14 THE PRODUCTION OF VOLATILE OILS AND PERFUMERY PLANTS, 



aiul their iin(liii<>s are fiirtlier substantiated hy Kebler " and by 

 Parry.'' 



In the United States the cultivation of hi vender has not advanced 

 to any extent. However, in view of the fact that certain regions of 

 the United States possess climate, soil, and other factors practically 

 similar to those of the lavender-producing regions of France and of 

 England, it does not necessarily follow that lavender may not be 

 grown profitably in America. 



The nature of the soil through its physical and chemical properties 

 oflfers an important variable condition likely to affect the metabolism 

 of the plant, and consequently the constituents elaborated by it. Ex- 

 periments upon peppermint by Charabot and Hebert'' seem to indi- 

 cate that soils supplied with commercial fertilizers produce plants 

 yielding oils superior in esters or odor-bearing compounds, the esteri- 

 fication of menthol in the plant seeming to be favored. Peppermint 

 grown by the writer upon a soil rich in organic matter, a black loam, 

 produced an oil noticeably richer in menthyl acetate than peppermint 

 grown upon a clay loam. The existing conditions of climate were 

 possibly also instrumental in bringing about this result. 



Seasonal changes have also a marked effect not only upon the 

 quality but also upon the quantity of oil produced by a plant. A 

 plant distilled at its flowering period during one season may produce 

 a certain yield of oil of certain quality, and in the following season, 

 which may be entirely different, it may produce a much higher or 

 lower yield of oil either superior or inferior in quality. 



The agents already enumerated are instrumental in bringing about 

 certain chemical changes in the composition of the oil in the cells or 

 tissues of the living plants which contain the oil already formed. 

 There is, however, another group of plants Avhich, though not possess- 

 ing the oil already formed in the plant tissues, do possess certain 

 basal constituents from which the volatile oil is formed. These con- 

 stituents usualh' belong to a class of plant constituents known as 

 glucosids, which break down by hydrolj'sis into a sugar, generally 

 glucose, and some other compound. The " other compound '' which 

 is formed by this hydrolysis in the case of some glucosids is volatile 

 and constitutes the volatile oil from the plant. 



Very common examples of plants with glucosidal l)odies which 

 yield a volatile oil are wintergreen and sweet birch. The leaves of 

 the wintergreen and bark of the sweet birch contain the glucosid 

 gaultherin, wdiich under proper conditions of hydrolysis yields 

 methyl salicylate and glucose. Methyl salicylate in this instance 



" Kebler, L. F. American Journal of Pharniaey, 1900, p. 223. 

 & Parry, E. L. Chemist and Druggist, 1902, p. 168. 



cChiirnbot, A., and Hebert. A. Bulletin du Jardiu Colonial, vol. 27, 1902, 

 3d ser., pp. 224 and 914. 

 195 



