— 69 — 



plies in the hands of the Western traders are said to have been 6000 lbs. 

 less than last year, so that altogether we start with a deficiency of over 

 80000 lbs. The extensions of the plantations in Michigan and Indiana 

 referred to above are insufficient to equalize this deficiency. As there 

 are numerous complaints of poor oil yields and the old stocks had been 

 almost cleared at the commencement of the crop at the end of July, it is 

 believed that not more than 225000 lbs. of oil will be available to meet 

 the world's annual requirements of from 280000 to 300000 lbs., and a 

 further advance of the market is therefore confidently anticipated. The 

 quality of this season's oil is very good, as more care is being taken 

 every year to keep the fields as free as possible from weeds, to the great 

 gain of the pure peppermint aroma. 



Peppermint Oil, Dalmatian. From Dr. Giaconi, of Trieste, we have 

 received a dozen samples of peppermint oil distilled by himself from French 

 peppermint cultivated in Dalmatia. Most of the oils had been prepared 

 from the green herb; they were partly in the crude state and partly rectified. 

 The crude oils possessed a peculiar subsidiary odour of pennyroyal which, 

 however, is evidently removable by rectification, for it was no longer 

 perceptible in the rectified samples, hence the latter might possibly find 

 employment in perfumery and in the manufacture of liqueurs. The limit- 

 values of the constants are given below: — 



Crude oils Rectified oils 



d 15 o 0,9074 to 0,9127 0,9094 to 0,9141 



« D — 15°45' to— 20°58' — li°45' to —18° 12' 



n D20O 1,46229 to 1,46684 1,46041 to 1,46783 



Acid v to 1,9 to 1,0 



Esterified menthol . . . 3,4 to 4,8°/o 2,6 to 3,8°/o 



Total menthol 46,3 to 54,2 °/o 39,6 to 54,1% 



• (2,8 to 3,4 vols. a. m. Most of 2,8 to 3 vols. a. m. Only in 



Solubility in 70% ale. j the samples became opales- one case did the diluted sol. 

 | cent when further diluted. show opalescence. 



The above distillates differ from English and American oils in that 

 some of them have a lower rotatory power, while a few are poorer in 

 menthol. They approximate more closely, of course, to the French oil, 

 to which we have referred frequently in our Reports 1 ). 



Peppermint Oil, English. Those of our friends who, following the 

 suggestion made in our last Report, have supplied themselves plentifully 

 with 1910 oil, will have no cause for regret, for even as early as the month 

 of August we were compelled to raise our prices by 10 otl per kilo, and 

 at the commencement of September a further advance was necessary. The 

 cost price of unadulterated crude Mitcham peppermint oil this year is 34/- 

 to 35/- per lb., a fact which clearly shows that our selling prices are in 



3 ) Report April 1905, 62; October 1906, 58; April 1909, 76. 



