Tung Oil

No Success Yet Reported In The Islands

MUCH space has been given in this journal during the past three years to discussion of the possibilities of the tung oil tree as an industry suitable for the Pacific Islands.

Tung oil is coming into use throughout the world to an increasing degree, and its production is profitable. It came origin ally from China. One species, Aleurites Fordii, is grown in Central and Northern China. Another variety, Aleurites Mon tana, flourishes in the tropical regions of Cochin China, and thereabouts.

The Fordii variety of tung tree was established in Florida, U.S.A., many years ago, and has flourished, so that there is now a large and valuable tung oil indus try in America as well as in Asia.

After consideration of the available data, we expressed the opinion some three ago that experimentation with tung seeds in the Pacific Islands was worth a trial; but that it appeared that the Fordii variety definitely was not suitable for Pacific Islands cultiva tion. We thought, however, that the Mon tana variety had possibilities.

During the ensuing years experiments with tung oil cultivation have been made to our knowledge in New Guinea, the Solomons, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, and Northern New Zealand; and we have not been able to ascertain that planters have had any success whatever. It ap pears that the tung tree grows vigour ously and apparently healthily in its early years, but that it does not fruit and pro duce nuts in the way that it does in China and North America.

In July last we published an article by Mr. McIntosh Ellis, who stated that a company for which he is technical ad viser had succeeded apparently in estab lishing tung tree plantations in Queens land. Mr. Ellis urged as a result of his experience that experiments with tung trees should be persisted with in the Pacific Islands.

Mr. Ellis’s experience only bears out the opinion that has been repeatedly ex pressed in this journal—i.e., that the tung tree will fruit properly if it is grown on a land mass, such as Asia, North America or Australia; but that it will not run its normal cycle of life if it is cultivated on a small land area, where the climate is oceanic.

An interesting contribution to the dis cussion came recently from a correspon dent in Western Samoa, who said that the well-known candle-nut of the Islands is a species of tung tree and that, as candle nut flourishes so well in all the Pacific Islands, there should be an investigation of its possibilities as a producer of pos sibly a useful variety of tung oil.

If any Pacific Islands planter has had more success with tung oil cultivation than is indicated in the foregoing sum mary we shall be very glad indeed to have details. Some of our friends urge that Islands planters should persist with tung tree experiments, but all our infor mation up to date is that tung cultiva tion in the Islands is a “washout.”