— 44 - 



Unfortunately it has to be reported that the new orange-crop looks 

 very poor indeed. The trees have suffered from frost last winter, and the 

 flowering has on the whole been scanty, and in its turn, has produced 

 but little fruit. It is therefore expected that the new season, which begins 

 early in October, will witness high prices. 



Sales for October/November delivery have been made on the basis of 

 17 c4t cif. Trieste, but at the present time no one is any longer willing to 

 sell at this figure. It is difficult to say whether, next season, the oil will 

 find ready takers abroad at such high prices, or whether the consumption 

 will show a further restriction and leave the manufacturers with their 

 stocks on hand until, by concessions, they make the buyers more willing. 



Bergamot Oil. An interesting contribution to the subject of the 

 adulteration of essential oils is supplied by Parry 1 ) in an account of the 

 recent examination by himself of an "artificial bergamot oil". Taken by 

 itself, such an examination would be without interest, for there are many 

 artificial bergamot oils on the market nowadays, but the oil referred to by 

 Parry attracts attention from another point of view, because the manu- 

 facturers, a well-known Paris firm, offer the article for sale without any 

 concealment, both at Paris and in the bergamot districts of Southern Italy, 

 as an avowed adulterant of bergamot oil. A covering circular letter 

 accompanying the invoice, which, together with a sample of the oil, reached 

 Parry from a business friend, and which is published in Parry's article, 

 is reproduced below because it is desirable that the spirit of unscrupu- 

 lousness which finds expression in this document should be put into the 

 pillory as often as possible. The circular, translated literally from the 

 French, reads as follows: — 



"Sir, — I acknowledge the receipt of the order you gave to my 

 traveller when visiting your town, for which I thank you, and for which 

 you will find invoice enclosed. At the same time I send you a dupli- 

 cate invoice containing the details of the labels and declaration for 

 customs purposes. I beg you to conform to these indications, for, in 

 this manner, the product being declared as "chemicals" you will only 

 have a small duty to pay. I am convinced that you will be well satis- 

 fied with this product, which possesses a specific gravity 0,885 ; rotatory 

 power about + 18° to + 20°; ester v. about 38 per cent; solubility in 

 alcohol, normal; residue on evaporation 6 to 7 per cent, which is equi- 

 valent to saying that, from the analytical point of view, no observation 

 can be made as to the presence of this product. So far as concerns 

 the perfume, it is very sweet, and very easily covered by the pure 



*) Perfum. and Essent. Oi! Record 2 (1911), 59. 



