Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1884 — The Japanese Tallow Tree. [ARTICLE]

The Japanese Tallow Tree.

The nuts grow 7 in clusters, and are gathered in November:, When ripe, the capsule divides and discloses, usually, about three kernels, covered with pure, hard, white tallow. In preparing the tallow, the ripe nuts are put into a wooden cylinder with a perforated bottom, and, after ten or fifteeiß minutes’ straining, <tbe -t-allnw--becbmes s.o soft that it is easily detected from the albumen of the seeds by breaking them with mallets. It is then separated from the seed by sifting it through hot sieves, but, of course, it is discolored from, mixtures with the brown- testa at the seeds, and, in order to strain it and make it perfectly pure arid white, it is poured into a cylinder made up of rings of straw placed one on top of the other, and put into a rude press, when the tallow is squeezed through in a pure state. From 133 pounds of seed is obtained from forty to fifty pounds of tallow, besides the oil obtained subsequently from the albumen by grinding, steaming, and pressing it. The tallow is used for a variety of purposes by the Chinese, but more_ particularly for making candles, which are burned in Buddhist worship.