— 57 — 



The turnover at the fairs at Sault (Vaucluse), which are held on 

 Wednesdays from the beginning of September, has so far been insignificant, 

 because the growers demand from 25 to 30 frcs. per kilo for their oil, 

 according to quality, and even those firms which usually attempt at the 

 beginning of the buying-period to rush up the prices could not bring 

 themselves to concede such figures. The fairs at Digne on September 

 2 and 9 also resulted in very little business, the high rates being generally 

 insisted upon, and only a few small parcels of the better grades changed 

 hands privately at from 28 to 29 frcs. Similar dulness prevailed at Apt. 

 As the consumers are already beginning to show urgent need of supplying 

 themselves, the growers will probably seize the opportunity to increase 

 their requirements, and, if occasion should serve, to engineer a serious 

 advance, and this the more readily because stocks from the previous 

 season are no longer available. 



The important problem remains what will be the attitude of buyers 

 and sellers at the fairs at Luc-en-Diois on September 19 and at Sederon 

 on September 21, that is to say in the Department of the Drome. Un- 

 fortunately this Report goes to press before these dates. 



Our Barreme works have worked full time day and night, and last 

 year's output has even been exceeded, the total quantity distilled being 

 294500 kilos flowers. At Sault we distilled 86258 kilos, as against 

 85000 kilos in 1910. Accurate figures concerning the other places where 

 we have caused lavender to be distilled are not available at present, but 

 probably the total will only be slightly below that of 1910. As in previous 

 seasons, the quality of our own distillate is unsurpassed; the first, supplies 

 which have arrived in Miltitz show the usual ester-content of over 50°/u. 



A sample of lavender oil which was submitted to us for judgment had 

 to be rejected, as a result of analytical examination, on account of its 

 high specific gravity coupled with its low ester-content, the oil being 

 moreover open to the suspicion of having had glycerol esters added to it. 

 As the firm which had supplied the oil energetically disputed the possibility 

 of its having been adulterated, and, on the other hand, insinuated that the 

 chemist who had passed the judgment had been guilty of partizanship, 

 we asked for, and procured, a large sample of the oil in question, as it 

 was desirable directly to isolate any foreign ester which might be con- 

 tained in it. 



The analysis gave the following result: d i5 o 0,8994, <* D — 4° 3', acid v. 0,5, 

 ester v. 80,0, ester calc. as linalyl acetate 28°/ , soluble in 2,5 vols. a. m. 

 70% alcohol. No terpinyl acetate and esters of sparingly soluble acids 

 could be detected; on the other hand, when the oil was tested for glycerol 

 ester 1 ) 0,7 cc. seminormal potash liquor was used up for 10 cc. of the 



!) Report April 1911, 150. 



