. The bulk of the imports for home consumption, however, figures again in the exports of home produce, and formerly only from 1,500 to 2,000 tons annually were actually retained for national consumption. In recent years the quantities imported have greatly increased; the utilization of this product in the manufacture of a substitute for butter has also enlarged the domestic demand, and from 5,000 to 10,000 tons now annually enter into home consumption. The following tables show in detail the imports of oleaginous seeds into Holland and exports therefrom (special commerce), each year, from 1897 to 1902: Foreign commerce in oleaginous seeds and nuts in Holland. IMPORTS.

Seeds and iiiila. 1902 1001 1900 1899 189S 1897

Founds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Mustard seed 4,142,690 1,724,690 3,140,424 2,821,400 1,346,018 1,589,860 Copra 103,519,778 54,187,465 55,854,147 37,426,388 14,796,740 31,337,000 Colza, rape seed, etc. «.. 153,337,230 119,404,272 128,405,160 77,605,424 52,496,080 82,653,932 Flaxseed 434,497,224 384,037,904 407,684,480 472,736,944 488,590,304 513,740,024 Hemp seed 4,481,444 3,439,612 13,199,428 18,002,160 8,007,752 8,247,184 Palm kernels 55,169,277 57,911,642 55,770,231 52,180,430 48,701,790 50,277,434 Total 755,177,649 021,305,585 064,059,870 660,772,746 614,004,690 3,845,434

EXPORTS.

Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Mustard seed 8,824,801 0,729,212 9,129,631 6,598,088 5,463,300 5,211,082 Copra 82,114,355 43,373,828 52,064,341 34,377,321 10,784,128 28,720,625 Colza, rape seed, etc. «.. 85,564 316 58,809,669 80,823,885 29,750,450 34,699,314 39,198,984 Flaxseed 163,228,724 104,731,177 195,390,327 202,289,919 196,860,901 244,402,848 Hemp seed 984,255 436,590 773,866 1,154,220 476,198 482,150 Palm kernels 52,008,830 50,559,752 54,852,824 44,918,403 44,517,321 55,757,458 Total 393,325,287 324,040,228 ;, 034,874 319,089,001 292,801,162 373,773,747

a Includes other oil seeds not especially designated. THE INDUÖTKY IN OIL SKEDS. 425

The average annual imports of oleaginous seeds and nuts into Belgium for home consumption for th(^. tive years, 1898 to 1902, haA'e been about 270,000 tons. This supply is not materiall}^ increased by domestic production; the annual crop of flaxseed amounts to only from 10,000 to 12,000 tons, and other oil-seed crops are of compara- ti\'ely negligible^, proportions. The total available supply, as repris sent(id by imports for home consumption and the domestic crops, is, however, greatly reduced by exports. The annual average exports of domestic seeds and imported seeds exported as domestic produce ha\e amounted for the ñve years, 1898 to 1902, to about 150,000 tons. The average consumption of oleaginous seeds and nuts of all kinds in Belgium, therefore, probably does not much exceed 130,000 tons annually. In the official statements of exports two varieties only are separately stated, the others being given under a general classification. The following tables show the commerce in oil seeds in Belgium, as represented by the oflicial figures on imports for home consumption and exports of domestic production from 1897 to 1902:

Forelijii commerce in oleaginouH seeds and îints iii Belgium.

IMPORTS.

Soofls and nuts. i 1902 1901 I 1900 1899 1898 1897

~ '"" ' " i I Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pou7ids. Palni kernels ' 3,487,8G1 1,089,175 1,321,273 3,419,798 2,007,408 440,895 Peanuts 5,295,513 10,040,358 13,238,033 4,877,904 3,772,158 11,730,770 other oil seeds :1^590,312,073 510,883,275 396,270,457 5vS9,487,240 507,845,922 420,514,985 Tot.ll '599,090,047 528,018,808 410,830,363 ¡597,785,008 574,225,488 438,080,050 !

EXPORTS.

¡ I Pounds. Pounds. I^ounds. Poundt'. Pounds. P<)un.

DENMAKK.

Denmark, like Belgiiun and HoUand, is a producer of oleaginous seeds only on a small scal(^ The consumption of these products can, therefore, be closely measured by th(î foreign conunerce. The principal oil seed imported is flaxsei^d, of which thc^ annual consumption usually amounts to from 15,000 to 20,000 tons. There has been, however, a rapidly increasing import trade in palm kernels and copra, and the consumption of thes(^. products lias increased from about 1,G00 tons in 1897 to almost 10,000 tons in 1902. The following table gives 426 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. by varieties the net imports (that is, the total imports minus the total general exports) of oleaginous seeds and nuts into Denmark each }^ear from 1897 to 1902:

Net imports of oleaginous seeds and nuts into Denmark.

Seeds and nuts. 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 1897

Pounds. Pourtds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Flaxsced 31,509,872 28,360,122 32,709,543 34,604,685 35,329,767 39,982,820 Hem I) seed 2,502,221 2,084,265 1,338,230 312,307 351,333 345,582 Rape seed 9,744,332 9,755,329 9,432,552 9,499,259 7,359,030 12,290,691 Palm kernels and copra 19,554,802 14,255,376 9,726,332 10,914,449 4,290,974 3,393,446 other oil seeds 15,873,120 17,794,284 11,937,828 11,032,771 6,846,102 2,796,508 Total 79,214,347 72,249,37^ 65,144,485 ¡ 66,363,471 54,177,806 58,809,047

CONSUMPTION OF OIL SEEDS BT SIX IMPORTING COUNTRIES. The movement of oil seeds into the six countries whose commerce in these products is outlined above embraces by far the greater proportion of the total movement into all the importing countries of Europe. To these centers converges the bulk of the surplus oleaginous-seed crops of the world. Confusing duplications, which are generally inseparable from statistics of commercial movements among nations, prevent exact and detailed deductions, but in a general way it is apparent that the consumption of these products by the six countries combined now amounts annually to about a round 3,000,000 tons; in other words, less by a half million tons than the quantities of cotton seed and flaxseed annually used in manufacture in the united States.