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but in most a shortage of from 33 to 50% is said to be likely, 

 This unusual state of things makes it of course extraordinarily difficult 

 to take a precise survey of the general average; but we shall pro- 

 bably be near the truth in placing the average output at scarcely 

 above two-thirds of a normal crop. 



In the case of oil of lemon, only the principal centre of collection, 

 Messina, was destroyed, while the extensive producing area remained 

 almost free from damage by earthquake; on the other hand, in the 

 case of bergamot oil, the entire producing country was ravaged by 

 shocks, and it will therefore be desirable to add a word concerning 

 the present conditions in Southern Calabria: — 



The manufacture of oil of bergamot invariably takes place on 

 small farms which are scattered round about the numerous towns, 

 townships and villages of Southern Calabria. All these places have 

 been more or less destroyed by the earthquake, and a large part of 

 the population is buried under the ruins. But as everywhere the 

 communities were small (even in Reggio the number of survivors pro- 

 bably does not exceed 20000), it was much easier here than it was 

 in Messina to procure new dwellings for the remaining people, and 

 to-day the visitor to Calabria sees everywhere in the earthquake-region 

 round about the older townships new and more or less pleasantly 

 built settlements of sheds. In Messina scarcely one-third to one-half 

 of the survivors have returned to the quarter of the town where the 

 sheds have been erected, and these are mostly of the poorer classes; 

 but in Calabria it may be said that the whole surviving population 

 has returned, especially the well-to-do. For this reason life in that 

 district was able to resume its normal course much more quickly than 

 was the case in Messina. The soil is again being cultivated; the 

 lemon, bergamot and orange gardens are being tended, and the simple 

 tools required for the bergamot industry have been partly dug up 

 from the ruins and partly replaced by new ones; in short it may be 

 asserted that, in common with other occupations, the bergamot oil 

 industry has here again overcome its initial difficulties and is now 

 able to go on as before. 



Lemon Oil. The panic which seized upon all consuming countries 

 immediately after the Messina earthquake, and the fear of a shortage 

 of oil of lemon, had driven up the prices of this article to figures 

 never previously known, but they quickly fell from this pinnacle when 

 the reports of the Sicilian exporters made it known that the production 

 of oil of lemon had been scarcely affected. Towards the end of March 

 the price had again fallen to a level corresponding to the real con- 

 ditions, that is to say .7 marks to 7.25 marks per kilo, and it was to 

 be expected that any renewed increase would be prevented by the 



