— 76 — 



of two or three weeks. The ground should be ploughed or dug over, 

 cleaned of all weeds, and given a fairly liberal dressing of stable manure. 

 The planting is done in rows running north and south, 6 feet apart and 

 with an interval of 4 feet between the plants. It is a mistake to plant 

 them any closer together, for they cannot then develop a healthy crop 

 of blossom when they get larger, and it becomes almost impossible to 

 keep the ground properly weeded. 



It will take about 1800 plants to stock one acre. The plants are 

 grown from cuttings, of which the price is about 16/- 100. It is not de- 

 sirable to propagate lavender from branches of old plants, although that 

 is the cheaper way, for lavender grown from torn-off branches easily de- 

 velops fungoid disease. Lavender plantations must be kept free from all 

 weeds, but it must be borne in mind that lavender roots run at a very 

 small depth from the surface. It is a good device to grow carrots between 

 the rows of plants, because thus the weeds are kept down. The crop 

 usually begins in August, and a second crop will generally be ready in 

 October. 



Lemongrass Oil. Since the publication of our April Report prices, 

 it is true, have moved within narrow limits, but the tendency has been 

 perceptibly upward, the present quotations being from 2 5 /« to 2 3 /* d. for 

 delivery, and about 3 d. for prompt oil. It is probably solely and entirely 

 due to the steady requirements of the ionone industry that the prices of 

 lemongrass oil have recovered in this manner, for the soap industry 

 which formerly consumed considerable quantities, has almost abandoned 

 the article in the course of the last few years. 



The shipments from Cochin from 1 st July 1909 to 30 th June 1910 were 

 distributed as follows: — 



To London 846 



cases 



„ Liverpool 100 



» 



„ Havre 794 



» 



„ Marseilles 1791 



« 



„ Bremen 101 



j» 



„ Hamburg 1148 



» 



„ New York 309 



» 



Total 5089 



cases 



compared with 4755 



ii ii 



n 6082 



ii i 



n 6239 



11 i 



in the same period of 1908/9 

 „ ii 1907/8 

 „ ,, 1906/7. 



There is therefore no ground, so far, for any advance in prices. On 

 the contrary, only a few consignments of oil from other producing 

 centres (such as are already in prospect) are needed again to undermine 

 the market completely. 



