Tung Oil

———♦——— South Sea Experiments

Fordii Or Montana

A GOOD deal of interest has been evinced in the possibility of cultivating tung oil trees in the Pacific Islands, as a result of the article in the April issue of this journal, and we have had several requests for further information.

Mr. W. R. Carpenter advises that he is experimenting in New Britain with several scores of trees of the Fordii variety, which were obtained from the Botanic Gardens in Sydney.

The trees are now about two years old.

Mr. R. C. Laycock, writing from Tulagi, Solomon Islands, early in March, says: “One of the companies has just brought in some tung oil (Aleurites Fordii) plants and seeds for trial. But as I tried some myself about 12 months ago, and they failed absolutely to grow on the best of soil, I rather fear that this species finds the climate too hot.

Perhaps the Montana species would be O.K.”

Mr. Laycock lays his finger on a point that was later emphasised in our article in April—namely, that it is unlikely that the Fordii species will grow well in a tropical, oceanic climate. In China, the Fordii flourishes in Central China, particularly in the Yangtse Valley; while the Montana species does well in the hot coastal districts of Southern China, Cochin China and Burma. Fordii, therefore, should be suitable for cultivation in Australia and New Zealand, and possibly in the higher, inland altitudes of New Guinea: but, as Mr. Laycock says, it is likely that Montana will do better than Fordii in the Pacific Islands generally. Fordii is the better oil producer, and therefore the better commercial proposition; but cultivation of Montana, if practicable, is also quite profitable. ... ===