— 59 



With the exceptionally mild winter, the rose-fields have up to 

 the present suffered no damage whatever, and at this moment the 

 prospects of the new harvest are very favourable. It is to be hoped 

 that they will not be affected by belated night-frosts. With regard 

 to the yield, nothing certain can be said before the end of May. 



During the examination of consignments of rose oil, W. H. Sim- 

 mons 1 ) observed in two cases the presence of ethyl alcohol. As in both 

 cases only very small quantities of alcohol (0,65 and 1 °/ respectively) 

 were detected, Simmons attributes their presence more to an accident 

 than to an intentional adulteration, but in the case of an expensive 

 article like rose oil a small alcohol- content is also important, especially 

 when it is a question of the purchase of large quantities. Simmons 

 does not believe that processes of fermentation play here a part, such 

 as we have once before observed with our own distillates 2 ), as the 

 samples belonging to the consignments did not contain alcohol. 



Simmons avails himself of the opportunity to point out that the 

 index of refraction may occasionally be of some value for judging rose oil; 

 he mentions 1,4600 as the lowest permissible value for 20 . We have ob- 

 served in good oils at 25 refractive indices between 1,452 and 1,464 s ). 



Rosemary Oil. Both the Dalmatian and the French oils suffered 

 from a slow demand. The distillers of the former may possibly be compelled 

 to make concessions in the price, in order to dispose of their product. 



The manufacturers in the South of France already show themselves 

 more accommodating. 



Sandalwood Oil. The parcels of sandalwood purchased by us 

 at the last auctions, have now all arrived. 



The official statement of the 15 th August 1905 showed the follow- 

 ing quantities for sale: — 



District 



Koti 



Date of auction 



Approximate 

 quantity 



Shimoga 



Tirthahalli 



14 November 1905 



200 tons 



do. 



Sagar 



18 



200 „ 



do. 



Shimoga 



22 



370 „ 



Kadur 



Tarikere 



25 



I50 » 



do. 



Chikmagalur 



28 



350 » 



Hassan 



Hassan 



2 December „ 



200 „ 



Bangalore 



Bangalore 



6 



I30 „ 



Mysore 



Seringapatam 



9 



250 » 



do. 



Hunsur 



12 



450 » 





Total 



2300 tons, 





Chemist and Druggist 68 (1906), 20. 

 *) Report October 1892, 41. 

 8 ) Report October 1904, 8r. 



