190 



PHILIPPINE RESINS, GUMS, AND OILS 



Table 30. — Amount and value of ilang-ilang oil exported from the Philip- 

 pine Islands. 



MANUFACTURE OF OIL 



The flowers are usually picked at night and are collected in 

 the morning by the people who deliver them at the distilleries. 

 In Manila the best flowers are usually obtained in May and June. 

 We have little information as to the yield of flowers produced 

 by a single tree, but it is apparently large. 



Bacon,* who made an extensive investigation of ilang-ilang 

 oil, did not believe that the distillation offered any special diffi- 

 culties, but that it was necessary to collect only the proper frac- 

 tion. He found that when the flowers are distilled commercially 

 the procedure is frequently not carried out in the proper manner 

 and that consequently a low grade of oil is often obtained. 



* * * The important points where many err, and this is especially 

 true of the pro\nncial distillers, is in the wrong choice of fractions, in 

 burning the flowers and in obtaining too much resin in the oil. The oil 

 must be distilled slowly, with clean steayn, the flowers being so placed in 

 the stills as to avoid their being cut into channels by the steam. The 

 quantity of the oil taken is only a fraction of the total amovmt in the 

 flowers. Disregard of this factor is one of the most grievous errors of 

 the provincial distillers, for, on the contrary, they are usually too anxious 

 to obtain a large yield of oil, and therefore they will often distill 1 kilo 

 from 150 to 200 kilos of flowers. The quantity of the latter to be taken 

 to produce 1 kilo of oil naturally varies with their quality, but in general 

 the amount should be 300 to 500 kilos, probably averaging about 400. 

 After the first quality oil has been distilled, then a varying quantity of 

 the second grade, up to a volume equal to that of the first, may be obtained 

 from the same lot of flowers; after this operation the still and condensers 

 must be thoroughly cleaned and steamed out to prevent contamination of 



* Bacon, R. F., Philippine terpenes and essential oils, II. Ylang-ylang 

 oil. Philippine Journal of Science, Section A, Volume 3 (1908), page 65. 



Bacon, R. F., Philippine terpenes and essential oils, III. Oil of Ylang- 

 ylang. Philippine Journal of Science, Section A, Volume 4 (1909), page 

 127. 



Bacon, R. F., Philippine terpenes and essential oils, IV. Oil of Ylang- 

 ylang. Philippine Journal of Science, Section A, Volume 5 (1910), page 

 265. 



