— 43 — 



Our factory at Barreme, situated in a neighbourhood where, as 

 mentioned above, the conditions were of the most favourable, has 

 supplied an amount about equal to that of 1905, so that we are 

 unfortunately, even after the end of this season, still unable to place 

 any quantity worth mentioning on the market. The approximate 

 quantity of 1500 kilos at our disposal, which this year again shows 

 an average ester-content of 52°/ , has to be reserved for a few 

 clients who have secured this quality in advance "a tout prix" for 

 special purposes. By means of definite agreements with the principal 

 parties interested in the blossom-industry, we had succeeded in keeping 

 the prices of the distillation-material within reasonable limits, so as to 

 prevent from the first the spread of unauthorised rumours like last year. 



We need not remind our readers that a large number of envious 

 competitors in the South of France had accused us of forcing up the 

 prices in our purchases of blossoms and oil, and of being the cause 

 of the high prices of last season. It is all the more ridiculous that 

 this year the opposite tactics are followed, and it is attempted to 

 make us unpopular with the producers by accusing us of price-cutting! 

 A local paper in the South of France, on the occasion of a report 

 on the market at Digne, expresses the hope that these profitable 

 prices will remain in force, so that all small producers may be able 

 to hold their own against the 'Compagnie Schimmel d'Allemagne', 

 who would have liked nothing better than that the prices had not 

 been above 20 francs. We would not withhold this little jest from 

 our readers, in order to prove that it is unfortunately an impossibility 

 to meet the wishes of everyone over there. 



With reference to what we said in our last Report, we wish to 

 state that Mr. Lautier Fils of Grasse, the firm who expressed 

 doubt that there existed a natural oil with such a high ester-content 

 as what we obtained, has taken samples at our Barreme factory 

 during the last distillation. In the meantime we have received a 

 communication that he had convinced himself of the truth of our 

 statement regarding the ester-content of our product. This disposes 

 of the matter as far as we are concerned. 



In a work on the influence which the cross-fertilisation of lavender 

 and spike has on the essential oil of these plants, A. Birckenstock 1 ) 

 also deals with the ester-question. Although he places himself on the 

 standpoint likewise occupied by us, that the ester-content is highly 

 important for the valuation of lavender oil, and that the classification 

 of the various qualities according to their content of linalyl acetate 



*) A. Birckenstock, Action de Phybridation sur les essences de lavande et 

 aspic. Moniteur scientifique de Quesneville, May 1906. 



