Commercial and scientific notes on essential oils. 25 



per kg. The price of Algerian oil was 220 fr., and of Reunion oil 80 to 100 fr. per kg. 

 By good farm-manuring the yield of the geranium plantations can much be improved. 

 Thus France reaped 70000 kg. of leaves per hectare in well-manured plantations, whilst 

 the yield on Reunion was only 25000 kg., from unmanured soil. 



Since 1914 the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Dept. of Agriculture, at 

 Orlando, Orange County, Florida, has been experimenting on the cultivation of several 

 varieties of the Pelargonium odoratissimum, Willd. G. A. Russell 1 ) has reported on these 

 experiments and especially on the species which give an oil most similar to the 

 commercial geranium oil. It proved to be advantageous to put the slips at once into 

 the open field (8000 plants per acre), and this in the months of January or February, 

 after rain. The plants prospered on light, sandy soil and bore both dryness and moisture 

 well, provided that the water could easily run off after rain. Some compound manure 

 or artificial fertiliser seemed to improve both the yield in herb and the percentage of 

 essential oil. The soil had to be tilled several times a year to remove the weeds. 

 Under such conditions 16720 lbs. were reaped in the first year, 7618 lbs. in the 

 second year, and 4499 lbs. of fresh herb per acre in the third year. So far as the 

 oil was concerned it proved immaterial whether the cut plant was at once distilled, 

 or whether it was left covered up for several days before distillation. More oil was, 

 however, produced when the herb was cut after a sunny day, than when reaped after 

 strong rain. In all cases the yield of geranium oil which amounted to from 1.35 to 

 9.33 lbs. per acre or to 0.051 to 0.082 per cent, was not very encouraging, and it would 

 appear to be doubtful whether the cultivation of the geranium plant in Florida will ever 

 prove profitable. 



As regards Spanish Geranium oils, cf. page 77 of this Report. 



Ginger Oil. — As regards ginger oil from the Philippine Islands, cf. page 85 of 

 this Report. 



Gouft Oil. — Under the name of gouft oil P. jeancard and C. Satie 2 ) describe the 

 product of distillation of a plant, growing on the Algerian plateaux, which they do not 

 further specify. The same oil, the mother plant of which, according to E. G. and A. Camus, 

 is Artemisia campestris, L, var. odoratissima. Desf., has recently been investigated by 

 Roure-Bertrand Fils 3 ) who come to similar conclusions. 



By contrast to the sheih or chieh oil (cf. p. 43 of this Report) the gouft oil had 

 hardly changed after several years' storage and showed the following constants: — 

 duo 0.8763; « D150 — 16°24'; soluble in 0.5 vol. of alcohol of 96 per cent, at 15°, becoming 

 strongly turbid on further addition of alcohol; acid v. 0.94; ester v. 29.87; sap. v. 30.81; 

 after acetyl ester v. 41.07; total alcohol (calculated as Ci Hi 8 O) 11.65 per cent.; free 

 alcohols (calculated as Ci H 18 O) 3.44 per cent. Steam distillation of the oil yielded 

 80 per cent, of a colourless oil of the following properties: d 17 o 0.8524; « D17Q — 17°44'; 

 soluble in 1 vol. of 96 per cent, alcohol and in 16 vol. of 80 per cent, alcohol, no 

 turbidity on further addition of alcohol; acid v. 0; ester v. 9.33; sap. v. 9.33; ester v. 

 after acetylation 39.20; total alcohol (calculated as Ci Hi 8 O) 11.11 percent; free alcohol 

 8.45 per cent. The distillate gave at normal pressure the fractions: — (1) below 105°, 

 10 g., dg| 0.8539; « D150 — 19°48'; (2) between 165 and 170°, 8 g., djg 0.8539; 



2 ) Journ. Arneric. pharm. Assoc. 10 (1921), 19. — *) Cf. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 

 2»* ed., vol. III., p. 667. — 3 ) Bull. Roure-Bertrand Fils, avril 1920, 27. 



