66 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. APRIL 1914. 
prices than any other. Unfortunately our manufacturing was seriously interrupted by 
the destructive fire of 18'" October last, when a large part of the berries was destroyed. 
The demand for oil of our own distilling is always so satisfactory that we are able to 
realize full prices. The position of the article ‘may therefore at present be described 
as firm. 
Oil of the Berries of Juniperus phoenicea. An oil distilled in the island of 
Cyprus*) from the immature berries of Juniperus phenicea, L. was of a pale-yellow 
colour. It possessed the following characters: dz 0,8684, ap200 +3°4’, sap. v. 9,8, 
sap. v. after acet. 10,8, not clearly soluble in 10 vols. of 80 p.c. alcohol. With 9 vols. 
of 90 p.c. alcohol the oil makes a faintly opalescent solution. : 
We referred to a similar oil on p. 69 of our Report of April 1913. 
Laurel Oil. An oil of laurel leaves distilled in Cyprus has been examined at the 
Imperial Institute in London”) and found to possess the following characters: dis0 0,9224 
to 0,940, ap 4°45’ to — 11° 32’, sol. in 1 to 1,7 vols. 80 p.c. and in 5 to 6 vols. 70 p.c. 
alcohol. The cineol-content of two samples was respectively 66 and 71 p.c. (resor- 
cinol method). 
We recorded similar characters for oil of Cyprian laurel leaves a few years ago®). 
Lavender Oil. As already stated in our last Report, in spite of the bad crop of 
last summer, the large stocks which were carried over into the new season have 
prevented the continuance of the high prices which were demanded at the opening 
markets for lavender oil last September. A few buyers then paid as much as 40.— fes. 
and more per kilo for oil of good quality. But the withdrawal of these buyers from 
the market brought about a cessation of business; soon the sellers became more 
tractable, and since the close of the year it has been possible to buy a few parcels 
here and there at a few francs per kilo below the above-mentioned figure, according 
to quality. Unfortunately these parcels have all been small, and up to the present 
they have therefore been unable to influence seriously the general position of the 
market. Large quantities, however, still remain in the hands of the growers and the 
nearer draws the time of the new crop, the more anxious these will become to sell 
their holdings at a profit, as it is hardly to be expected that the coming summer’s 
crop will again be a failure. But in our opinion it is scarcely likely that there will be 
any considerable fall in prices before the 1914 crop is due. 
Since we have commenced the steam-distillation of lavender in our Barréme 
factory, and have moreover established steam-stills in several other parts where the 
finest flowers are grown, several Grasse firms have followed our example. Even some 
of the farmers living in these districts have put up steam-boilers; that is to say they 
have so rebuilt their antiquated apparatus that the rinsing of the charge by boiling 
water, which action has the peculiarity of saponifying part of the esters during the 
process of distillation, is obviated. By this method they are now able to produce 
more valuable oils with a higher ester-content, and, consequently, to realize better 
prices. As we have already repeatedly stated these oils of high-percentage are in 
part sparingly-soluble; we have met with oils containing 40 p.c. ester which, although 
guaranteed pure, were only imperfectly soluble in 70 p.c. alcohol‘). 
1) Bull. Imp. Inst. 11 (1913), 428. — *) Ibidem 11 (1913), 430. — #) Report April 1909, 60. — +) See 
Report April 1907, 66. 
