O04 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. APRIL 1914. 
to leave a few shade-trees in the plantations. Until its eighth or tenth year the star — 
anise tree requires to be tended very carefully, and suitable manuring is of great 
advantage for its proper development. The trees only bear for the first time when 
they are from 10 to 15 years old; they yield their most abundant crops between the 
ages of twenty and thirty-five years, but it is said that there are century-old trees 
which are still bearing. It is difficult to state the average yield of a tree, because 
some of them bear fruit almost throughout the year, while others bear very scantily. 
A plantation of one hectare (2*/2 acres) does not yield more than 5 tons of green 
fruit in a good year. 
The fruit which is intended for distilling must be gathered before it is quite ripe. 
The collectors use bamboo-ladders and gather the fruits by hand. The principal crop 
is collected in August and September, and a second crop in February and March. 
Crop-failures are attributed chiefly to unfavourable climatic conditions. The tree also 
suffers from various diseases and from the ravages of insects, but nothing definite 
is known on this subject. A small beetle, resembling a lady-bird in appearance, 
devours the leaves, and white ants frequently attack the bark; the larvz of insects 
which are found in the branches also do a good deal of damage. | 
The fruits, when gathered, are distilled at once in primitive but very cleverly 
constructed stills of Chinese origin. The oil-yield varies from 1,7 to 3,5 p.c. according 
to whether the fruit is dry or wet; with modern apparatus it would presumably be 
possible to obtain a yield of 5 p.c. 
The establishment of a central distilling-plant at Lang-son, which has already 
been proposed, does not seem practicable to Chevalier, because the roads there are 
in a bad state and the transportation of the raw material would therefore be attended 
with difficulties. In his view the most rational plan would be to set up small modern 
stills locally; it would then also be possible to distil the star anise leaves, which is 
even now done in the neighbourhood of Lang-son when the crop has been poor. It is 
said that the oil-yield of the leaves is only half of that of the fruits. The middlemen 
who buy up the oil are said to make little difference between that from the fruit and 
the leaves. 
The annual output of star anise oil in Tonquin varies greatly. In 1894 it was 
23 tons, in 1900 45 tons, in 1902 58 tons, in 1904 66 tons, in 1911 100 tons and in 
1912 46 tons. 
Until about 12 years ago the Tonquin star anise oil was bought up by Chinese. 
To-day this work is done by a French firm, and the oil is exported via Haiphong 
instead of via Canton, as formerly. 
Since the year 1896 an export duty of 200 /cs. per 100 kilos is levied upon star 
anise oil which is exported from Tonquin over the Chinese frontier, and since that 
time the star-anise plantations have been free from taxation, with the result that their 
number has greatly increased in Tonquin. In the year 1913 5000 cases, each of 4 tins 
of 7/2 kilos were exported, the value being 2500000 /fcs., as compared with 3000 cases 
exported from China. Tonquin star anise oil is chiefly shipped to Havre and Marseilles, 
partly also to Hamburg. 
Tansy Oil. Our New York branch house reports that the crop has only been a 
small one and the prices have therefore correspondingly advanced. Further increases 
in price are in prospect, because it will take two years before the area which hag 
been newly put under tansy this spring is capable of producing a crop. 
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