57 — 



1896/1897 



8199 



gallons 



value 



1,49,553 rup 



1897/1898 



10776 



yy 



;> 



2,09,691 „ 



1898/1899 



16000 



jy 



)J 



4,04,140 



i899/ I 9°° 



10400 



>> 



jj 



2,78,005 



1900/1901 



12834 



yy 



» 



3,44,670 



1901/1902 



1 9 64 1 



j, 



>> 



6,10,783 



1902/1903 



18872 



>> 



J) 



5,23,630 



1903/1904 



20680 



yy 



77 



5,38,774 H 



1904/1905 



18742 



>> 



>) 



4,65,209 



1905/1906 



23436 



?> 



J) 



5,51425 



The consumption was formerly chiefly in the United Kingdom, 

 Egypt, and Turkey; nowadays Germany and France are important 

 buyers. 



Lemongrass oil, (from Cymbopogon flexuosus Stapf), was originally 

 distilled only in Travancore and Cochin, where the distillation is carried 

 out by natives. Only wild grass is worked up, and portable apparatus 

 of a very primitive character are used which in Eastern Travancore 

 differ somewhat from those in the West, but which consist chiefly 

 of a copper still provided with an earthen dome. This is con- 

 nected with a copper tube passing through a condenser filled with 

 cold water, so as to condense the vapour. The water charged with 

 oil is collected in a receiver. The individual parts of the apparatus 

 where they are connected to each other, are closed air-tight with 

 rags and clay. In 24 hours such an apparatus produces about 

 1 pint of oil. 



But the above-named producing districts were unable to meet the 

 growing demand and the Cochin distillers now began to turn to 

 account the rich supplies of Malabar where the value of lemongrass 

 was totally unknown; the consequence of this was that the price of 

 the oil increased here fourteen-fold. The hilly districts of Malabar 

 are entirely covered with lemongrass, and large quantities of it are 

 therefore available, but in spite of this the question of the lemon- 

 grass cultivation in suitable districts has to be considered in order to 

 satisfy the demand. The stills used in Malabar show already a 

 somewhat more modern construction than those in Travancore, and 

 above all are larger; every single distillation yields 1 bottle of oil 

 weighing about 23 oz. 



The shipping port of lemon-grass oil was originally Cochin, but 

 since the oil distillation also extends to Malabar, Cochin will probably 

 gradually lose in importance as compared with Calicut. — At present 

 some 2000 or 3000 cases of 12 bottles each are shipped annually 



