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godown for periods varying from one to seven years. The average value of 10 piculs of the berries in this, their first stage, is ten yen, the farmer’s selling price.
The manufacturer of wax can carry on his business all the year round, being interrupted only by excessive heat or excessive cold. His establishment consists of godowns for storing the berries, a large shed containing the pans for heating, the presses for extracting the liquid wax, and as large a piece of levelled ground as possible for laying out the wax during its bleaching process. He establishes himself as near as possible to a supply of good clear water.
When sufficiently ripe, the berries are thrashed with bamboo flails and thus separated from their stalks. They are then crushed, as shown in the diagram, and reduced to the stage of sample No. 2, This crushing process, which can readily be done between thumb and finger, discloses a small hard red kernel surrounded by an apparently dry husk or fibre. The wax is contained in this fibre and only to a very small extent in the kernel, but it is not necessary to separate the two. They are then well steamed over an open kettle, the water in which is kept boiling by a wood fire underneath.
From the steaming sieve the mixture is placed “all hot” into the press bags, surrounded by bamboo rings to fit the aperture in the press, and as quickly as possible placed in the press, as shown in the diagram. Wedges are driven home by repeated blows of a mallet, and the liquid runs off into its receptacle at the bottom. Primitive as this style of pressing is, the result has not yet been improved upon by the trial of several hydraulic presses which have at various times been tried by the Japanese for expressing both oil and wax. Their own presses cost little, never get out of order, last long, require nothing but cheap coolie hire, and, in actual percentage of liquid extracted, do very nearly as much work as an expensive “Langue’s” hydraulic press, requiring steam or other power to drive pumps which frequently require overhauling and repairing. After being fully pressed, the ‘cake’ or residue of the wax
