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and to c/fl 14.25 in the course of the first half of that month. After re- 

 maining steady at that figure there was a fresh upward rush early in 

 March to dl 14.85, the highest price paid during the present season. 



Lemon oil therefore has now regained the level of price at which it 

 stood last September, and there is hardly any room for doubt that the 

 upward tendency would have continued, if the threatened coal-strike in 

 England had not cast its shadow before, chilling the assurance of the 

 bull-party and encouraging the hopes of the numerous section of those 

 traders, both in Sicily and abroad, who had been caught bare of supplies. 

 As a result of the strike, which had broken out in the meantime, the 

 price of lemon oil gave way to the extent of about 0,50 ^#, and at the 

 time of writing it stands at 14,25 &%. It is extraordinarily difficult, this 

 season, to find an answer to the question what will be the future course 

 of the lemon oil market, a question which everyone interested in the 

 article is asking himself. 



The statistical returns indicate that, putting it at the highest, the pro- 

 duction available for the world's consumption will not exceed that of last 

 year, while it must not be overlooked that in that year the world's re- 

 quirements not only absorbed the whole of the current crop, but 70000 kilos 

 of old stock in addition. The shipments during the last three months of 

 the present season exceed by 50000 kilos those of the corresponding 

 period of last year, and it is evident that the 30000 kilos or so which 

 were left in stock from the last crop must have gone into consumption, 

 as there has not been enough new oil available to account for the export 

 of such large quantities. During these three months no supplies of new 

 oil worth mentioning can have accumulated here; even at the present 

 time, when three-fourths of the manufacturing season is over, the trade 

 is living from hand to mouth; the manufacturers are in arrears with their 

 deliveries, and several large export firms have only imperfectly fulfilled 

 their delivery-contracts. In the district of Palermo the conditions of the 

 lemon-oil industry appear to be particularly bad this year, for the lemon- 

 crop there has been even scantier than in the other parts of Sicily, and 

 a large part of the inferior fruit is being forwarded thence, packed loose 

 in railway-trucks, to the large cities of Upper Italy for alimentary purposes. 

 Moreover, up to the present the lemon-oil manufacturing industry in this 

 district is not yet in full swing, and is hardly likely to be so this year, 

 for in spite of the high oil-prices the growers are able to obtain better 

 returns by selling their fruit for human consumption in the home-mark^ 4 

 The only cause which could conceivably bring about a considerable decline 

 in the oil-prices would be an accumulation of large stocks, and so far 

 there are no indications of .any sort pointing to the possibility of such 

 an accumulation either in the near or more distant future. Again, it would 

 appear that foreign countries have not yet laid in the whole of their annual 

 requirements. It seems fair to assume that in these circumstances only 



