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“SCIENTIFIC NOTES on ESSENTIAL OILS. rae 
Th. The Fasc Market, Beginning of September 1920. 
ee The ot Reccut events ze., the forcing up of the prices of all essences to giddy 
§ heights by ignorant -and— Sac orpatou®: manufacturers and speculators, has left behind 
amongst those who have been badly but financially in the local export circles, a deep | 
feeling of uneasiness, and also great mistrust against the Originators of the quite un- 
' justified price raising, and has created an uncertainty, over the consequences of which 
one cannot at present, even with the best of wills, form an Opinion. Unfortunately 
the speculators, although the fall in prices may have cost them much money, have 
4 cause to look back upon the result of their ventures with satisfaction. 
& As a matter of fact, they succeeded in November of last year to set the market 
in movement by surprise, and many an export house has had to suffer heavy losses 
3 on hastily uncovered sales abroad. 
After the above experiences nobody will have any trust in carelessly uncovered 
q deliveries of oil abroad in the immediate future. : . 3 
F: The inclination of the speculators to influence the prices of essences also in the 
coming year, by the buying up and holding back of large quantities undoubtedly exists. 
The position is, however, not so favourable as last year in so far as the market for 
_the coming harvest has no delivery obligations for abroad. The development of the © 
trade will depend exclusively on the position which the foreign customers take up 
against a fresh rise in prices. 
~. 
repeated forcing up of the prices, but it can now be predicted with comparative © 
4 certainty that fresh wanton attempts will be made to disturb the natural development 
of the market, but to a much smaller extent, and in a short time they will collapse. 
The following announcements will be of use re the given prospects of the nature and 
conditions of the new business year, and the hopes of the new harvests. 
_ Bergamot Oil. — This is the only citrus species whose blooms were not. 
genuinely satisfactory this year and which only. gave promise of a harvest slightly 
_ above the orange. ‘Besides, the weather conditions during the summer have not been 
favourable for the development of the young fruit.- ‘ 
_Apart from insufficient irrigation the fruits have suffered from the unusually high 
_ summer heat. The leaves of the bergamot trees are to-day hanging curled up by the 
heat and drought. Since, in this condition, they can offer the fruit no satisfactory 
protection against the scorching rays of the sun, the latter has been much damaged 
especially in the exposed spots on the lowland coast-strips. 
No sure estimate can be made of the amount of bergamot oil at hand; “but we 
‘shall not be far from wrong in assuming that there is still a certain SaaS in the 
hands of the obstinate land owner and the a who were patent napping when 
prices fell. 
Both these _parties have plenby of "money at. their eee and will defend their 
advantage with ‘obstinacy. 
_ Whether a result of the damage Mtewci to have been suffered by the hanging 
crops, or whether at present there is no bergamot oil in the hands of those in need 
of money, it is a fact that at present this oil has a tendency to rise; in the last few 
days it has sold for 80 lire; and to-day, only a still higher price will persuade this or 
at owner she dispose of small lots of plas oil. 
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These considerations indeed will. scarcely hold the reckless gambler back from 
