10 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. OCTOBER 1915. 
harvesting, cool and rainy weather set in, so that the fair hopes which could be - 
entertained earlier in the season as regards quality of new caraway were not 
fulfilled; the new seed turned out fairly dark in colour and the oil content can only — 
be styled as middling. If, nevertheless, prices did not come up to the expectations 
of the Dutch farmers, this has, naturally enough, to be attributed to the fact that the 
war has restricted the demand as well as the possibilities of export. However, the 
market must be looked upon as firm and the oil prices, which had to be raised 
repeatedly of late on account of the unfavourable exchange of Mark currency, will no 
doubt be maintained at their high level for the present. 
On caraway and the volatile oil, of caraway we have before us a voluminous 
paper by K. Zijlstra’), from which we cull the following particulars which may be of 
interest to our readers. 
In his introduction the author points out that the properties of the caraway plant 
are little known and that most farmers have no idea as to the influences the good 
quality of caraway seed is dependent upon; many of them do not even know about 
the use of caraway. No experiments at improvement have been carried out with 
this plant, moreover, it would be a difficult task. So far high yield was the only 
thing aimed at, little care being bestowed on the percentage of oil contained in the 
seed, and its quality. The seed is merely judged by odour, size and colour. 
According to Zijlstra, no adequate description of the caraway plant can be found 
in any one of the books on agriculture which, by the way, may be said of many 
other cultivated plants. The lack of a thorough working basis is felt more keenly, 
especially if it is necessary to distinguish different races of a cultivated plant. 
This is not the case with caraway, but it would not be improbable that the difference 
in yield and in the composition of the oils of different origins may by ascribed in 
part at least to the presence, i.e. existence of subspecies of caraway. 
For an exhaustive botanical description of the caraway plant we must refer to 
Zijlstra’s original treatise. We need only state that as synonyma for caraway (Carwm 
Carvi, L.) he gives the following names: Aegopodiwm Carum, Willd., Apium Carvi, Crtz., 
Bunium Carvi, Bieberst., Foeniculum Carvi, Link, Lagoecia cuminoides, Willem., Ligusticum 
Carvi, Bth., Seseli Carvi, Lam., S. Carum, Scop. and Siuwm Carvi, Bernh. 5 
Caraway is found not only in northern and central Europe as far as Spain and 
Italy, but also in the Caucasus, in Persia, Tibet, and Siberia. In northern America it 
does not grow wild; it is, however, found as an escape from cultivation, more especially 
in the northern and north-western districts. 
The biology of the flowers of the caraway plant shews ‘cheveohian but also very 
intricate conditions, the close study of which will be necessary for the execution of 
improvement experiments. 
It cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty as to when caraway was 
first cultivated in Holland. All that is known is that at the end of the 18 century 
caraway was cultivated in fairly considerable quantities. In official communications it 
is first mentioned in 1815 under the heading “fine seeds”, and it was chiefly cultivated 
in Northern Holland. About the middle of last century, cultivation on a larger scale 
was begun, and in 1851 there appeared the first official communication about the size 
of the area under cultivation; at that time it amounted to 55 hectares (about 130 acres). 
1) Mededeelingen van de Rijks Hoogere Land-, Tuin- en Boschbouwschool, vol. 8. From a special print _ 
kindly placed at our disposal. 
