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FLORIDA'S NEW OIL CROP
ADOPTING A TREE known more than five thousand years for its uses in the fine arts and commerce, Florida has planted its seeds, nurtured it for 22 years, gathered its first crop a few days ago and now gives it, the oil of the tung nut, to the United States as a new industry that reaches to every corner of the earth. This, at least, is the claim made by Aloysius Coll, writing of the new crop in the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. Recently, he says, the first crop from 4,000 acres of the Chinese tung trees started through the processes which use, tung oil must be used as an undercoat, or the other grades of quick-drying materials will peel off."
The United States, Mr. Coll tells us, is far ahead in the consumption of tung-nut oil. This country imports about $15,000,000 worth from China. To meet the demand, Florida should plant 100,000 to 400,000 acres in tung trees, becoming a possible barrier for a monopoly on tung-nut oil just as she is looked upon as a possible field for the production of rubber.
To quote again:
"Conditions here are superior to anything afforded in China. The capacity of the new plant at Gainesville is 60 gallons of oil an hour—equal to the employment of 1,000 Chinese coolies, who work the crop in the crudest of methods. The tree bears transplanting very well. Out of 134 trees with three-inch diameter, planted January, 1927, practically every one survived, and by November, 1928, many of these bore 25 to 30 nuts, showing little tendency to halt in production.
"The tung needs no long and tedious process of grafting. The nuts ripen in October and November in Florida. They are allowed to lie on the ground just as they fall, to dry and cure. Rains will not hurt them, even in long periods.
"The tung tree has a strong tap root, four to five feet, giving it strength against the wind and a feeder for moisture at depth. It throws out a very thick network of feeding roots close to the top of the soil.
"The tree does not like lime, preferring a slightly acid soil. This is of enormous advantage, because most Florida soils have an acid content.
"The Gainesville plant is the first of its kind in the world. There is on hand no machinery built especially to remove the hulls from the tung nuts, no screens to fit the size, no press especially adapted to this use. Machinery for handling castor-oil beans and peanuts has been installed, with modification to suit this peculiar operation.
"As the industry proceeds and grows in this state, it is planned to allow the nuts to drop in the groves, cure on the ground and then harvest them in a process similar to the shuckers taking in the cotton beat field. The hulls will be discarded, and left in the grove for humus, and the cleaned nuts will then be transported to the nearest mill for grinding and extraction of the oil. The oil will flow direct to large tanks, to be loaded into tank cars or barrels."
THE "OIL-WELL OF FLORIDA"
"Above ground, not under it, and a source of wealth more certain than the discovery of a gold-mine." A Chinese tung-nut orchard in blossom in Florida.
extract the oil from the nuts and start them on their way for use in high-grade paint and varnish manufacture, for insulation in electric factories, for hardening and drying rubber products, and thousands of other uses which will increase in number when the supply can be made to meet the demand. To quote Mr.Coll:
"It is believed that the tung-nut tree grows faster, makes more fruit, and thrives in every way far better than in the land where it was first discovered. It may, in fact, become the oil well of Florida. The discovery of tung-nut oil is a source of wealth more certain than the discovery of a gold-mine. For 22 years the U. S. Government, the Florida Department of Agriculture, the University of Florida, the chemists and plant experts of the paint and varnish industry—all have poured in money, time, training, and experience to make certain what seemed a miracle. It is said that around $1,000,000 would not cover the expenditure made so far to study this tung tree, to plant it, study its habits, its characteristics, its demand for nourishment, its resistance to disease, and the best method for the groves already planted, and the seed collected for extensions, and for the plant which at last is extracting the oil.
"There has never been a time when there was a sufficient quantity of tung-nut oil. Paint and varnish makers have been compelled to change formulas because they feared lack of a supply at critical times. The oil is used in all electrical insulation, because it is the best weather-proofing material known. Even where the cellulose paints and varnishes have come into use, tung oil must be used as an undercoat, or the other grades of quick-drying materials will peel off."
The United States, Mr. Coll tells us, is far ahead in the consumption of tung-nut oil. This country imports about $15,000,000 worth from China. To meet the demand, Florida should plant 100,000 to 400,000 acres in tung trees, becoming a possible barrier for a monopoly on tung-nut oil just as she is looked upon as a possible field for the production of rubber.
To quote again:
"Conditions here are superior to anything afforded in China. The capacity of the new plant at Gainesville is 60 gallons of oil an hour—equal to the employment of 1,000 Chinese coolies, who work the crop in the crudest of methods. The tree bears transplanting very well. Out of 134 trees with three-inch diameter, planted January, 1927, practically every one survived, and by November, 1928, many of these bore 25 to 30 nuts, showing little tendency to halt in production.
"The tung needs no long and tedious process of grafting. The nuts ripen in October and November in Florida. They are allowed to lie on the ground just as they fall, to dry and cure. Rains will not hurt them, even in long periods.
"The tung tree has a strong tap root, four to five feet, giving it strength against the wind and a feeder for moisture at depth. It throws out a very thick network of feeding roots close to the top of the soil.
"The tree does not like lime, preferring a slightly acid soil. This is of enormous advantage, because most Florida soils have an acid content.
"The Gainesville plant is the first of its kind in the world. There is on hand no machinery built especially to remove the hulls from the tung nuts, no screens to fit the size, no press especially adapted to this use. Machinery for handling castor-oil beans and peanuts has been installed, with modification to suit this peculiar operation.
"As the industry proceeds and grows in this state, it is planned to allow the nuts to drop in the groves, cure on the ground and then harvest them in a process similar to the shuckers taking in the cotton beat field. The hulls will be discarded, and left in the grove for humus, and the cleaned nuts will then be transported to the nearest mill for grinding and extraction of the oil. The oil will flow direct to large tanks, to be loaded into tank cars or barrels."
SCIENTIFIC CHILD-ADOPTION—Years ago when a person wanted to adopt a baby all he had to do was to go to a founding home, look over the babies, pick out the one he liked best, and take it home. But this method did not work out well. Babies taken in a hurry were returned for many reasons. Nowadays, says Hygeia (Chicago), more discrimination is used, and babies can not be had for the mere asking. Home-finding societies investigate the economic condition, the environment, even the attitude toward education and general outlook on life of the foster parents. Babies are thoroughly examined, and not given out unless they are in good health and of normal mentality. Dr. A. Levinson offers some practical advice to prospective foster parents in the magazine named above, which runs in substance as follows:
"The greatest attention should be paid to the health of the child. It is wise to have the family physician examine him in addition to the examination made by the society. It is not desirable to adopt a baby in the first few days of its life. Some abnormalities may not manifest themselves until early. The average child is better fitted to the home of younger parents. It has strength and energy to take care of a baby, and persons over fifty—many of whom wish to adopt children—usually do not possess either. Childhood finds its normal expression in the home of young parents. Foster parents need to be warned not to spoil their children. They are usually more worried about the children than are natural parents. In their fear of not doing enough, they overdo. They must learn to treat the adopted children like human beings, training themselves to love without pampering and to discipline without fear."
