- 64 - 



make it possible to obtain a lemongrass oil which should be equal in 

 every respect to the Malabar oil. The grass grows well there, and the 

 fact that four samples of oil from Cochin grass grown in Antigua 

 and Montserrat did not as yet reach the high citral content desired 

 (they contained respectively 53, 63, 64 and 68 %) is ascribed by 

 Watts and Tempany to the insufficient degree of ripeness of the grass, 

 experiments with "West Indian" grass having shown that not only the 

 oil yield but also the citral content of the oil increase in proportion 

 to the ripeness of the grass. 72,5 kilos of a grass grown in Antigua, 

 three months old, yielded upon distillation 139 cc. of oil with 58% 

 of citral, while an equal weight of one year old grass yielded 206 cc. 

 of oil with 69 °/ of citral. The most favourable conditions for harvesting 

 Cochin grass are to be determined still. From the results hitherto ob- 

 tained by the experiment station it appears that from two to three crops 

 may be gathered in the course of the year, each cutting producing from 

 6000 to 8000 lbs. of grass per acre. The oil yield was found to be 

 from 0,2 to 0,26 °/ . 



Two illustrations of the distilling process given in the Bulletin are 

 evidently intended to represent a general indication of the mode of 

 distilling volatile oils, the various parts shown (still, rising tube, con- 

 denser, and receiver) not being given to scale. 



As mentioned in our last Report 1 ), experiments similar to those 

 of Watts and Tempany have been made in Barbados with most 

 favourable results. A lemongrass grown by the Government laboratory 

 in that island from Cochin seed yielded a readily soluble oil and 

 very rich in citral. 



To a previous note 2 ) on an oil said to be derived from Andro- 

 pogon Schoenanthus which was examined in the Government labora- 

 tory at Antigua and behaved altogether abnormally, being in no way 

 ascribable as Palmarosa oil, but rather resembled lemongrass oil, we 

 are now able to add the statement that the oil in question was the 

 product of a lemongrass four years old, which had never previously 

 been cut. We take this statement from a comparative table dealing 

 with a series of West Indian lemongrass oils, which has been prepared 

 by Watts and Tempany. 



We quote from a paper read in Berlin by Prof. Preuss 3 ) the 

 statement that the experimental cultivation of Andropogon citratus 

 (author?) in New Guinea has shown profitable results, and that the 

 distillation of lemongrass oil is now to be commenced there on an 



x ) Report November 1908, 82. 



2 ) Report October 1902, 50. 



3 ) Berichte d. deutsch. pharm. Ges. 19 (1909), 25. 



