— 70 — 



sweet oranges, was not a good one, the price of the oil advanced slowly 

 in the course of the winter. There has been no chance for stocks of 

 any importance to accumulate and it is therefore possible that consumers 

 will have to pay higher rates in the future. Generally speaking it would 

 seem that in the course of the last few years the interest in this article 

 had declined. 



Orange Oil, Sweet. When the new crop arrived the market was 

 wholly bare of supplies. Hence, immediately upon the arrival of the new 

 oil a brisk turnover ensued, which became all the more animated because 

 the orange crop was known to be small. In sympathy with these con- 

 ditions the oil-prices, from the beginning of the season, showed a slight 

 upward tendency from 17 ^ to about 18 c4t. Business only slackened 

 somewhat when some little stock had again accumulated here and when 

 buyers abroad were able to dispose of their shipments, recently-arrived 

 and afloat. Those with expert-knowledge of the market improved this 

 occasion by taking advantage of the receding prices and by buying in 

 the falling market. At last, about Christmas-time, prices reached their 

 lowest ebb and since then, rising by slow degrees, they have again reached 

 a parity of 18 &ft. The stocks of orange oil are very small and it is most 

 probable that higher prices will rule during the summer months. 



Preparation of the Oils of the Agrumi. 



It is common knowledge that the oils of the agrumi are prepared by 

 expression from the peel. Frequent attempts have been made to find 

 another method of manufacture, but so far without success. The ad- 

 vantage of the present process is that the oil which is gained by ex- 

 pression from the peel conserves in its entirety its pure natural aroma, 

 whereas ordinary steam-distillation (under atmospheric pressure), yields 

 an oil possessing a different odour and of inferior quality. On the other 

 hand the disadvantage of the expression-process is that it requires so 

 much human labour. A further, and in our view a still greater, drawback 

 is that this process leads to the waste of enormous quantities of oil, for 

 it is obvious that by expressing the oil from the peel into a sponge, and 

 again squeezing it out of the sponge into a vessel, only a portion of the 

 oil expressed, and probably only the smaller portion, is actually gained. 



The subject is one of not inconsiderable financial importance fonf 

 Italy. The average annual exports of the oils in question from 1899 to 1908 

 inclusive amounted to 934952 kilos, representing a value of 15350 737 Lire 1 ). 

 In 1909 and 1910 they were smaller: 629 897 kilos .(value 11970810 Lire) 

 in the former and 604299 kilos (value 1 1 676 575 Lire) in the latter year. 



l ) Report April 1910, 48. 



