— 62 — 



Treuenfeld, who in his recently published excellent work "Paraguay 

 in Wort und Bild" says: — 



"Although numerous wild-growing orange - forests are still in existence, they 

 are nowadays already removed from inhabited villages, owing to the destructive 

 harvesting method. The harvest takes place all the year round, but chiefly in 

 the months from October to April. The trees are cut down about 2 inches 

 above the ground, and the leaves and young fruit are distilled on the spot, 

 the wood being used for heating the apparatus. Indolence and vandalism have 

 thus led to the destruction of extensive orange - forests ; in recent times the 

 Authorities are taking pains to prevent the cutting down of the trees, and to 

 regulate the harvests by law. For this reason the prices of the essential oils 

 have advanced, and it is becoming more and more difficult to procure the product." 



In view of these unfavourable conditions, further surprises in the 

 near future may be anticipated. 



The above-mentioned work also gives a summary of the export 

 of petitgrain oil from Paraguay issued by the Chamber of Commerce 

 of Asuncion, which we quote here for the sake of its interest: — 

 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 



kilos 6106 9545 17834 I943 6 25176 



value marks 48848 76360 107000 116616 146531 



Pine-needle Oils, Unfortunately, the difficulties in obtaining 

 supplies of pure normal oil of Pinus pumilio have now entered upon 

 a new stage. Our old trustworthy purveyors, who were compelled to 

 enlarge their distilling plant considerably, partly owing to the in- 

 creased demand, have lately supplied an oil which — although its 

 purity cannot be doubted — yet in its physical constants differs from 

 that previously supplied by them, so that we were forced to amend 

 our requirements regarding quality. 



The propertfes which we had up to the present required in oil of 

 Pinus pumilio were: di.50 0,865 to °fi75) a D — 4° 3°' t° — 9°; ester- 

 content (bornyl acetate) 5 to 7 °/ . The British Pharmacopoeia had 

 specified practically the same data, as it required for oil of Pinus pumilio 

 the following constants: di5 j5 o 0,865 to 0,870; «di5,5° — 5° to — io°; 

 below 165 at most io°/ may distil over. According to our this 

 year's experience, these limits appear to us to be too narrow, as un- 

 objectionable distillates from various districts show this year not un- 

 important deviations, which are attributed to the abnormal weather 

 conditions by distillers known to us as reliable. For example, we 

 received oils distilled in the Tyrol, which were distinguished by a 

 particularly low specific gravity and high rotation. The constants 

 fluctuated between the following limits: di 5 o 0,8596 to 0,8629; 

 « D — io°57' to — I5°20 / ; ester-content 4 to 4,9% \ soluble in 4,5 

 to 6,0 and more vol. 90 per cent, alcohol. 



Another distillate from Styria, on the other hand, was characterised 

 by a lower rotation and a somewhat lower solubility. It had the 



