— 71 — 



As these data are not quite in accord with our experience, which, 

 broadly speaking, still agrees today with the statements concerning the 

 constants of orange oils published by us several years ago 1 ), we seized 

 the opportunity to make enquiries in Sicily as to the experience which had 

 been gained in practice there. The information which has been supplied to 

 us from a reliable source is to the effect that although Bennett's and Parry's 

 figures may apply to a particular district, they cannot be taken as re- 

 presentative of the entire output of orange oil. Each province: Reggio, 

 Messina, Catania, Syracuse, and Palermo has a soil peculiar to itself. Calabria 

 has a special climate, differing from that of the Northern coast and the North 

 East corner of Sicily, while in the Provinces of Catania and Syracuse, again, 

 agriculture and horticulture are subject to entirely special and peculiar 

 climatic conditions. 



Apart from the conditions of irrigation, which may be said to differ 

 in every place, nay, in every valley, the cultivation of the citrus plantations 

 varies according to the character and the means of the proprietors; one being 

 careful, another negligent, this one manuring plentifully, the next sparingly, 

 one using artificial manure where his neighbour uses stable manure. 



All these factors, not to speak of heat, drought, and rain at the proper 

 or at an unpropitious time, affect the development of the fruit, whether it 

 be bergamot, lemon or orange, and ultimately find expression in varying 

 manner in the fruit, and especially in the essential oil. 



Nature does not move within rigidly-defined limits, but deviates from 

 her general rule now in this direction, now in another. This fact should 

 be taken into consideration in laying down limits of value, for if, as the 

 world's trade requires, orange oil is to be exported on a large scale, it is 

 only reasonable that such latitude should be given as will permit the 

 traders to ship, in addition to oils with a high rotation, those which come 

 from districts where experience shows that oils of low rotation are produced. 

 It must furthermore be remembered that, especially in the case of orange 

 oil, the fixing of too high a limit of rotation would in many seasons 

 practically compel the exporter to correct the rotation of the oil by adding 

 orange oil terpenes or distilled orange oil. The same applies to the 

 specific gravity, which always shows slight differences according to the 

 year and the district. All these considerations as well* as our own ob- 

 servations on oils from a reliable source convince us that, on the whole, 

 the limits of value laid down by us a few years ago for the two oils are 

 correct and require little alteration. 



Bitter Orange Oil 2 ): d 16 o 0,852 to 0,857; usually 0,854 to 0,856; 

 « D 2oo+89°30' to +94°, a D of the first 10°/o of the distillate higher than 

 « D of the original oil; n D2 oo 1,473 to 1,475, evaporation residue 3 to 5%. 



x ) Report October 1906, 34. 



2 ) Berte and Romeo give: d 15 o 0,852 to 0,856, « D 2oo -+- 88 to -f 96°. Comp. Report 

 April 1909, 49. 



