— 57 — 



We would still refer here to a comprehensive work by J. Rodie 1 ) 

 on . the properties and the composition of the oils of the various 

 juniper species, which work, however, on the whole gives no new in- 

 formation. 



Oil of Juniper us chinensis. According to examinations by 

 H. Kondo 2 ), the essential oil of Juniperus chinensis appears to resemble 

 very much, from a chemical point of view, the oil of Juniperus virginia?ia. 

 The cedrol and cedrene isolated from the oil were chemically identical 

 with those isolated from J. virginiana\ but in their physical properties 

 they differed rather considerably. For microscopical purposes, the 

 cedrene from /. chinensis is, according to Sato, quite as suitable as 

 the cedarwood oil which has been employed up to the present. 



Lavender Oil. Since reports from all the producing districts 

 have now come to hand, there can be no doubt that the result of 

 this year's harvest must be designated as favourable, although late 

 frosts in the spring have caused much injury to the plants in various 

 districts. Copious rainfall in the months of May and June has not 

 failed to exert its beneficial influence, so that this year an excellent 

 blossom-material was available. On the whole, the commencement 

 of the distilling season has been greatly delayed, as the abnormal 

 weather conditions have also in the lavender districts naturally had a 

 retarding effect on the development of the plants. In our Barreme 

 distillery, work commenced at the end of July, and continued 

 until the first days of September. In spite of ample precautions we 

 were not able to increase our production this year very much over 

 that of last season, as in the purchase of the blossoms the prices 

 were driven up again as usual, and we were naturally unwilling to go 

 beyond a reasonable limit. The price of our own distillate, which 

 again this year shows no less than 52°/ ester, must be kept at a 

 high figure, proportionate to the cost price, but in spite of this there 

 is no lack of interest in our oil, and we have no doubt that the 

 article will very soon be cleared out again. 



The first essence market took place at Digne at the beginning of 

 September, but without leading to any sales worth mentioning. In 

 view of the good harvest, the purchasers had such poor notions of 

 prices that the producers were not prepared to give up their stocks, 

 and preferred to await developments. At the second market, at Sault, 

 the transactions were also unimportant, but here an improvement was 

 already noticeable in the demand, as it was not considered wise to 

 let the opportunity pass without at least covering the most urgent 

 requirements. 



*) Rev. gen. Chim. 9 (1906), 444; accord, to Chem. Zentralbl. 1907, I. 814. 

 -) Journ. of the Pharm. Soc. of Japan 1907, 236. 



