Tung Oil

Where Trees Are Being Cultivated Scientist’s Interesting Lecture

SEVERAL important points regarding the cultivation of tung oil trees of the Aleurites Fordii variety, were dealt with by Mr. A. R. Penfold, Or ator of the Sydney Technological Mu seum, in a lantern lecture before by Royal Society of N.S.W., early this month. Tung oil is in great and grow ing demand in the world for paint and varnish manufacture.

He showed by means of slides the poor class of country used in China— the home of tung oil —for the growing of the Fordii trees, emphasising that the Chinese could not afford to plant on good ground, suitable for edible crops. The crude way the seeds were treated there was also shown.

By means of a chart, Mr. Penfold illustrated the tremendous increase in the cultivation of the trees in Am erica. The first experimental distribu tion of seed was in 1905, and by 1930 there were 550,000 trees planted in Florida.

With regard to cultivation in the British Empire, a start was made in 1902 to plant seeds in Hongkong. The plantation was increased in size in 1904, but was later abandoned. Experi ments were made in the West Indies in 1911, but these also met with no suc cess.

Since then, much progress had been made within the Empire. Among the places where experiments are being now carried out were, besides Australia, the Solomon Islands, Aitape and Ra baul (New Guinea), Woodlark Island and Buna (Papua) and Fiji.

The lecturer was satisfied from ex periments in Australia, that the Com monwealth could produce the Aleurites Fordii, and the main work at present was to discover in what locality it would grow best. The oil from the Australian trees was equivalent to that produced in America and China.

In reply to questions by members, Mr. Penfold said that the oil cake fropi the seeds contained a poisonous substance, and its only use, so far as he knew, was that it could be put into the ground as a fertiliser. The leaves were non-poisonous.

A member drew Mr. Penfold’s at tention to the fact that the leaves of one of the trees shown on the slides were perforated, and he asked whether this had been caused by pests.

The lecturer replied that the perfor ated leaves were due to wind, as the trees were growing in an exposed posi tion. From his observations he had found that the trees were particularly free from attacks by insects and fungus growths.

Experiments With Montana

At the conclusion of the lecture, the President of the Society, Mr. E. Cheel, who is also Curator of the National Herbarium, Sydney, said that there were four kinds of tung oil trees and it was the opinion of chemists that the Fordii was the most profitable to cul tivate. Mr, Penfold had done valuable work in trying to popularise the tree in Australia and thus create an im portant industry in the future. They now had seeds of the Montana variety planted in the Sydney Botanic Gard ens. He hoped that something might be done in grafting the two varieties.

He had learnt that the Fordii plants had been unsuccessful in Papua, and he thought that the Montana might be more suitable for that climate. Mon tana seeds had been already sent there.

Mr. Cheel considered that there was quite a future for tung oil, as it con tained certain properties that linseed oil did not possess. A big market could be found in Great Britain and Canada, where the trees could not be grown.