— 8o — 



the Indian oils we have repeatedly had opportunities of proving, and 

 the position of this article can be called firm. According to the latest 

 reports received by mail, the plants in, Sumatra have suffered much 

 from continuous rain -fall, so that a considerable falling -off in the 

 production is to be expected for the next few months. Owing to 

 this the prices of first quality leaves have advanced from 26/- to 31/- 

 per cwt, without, however, for a long time finding interested parties 

 in view of the raised quotations. It has for the present not yet been 

 necessary to advance the selling prices of the oil, as we are well 

 covered for a long time to come by advantageous purchases. 



With reference to our note on the three patchouli oils x ) examined 

 by de Jong, we may add that the oil mentioned under III was also 

 lsevorotatory, as appears from a statement to that effect published 

 in the annual Report of the Botanical Garden of Buitenzorg 2 ). 



Peppermint Oil, American. In connection with what we said 

 in October 1906, our New York friends report that the condition of 

 the fields has been greatly improved by favourable weather during 

 the late summer, and that in consequence a much larger quantity of 

 oil has been obtained than had been expected. This led to a fall 

 in the price of first grade oil from $ 3. — per lb. to about $ 2.45, and as 

 business was very slow in the country of production, an improvement 

 in the market can hardly be thought of for the present. It would 

 be too early to give at this time a forecast of this year's harvest, 

 as, owing to the late commencement of the spring, no reliable in- 

 formation whatever has yet been received as to how the plants have 

 come through the winter. 



Only a small number of farmers has joined the Essential Oil De- 

 partment of the American Society of Equity 3 ), and this movement 

 may therefore be characterised as unsuccessful. 



From an article in The Chemist and Druggist^) we learn that in 

 recent times American peppermint oils of inferior quality have frequ- 

 ently been met with in commerce, which oils are very suspicious 

 owing to their exceptionally low price. Although the chemical analysis 

 shows that the oils are not adulterated, their odour and particularly 

 their taste are very inferior to those of good American oils, so that 

 for many purposes they are useless. 



*) Report April 1906, 49. 



2 ) Verslag omtrent de te Buitenzorg gevestigde technische Afdeelingen van het 

 Departement van Landbouw 1905. Batavia 1906, p. 45. 



3 ) See Report October 1906, 56. 



4 ) Chemist and Druggist 69 (1906), 897. 



