54: 



The decline of the sugar industry in the West Indian islands appears 

 ■io lead to this, that the lands and the labour set free by the reduced culti- 

 vation of sugar-cane are employed for other purposes ; and from a report 

 •which has reached us from a friendly quarter it would seem that it is in- 

 tended to take up there the cultivation of the Andropogon grasses. That 

 attempts to cultivate these grasses have already been made in Ihose islands- 

 is proved by the fact, that the Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens at 

 Trinidad, at a meeting in Barbados, produced among other essential oils, 

 also the oils of Andropogon Nardus var., and Andropogon ScJioenanthus, 

 which were subsequcLtly examined more in detail at the Government La- 

 boratory in Antigua. 



The following results were obtained there : — 



for the first oil : 

 a ||:|«' = 0-9084, aD = + o°l' ; aldehyde-content 15-5 per ceat. ; 

 saponification number 23, saponification number after acetylation 168*5, 

 corresponding to a total alcohol-content of about 53 per cent.; 



for the other oil : 

 d 44:f° = 0-9315, aD = -f b°; aldebyde-content 48-2 per cent. ; 

 saponification number 31-1 ; saponification number after acetylation 69-6, 

 corresponding to 20-2 per cent. Cj o Hj g 0. 



"Whereas the first of the two oils, apart from the low dextrogyration,- 

 approximately agrees wiih Ceylon citrocella oil (it does not dissolve in 

 10 volumes of 70 per cent, alcohol, but readily in the same volume of 80 

 per cent, alcohol), the other oil diffeis in its properties in a very marked 

 degree from palmarosa oil, with which, according to the mother plant, it 

 ehould be identical. But the oil cannot be considered as lemon. grass oil 

 because (even assuming that the aldehyde it contains is actually citral), 

 the aldehyde-content is too low ; it shows a certain amount of similarity 

 with a lemongrass oil from the same district (compare Eeport April 1902, 

 page 48), inat^niuch as it dissolves with great difficulty, and only makes 

 clear solutions with 94 per cent, alcohol. — From Schimmels Semi-annual 

 Keport as given in Agricultural News p. 20. 



JAMAICA OILS. 



Andropogon ScJioenanthus. 



This the ordinary " fever grass" of Jamaica, grew strongly and furnished 

 an abundance of grass for cutting. Ihe results of distillation were, how- 

 ever, so disappointing that it was concluded that the cost of production 

 -per lb. of oil was far too high to enable this grass to compete with the 

 Andropogon Nardus of Ceylon as a source of Lemon-grass oil, quite apart 

 from the intrinsic value of the two products. 



—Experiments were made to decide the best treatment of the grass before 

 being placed in the Still. Uncut grass gave a lower yield of oil and took 

 longer to distill than cut grass. It was found, however, that fine sub- 

 division in a closely set Chaff Cutter was, if anything, detrimental to the 

 yield of oil. The practical conclusion arrived at was that the grass should 

 be cut freeh as wanted and cut up into lengths of about 6 inches for dis- 

 tillation. The Laboratory Still took 36B)s of grass at each charge. The 

 yield of oil varied but little andiimounted to 1 cubic centimetre per fl> 

 of green grass. This equals a yield of 4ozs. per cwt. 



The oil was of a bright golden yellow colour and gave the following 

 results : — 



Specific Gravity fj-" 0-8897 



Optical Activity — 1-0*V in 20 cm. tube 



T = 29.5. C. 



