THE CITRINE ODOURS. 67 
Zeste,’—the Bigarade referrmg to the Bitter, and the Portugal 
to the Sweet orange. The oils obtained by distillation are very 
inferior, and are termed “ Essence distillée”’ of Bigarade or of 
Portugal respectively. The same terms apply to Bergamotte, 
Citron, Lemon, and to all the Citrine fruits. The process called 
the ‘ Eponge,”’ as applied to the lemon in Sicily and Calabria, 
is briefly as follows :—In the months of November and December 
the small irregular-shaped fruits, which have but little value for 
export, are selected, preferably whilst still green, as they are then 
more rich in oil than when perfectly ripe ; the rind is removed by 
making three incisions lengthways and tbree round, the fruit itself 
being slightly cut into and left in a pyramidal shape, with a little 
piece of rind at each extremity ; the fruit is then divided by a cut 
across the middle, and put aside. The oil is then extracted by 
holding in the right hand, between the finger and thumb, a segment 
of the rind face downwards—that is to say, gripping it on the pith 
side and pinching it so that the outer part of the rind, which ori- 
ginally was convex, now becomes concave in form; the oil then 
escaping from the fractured cells is received into a piece of sponge 
held in contact with the rind by the fingers of the left hand. Each 
segment is well pinched three or four times, the workman always 
avoiding to squeeze any fragments of fruit adhering to the rind. 
When the sponge is saturated with liquid the contents are squeezed 
out into an earthenware bowl of about three pints capacity ; the 
oil floating to the surface is afterwards decanted. The yield varies 
from 9 to 14 ozs. from 400 fruits operated upon. The fragments 
of rind and fruit are then pressed to extract the lemon-juice, and 
the remnant is afterwards distilled to obtain the residual oil. 
The “ Ecuelle-a-piquer,” which is in use at Mentone and Nice, 
consists of a saucer-shaped vessel, about 20 centimetres diameter, 
made of tinned copper. All over the bottom of this vessel are 
numerous strong sharp spikes, projecting about | centimetre; in 
the centre of the hollow or lowest part of the cavity of this vessel 
is an orifice about 2 centimetres diameter, leading into a tube or 
hollow handle of about 12 centimetres in length. The workman 
then places a fruit in the tool, and by a rapid rotatory motion of 
the hand causes the oil-vessels of the rind to be pierced by the 
spikes. The escaping oil flows into the hollow handle. When the 
handle is full, the contents are emptied into another vessel to 
clarify. A further small quantity of oil is obtained by immersing 
the scarified fruit in warm water, and decanting the supernatant 
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