seh % re i *. 
uae REPORT OF SCHIMMI y. APRIL/OCTOBER 1918. 
Tapco die: to Pater, Japanese peppermint has ‘been ‘obtair 
by cultivation. i sk ee 
Furthermore, Pater states that, in 1916, he eee suckers front pep err 
in Russia (Wolhynia), which developed quite well on a trial field. To judge | 
appearance, it would seem to be closely allied to the English peppermint and to 
derived from Mentha See Its odour is strange, but agreeable. Pi 
J. Chevalier’), in a treatise on the cultivation and harvesting of edcian plants, | 
refers also to balm-mint and peppermint. As there is nothing new in it, we Tedtaing “4 
from going into details. ( : 4 
In an article worth reading, H. Z6érnig?) makes communications of eenerall fiterest 
_ regarding the cultivation.of medicinal plants. He points out that the use of medicinal - 
drugs has not decreased, as is often Supposed, but that on the contrary it has risen | 
considerably, not so much in the chemists shops, as by the consumption of an important — 
branch of German chemical industry, 7. e. that of manufacturing medicines and essential — 
oils. He mentions briefly what has been undertaken in the various countries to foster ‘- 
the cultivation of medicinal plants. Germany has done very little in this respect), 
whereas Austria and Hungary may be taken as models‘). The cultivation of medicinal ~ 
plants is likewise on a high level in the United States of North America, where a real 
army of scientific people are at work in order to raise it, starting from different pole a 
of view. Zo6rnig advocates that this example should be followed. if 
Essential oils from British East Africa. — On page 23 of our Report of October — 
1915, we mentioned a geranium oil, distilled from fresh herb in Limoru (Brit. East q 
Africa). It seems that this district, about 7000 feet high, is very suitable for growing e 
aromatic plants. The climate is characterized by two rain periods. The district has 
copious rainfalls, generally speaking, and heavy dews®). Experiments have there been ~ 
carried on with a bastard of Lavandula vera and L. Spica, called spike lavender. The 
oil of this hybrid showed d 0.894 and ep — 10° 30’; it contained 3 per cent. esters and ; | 
44.1 per cent. alcohols. In consequence, it camessonae about in Ms properties yale 
“Lavandin’” oil®). ; 
An oil of rosemary distilled there showed d 0.908; a) -+-1°. It contained 4,2 per coe 
esters and 15 per cent. alcohols. 4 
A sample of geranium oil contained only 12.1 per cent. esters and its odour was 
not specially agreeable. ts ;. J 
Samples of lemon thyme oil’) contained 18-per cent. citral and 6 per cent. 6 phenoles. 
The French crops of jasmine and tuberose in 1917, — Owing to ‘the hard winter | 
before last and to the unfavourable weather in spring 1917, the jasmine crop, ended on © 
September 20th in the South of France, has remained below the average’). The price 
1) Bull. Sciences pharmacol. 24 (1917), 46. — 2%) Jahresber. d. Verein. f. angew. Bot. 14 (1916), Bh. 
8) Comp. Report October 1917, 110. — *) Comp. e. g. Report April 1915, 67. — °) Perfum. Record 8 eae) 
DC.) is called “lavandin”. It is the hybrid called LZ. Burnati by Briquet. Comp. Gildembistes and Hotim 1 
Die dtherischen Ole, 274 ed., vol. Ill, p. 450. — 7) It is not quite clear which plant is meant. Numerous sub 
species of Zhymus Serpillum have been described, of which Thymus citriodorus, Schreber, smells of ler : 
is known by the name of lemon thyme. (Comp. Engler-Prantl, Naturliche Pflanzenfamilien, part IV, 
and 3b, Leipzig 1897, p. 312. -- Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, yol. 1V, Gera 1905, ae Wl 
sieder-Ztg. 44 (1917), 1021. 
