and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— May, 1910. 467 



let me have them to advise you upon. Having 

 got the analysis I can suggest a system of man- 

 uring, and you yourselves must experiment with 

 this. Unless your soil is in a good mechanical 

 condition, there is not any use putting in mineral 

 fertilisers ; you must bring up its mechanical 

 condition first. The best thing, but of course 

 impossible in South India, is cattle manure. 

 Poonacs will do but they are slow. What your 

 soils over and over again need when they are 

 run down is humus, and this must be sup- 

 plied before artificial manures are used. One 

 way, and perhaps the best way, under local 

 conditions of supplying humus, is to grow a 

 green dressing and dig it in. I think you 

 should cultivate and grow amongst your tea a 

 local leguminous weed. I have seen numerous 

 leguminous plants since I came to the district 

 and T hope you will send me specimens of other 

 likely ones to Bangalore. The best plant I have 

 seen is a thing they have got in Mysore and 

 the Nilgiris. It is something like the sensitive 

 plant, but it has no thorns ; the botanical name 

 is Cassia Mimosoides. I have no doubt what- 

 ever that it would grow here; it grows in the 

 Nilgiris in large quantities. After having got 

 the mechanical condition back, you can go on 

 with mineral fertilisers. There is one thing I 

 would like to call your attention to and ask 

 you to think about. The manure you usually 

 use for tea consists of Poonac of some sort, bone 

 meal, sulphate of ammonia, or nitrate of soda, 

 and sulphate or nitrate of potash. This is 

 applied just before the monsoon. The mineral 

 part, the ammonia and nitrate salts, and the 

 potash salts, are very soluble and are undoubt- 

 edly being washed out of the soil, into the 

 drains or rivers, and carried away. This must 

 result in a big loss, since these constituents are 

 very expensive. I would suggest that you either 

 manure after the monsoon, or, if you cannot do 

 this, then, you divide the application into two, 

 putting the Poonac and the bone before the 

 monsoon, and the minerals afterwards. The 

 cost of application will be greater, but the sav- 

 ing m the loss of manure and the increased 

 benefit obtained from this system will more 

 than repay the extra cost. 1 should like you 

 to think this over and conduct some experi- 

 ments on these lines. — M Mail, April 25. 



CITRONELLA OIL. 



PoWEiU'UL Movement ion Valuation on 

 CrEiiANioii Content. 



Outstanding in the essential oil world at the 

 present time is a strong movement to establish 

 market conditions for citronella on a basis of 

 purity rather than the limit of sophistication on 

 which contracts are now formulated. The hon- 

 our of developing this important matter to 

 what promises to be a successful issue rests with 

 the Pt,r f umery and Essential Oil Eecord,th.o new 

 departure in trade journalism which enjoys the 

 advantage of Mr. J C Umney's editorship. 

 In Ceylon 



a system of (sophistication obtains which con- 

 sists almost exclusively ol the addition of 



Russian petroleum, and Schimmel's raised test 

 on which practically all contracts for citronella 

 oil are made passes from 10 to 15 per cent of 

 this adulterant, with the result that whilst 

 money is wasted in freight on the petroleum oil, 

 the soap maker, who is a large consumer of 

 citronella, gots a product which virtually is not 

 much more than 80 per cent, of the strength of 

 a pure oil. This Schimmel's test is devised 

 along the following lines : — 



That in the first place the solubility in 80 per 

 cent alcohol should be determined, and then 

 the test repeated after the addition of 5 per 

 cent, of Russian petroleum. In the latter case 

 the citronella oil should still form a clear solu- 

 tion with 10 volumes of 80 per cent alcohol. 



This is a solubility test pure and simple, and 

 the proposition now is that it should be super- 

 seded by a valuation on the basis of geraniol 

 content, just as cassia oil is sold on its percent- 

 age of cinnamic aldehyde, and lemongrass on 

 th e citral strength. In addition, Mr. Umney 

 has put forward, quite by way of suggestion, 

 certain requirements as to specific gravity, solu- 

 bility, optical rotation, and refractive index, 

 and his first tentative " London standard 

 test " for trading purposes may be tabulated 

 thus : — 



Specific gravity, 0-900 to 0'915 ; Opt. rotation In 100 mm. 

 tube, dg. to — IE dg. ; Refractive index, about, 1 - 4800 ; 

 Acetylisable constituents, at least 60 per cent. Solubility, ~ 

 The oil should be soluble in 2 to 3 vols, of 80 percent alcohol, 

 and should remain clear on the addition of more than 80 

 per cent alcohol up to 10 volumes. 



This, as we have explained, was a purely ten- 

 tative proposal, but, having regard to the fact 

 that it is put forward as a substitute for 

 Schimmel's test, it is interesting to observe the 



ATTITUDE OF MESSES SCH1MMEL AND CO. 



to the idea. As becomes a great firm, they take 

 a broad view of the matter— a view, indeed, that 

 accords with their oft-repeated plea for co- 

 operation in obliteration of Ceylonese adulter- 

 ation. Naturally the famous Miltitz house 

 cannot part with their test without a pang, and 

 crave indulgence for it on the ground of its easy 

 application— a condition that would not apply 

 in the case of the proposed London standard. 

 In acknowledging, however, that a solubility 

 test is of a limited value, they admit that the 

 geraniol content is of far greater moment as a 

 guide in purchasing citronella. They add the 

 suggestion that the oil should be tested at its 

 place by Government chemists, and only pass 

 into trade if it contains at least 60 per cent, 

 geraniol and meets the official tests in all other 

 respects ; in other words, they say a Govern- 

 ment certificate should be granted before ex- 

 portation. 



We have reason for believing that Mr Umney 

 has a large measure of support for his proposal 

 from buyers and sellers of citronella oil, and the 

 next step will probably be to bring these in- 

 terests together, may be at the London Chamber 

 of Commerce, so that an understanding may be 

 arrived at to translate the movement into a 

 permanent concrete commercial agreement.—. 

 British and Colonial Druggist, April 1. 



