DISTILLATION OF NATIVE ESSENTIAL OILS, ETC. 7 



Now, in a ton of leaves there is at the utmost but 20 lbs. 

 of oil, which say is worth 30s. It would therefore be necessary 

 to gather a ton of leaves, cart them to the still, distil and bottle 

 the oil, pack and place f.o.b. for 30s., and this cannot be done 

 at the present rate of wages. 



I found that a man could gather from 3 to 5 cwt. of branches 

 of leaves in a day. To save time the leaves are pressed into 

 sacks, the mouths of which are then sewn up to facilitate 

 carriage. A well filled sack weighs generally -lo lbs., but 

 occasionally one will weigh as much as 56 lbs. — this depends 

 upon the. juicmess of the leaf. It is best to throw the tilled 

 sacks into the still instead of emptying out the leaves, as this is 

 a most tedious thing to do ; moreover, after being steamed, the 

 sacks can l)e more readily handled than loose leaves. 



The still I used was made of galvanised iron of the 

 capacity of 1,000 gallons of water or half a ton of green leaves. 

 Taking the maximum amount a man can gather daily at 5 cwt.. 

 yielding 5 lbs. of oil at Is. 6d., equal to 7s. 6d. ; against this 

 you have os. wages, os. cartage, 2s. 6d. distilling, and Is. other 

 expenses, equal to 13s. Gd. 



I found that only three plants growing about Brisbane — 

 namely, Encabjptus Jueniastomn, Malalema linanifoJia, and M. 

 leucailendron gave anything like 20 lbs. of oil to the ton. I 

 was unable to get the exact yield as the head of the still was 

 not absolutely steam-tight. 



The only commercial use that has been suggested for these 

 oils is as perfume for soaps, and for this purpose they must 

 compete in price with such oil as verbena grass. 



The oil of Eucuh/jjtus iilohxdus is now obtamed as a by 

 product, and I am told can be sold in California to leave a 

 profit, at less than Is. per lb. I sent -samples of these oils to 

 Messrs. Cleaver and Co., large soap manufacturers in England. 

 They tried them in the proportion of 1 lb. of oil to the cwt. of 

 soap ; the soap was perfectly scented after being made, but in 

 two or three weeks it was impossil)le to say that any oil had 

 been used. They say that for scenting soaps these oils are 

 useless. 



