Part 7

CARAWAY.

Caraway (Carum carvi) is a European biennial herb of the parsley family. It grows and fruits well over a considerable portion of the United States, especially in the North and Northwest, but its cultivation in this country seems never to have assumed commercial proportions. The seeds are used medicinally, but are mainly utilized for flavoring cakes, confectionery, and similar products. On distillation with steam, the seeds yield an aromatic oil, which is more used in medicine than the seed itself.

Soil of a somewhat clayey nature and containing a fair proportion of humus and available plant food is particularly suited to caraway, but the plant generally grows well in any good upland soil which will produce fair crops of corn or potatoes. Seeds should be sown in early spring in drills about 16 inches apart, and from 6 to 8 pounds of seed are sown to the acre. Frequent shallow cultivation throughout both growing seasons is desirable in order to keep the soil mellow and free from weeds, as a weedy crop at harvest time usually means a product inferior in quality.

As soon as the oldest seeds ripen, which is usually in June of the second year, the crop should be harvested. The plants may be cut with a mower and should be left in the swath until they have lost most of their moisture, when they may be built up into small cocks, or they may be brought in from the field and the curing finished in a barn loft. If on handling in the field the seeds shatter extensively, the crop should be brought in in tight wagons. When drying is finished the seeds are thrashed out, cleaned, and stored in bags which contain about 100 pounds each.

Returns from experimental areas indicate that a yield of about 1,000 pounds of seed per acre may be expected. One hundred pounds of seed will usually yield 4 to 6 pounds of oil. The average annual importation of caraway seed for several years has been about 2,000,000 pounds, valued at about 9 cents a pound. The war reduced the annual importations of oil of caraway from 30,000 to 9,000 pounds and increased the value from 80 cents to about $4.25 a pound.

CASCARA SAGRADA.

Cascara, or cascara sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana), is a small tree 20 to 30 feet high, native to the Western part of the United States, and found most abundantly in a narrow belt along the Pacific slope from northern California to southern British Columbia. The bark from the trunk and branches is the source of the drug, for which there is a constant and steady demand.

Plantings which have been made in the Eastern States indicate that this tree may probably be grown along the Atlantic slope in the Piedmont or foothill belt from Pennsylvania to Georgia. The trees have been found to grow better in clay loam than in either sand or clay. Propagation from seed is easy, but the seeds should be planted in the fall soon after they ripen or stratified in sand until used, since germination is very poor if the seeds are allowed to become dry. The seeds are sown in a seed bed under shade in drills 8 inches apart and covered about 1 inch deep. The seedlings reach a height of 10 to 15 inches the first year, and in the following spring before the leaves appear they are set in the field 6 feet apart each way. It is advisable to cultivate frequently, in order to keep the weeds down and to maintain a shallow surface mulch.

If the trees are pruned properly, a crop of bark may be harvested each year without killing the whole tree, as is done in collecting the bark from wild trees. At the time of transplanting, the trees are cut back to a straight stem about a foot high, from which all except the four uppermost buds are removed. The branches which afterwards develop from these buds are later deprived of their lower side shoots, thus causing the tree to grow a head of four long, stout branches instead of a single straight trunk. When the trees are large enough to yield a crop of bark, the longest of the four branches is cut off early in the spring flush with the trunk and a new branch is allowed to grow in its place. This process may be repeated yearly, removing only the largest branches of each tree in any one season.

The bark on the cut-off branches is divided with a sharp knife into lengthwise strips of about an inch or two in width, which may be readily pulled off. It is then dried carefully at a low temperature in the shade and broken into small pieces to facilitate packing and handling.

The price paid to collectors for cascara bark, which before the war usually varied from 1 to 4 cents a pound, in June, 1920, was about 10 cents a pound. So long as a supply of the wild bark continues to be available it is doubtful whether cascara can be cultivated at a profit.

CASTOR BEANS.

The castor-oil plant or Palma Christi (Ricinus communis) is a robust perennial in tropical countries which becomes an annual in regions subject to frost. The seeds of this plant, called "castor beans" or "mole beans," yield the castor oil of commerce. Between 1860 and 1900, the castor bean was an important crop in certain sections of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois, but during recent years its culture has been practically abandoned in favor of crops which are easier to handle and more profitable.

For the commercial production of castor beans a warm climate and long growing season are necessary. If planted much farther north than St. Louis, Mo., or Washington, D. C, the crop is very likely to be caught by frost. In general, any fertile soil which produces good crops of cotton or corn is suitable for castor beans, but a very fertile soil favors the growth of the plant at the expense of seed production and early maturity. The land is prepared in much the same manner as for cotton or corn; that is, plowed, disked, and harrowed level before planting, which may be done by hand or with a corn planter with specially prepared plates. The seed should be planted early in the spring, as soon as the soil is warm but still moderately moist. The time of planting varies according to locality, but in general corresponds to that of cotton.

The seed is planted in hills at a depth of 1 to 2 inches. Toward the north, the rows are usually made 4 feet apart and the hills spaced 3 feet apart in the row. Farther south the rows should usually be made about 6 to 8 feet apart. On very light land the hills may be 4 feet apart in the row; on heavier land, 6 to 8 feet apart. As a general rule three seeds are planted to the hill, and not less than two should be planted. One bushel of medium-sized seed should plant from 5 to 6 acres. When the plants are from 4 to 6 inches tall, the weaker ones should be removed, leaving one plant in a hill.

The crop is cultivated similar to corn until the plants are large enough to shade the ground. In case the field becomes foul with weeds and grass, some hoeing may be necessary, but practically all the cultivation required can be done with a horse-drawn weeder. Some varieties in which the beans pop out when the hull is fully ripe are known locally as "poppers," and after the beans begin to ripen, the field must be gone over every few days and the ripe beans collected in order to avoid loss. Other varieties tend to retain the beans in the hull after they are ripe. The climate affects the popping of the beans, and a variety which shatters badly in one region may shatter very little when grown in another.

In harvesting, a common method is to cut off the spikes with a knife and collect them in large sacks. They are then hauled to a shelter of some kind and allowed to dry until the pods will crush easily. Various methods are used in thrashing castor beans. If the variety grown is one which "pops" or drops its seeds when they are ripe, the spikes are sometimes piled on a hard ground or plank floor fully exposed to the sun and furnished with sides of boards or cloth 6 to 8 feet high to catch the beans as they pop out. In some varieties mere drying does not cause the pods to open, and specially constructed machines have been used to remove the beans from the pods. After the beans have been thrashed or popped out, a fanning mill is used to separate the hulls, chaff, and dirt from the beans, which are then sacked and stored for market.

The yield varies greatly and will depend much upon cultural conditions, the season, the variety grown, and the care exercised in harvesting and thrashing the seeds. In Oklahoma the average yield of the popping varieties is said to be 8 to 10 bushels per acre. Yields up to 25 bushels per acre have been reported for favorable conditions.

For some years prior to the war the farm price for castor beans was about $1 a bushel. Early in the war the increased demand for castor oil caused a sharp advance in the price of the beans, which has gradually declined. In June, 1920, the wholesale market quotation was about $3 a bushel. The normal market requirement in the United States for castor beans is about 1,000,000 bushels annually, but during the last year of the war nearly 3,000,000 bushels were imported.

In the United States castor beans are used in quantity only by manufacturers of castor oil. In general, the equipment and operation of a castor-oil mill resembles that of a cottonseed-oil mill or linseed-oil mill, but special and expensive equipment is necessary for the proper extraction of the oil from castor beans. The best grade of oil is obtained from the beans by hydraulic pressure. An additional quantity of oil of lower grade is obtained by treating the press cake with naphtha or some other volatile solvent. The pomace resulting from the second extraction is used as a fertilizer for tobacco, corn, and other crops, but because of a poisonous principle can not be used for cattle feeding unless specially treated.

Owing to the heavy outlay required for the necessary machinery and the high cost of manufacture on a small scale, it has not been found profitable for the growers of castor beans to undertake the extraction of the oil.

The castor-oil plant is not known to be poisonous, and although the leaves are not relished by farm animals they are said to be used as fodder for cattle in India. Castor beans, however, contain a poisonous principle, and though harmless when handled, may cause serious if not fatal effects when eaten, especially in the case of small children. Care should be taken to prevent these beans from being accidentally mixed with the grain fed to animals, since many cases have been reported in which the death of horses has been due to eating feed in which they have become mixed.

CATNIP.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is a European perennial plant of the mint family, which frequently occurs in this country as a weed in gardens and about dwellings. It has long had a popular use as a domestic remedy. Both leaves and flowering tops find some demand in the crude-drug trade.

Catnip does well on almost any good soil, but thrives best on a well-drained and moderately rich garden loam. However, a more fragrant and attractive herb can be grown in sandy situations than in heavy soils. The plant may be propagated from seeds or by root division. The seed may be sown in rows either late in the fall or in early spring and covered lightly. Fall-sown seed usually gives a more even stand and a heavier growth of herb. When the plants have reached a height of 4 to 5 inches they should be thinned to stand from 12 to 16 inches apart in the rows. In some localities the field sowing of seed does not give good results, in which case plants may be started in a coldframe and later transplanted to the field. Shallow cultivation will favor a vigorous growth of the herb.

The flowering tops are harvested when the plants are in full bloom and are dried in the shade to preserve their green color. In case the herb is grown in large quantity, it may be cut with a mowing machine, the cutter bar of which should be set high. The plants should lie in the swath until partially dry, and the curing may then be finished either in small cocks in the field or in the barn, care being taken to preserve the natural green color as far as possible.

Returns from experimental areas indicate that a yield of about 2,000 pounds of dried flowering tops per acre may be expected under good conditions. The herb must be carefully sorted and all the large or coarse stems removed, after which it may be made up for the market in bales of 100 to 300 pounds each. Prewar prices to collectors ranged from 2 to 4 cents a pound. The prices in June, 1920, for the herb were 5 cents; for the leaves, 10 cents; and for the leaves and flowers, 14 cents a pound.

CHAMOMILE. (See CAMOMILE.)