April 1908.] 



319 



OILS AND FATS. 



OITRONELLA OIL. 



The prices of this important oil have 

 now for some months been moving 

 slowly downwards, and at this moment 

 have already arrived at Is. 5d. per lb. 

 c.i.f,, whereas early in April the tendency 

 was still extremely firm, and no oil could 

 be bought below Is. 10d-, owing (it was 

 said) to very short supplies which scarcely 

 sufficed for carrying out previous con- 

 tracts, the prices went down a few weeks 

 afterwards to Is. 9d., and since then have 

 fallen without intermission. The export- 

 figures for January to September are as 

 follows :— 



1906 ... 771,416 lbs. 



1907 ... 855,826 „ 



According to these, an excess of 84,410 

 lbs. as compared with the previous year 

 has now to be recorded. Under normal 

 conditions such a surplus would hardly 

 depress the market, but in the present 

 year the situation is in so far abnormal, 

 that the soap industry, particularly in 

 the United Kingdom, has purchased less 

 than last year, which Jias led to an accu- 

 mulation of stocks in the European 

 markets. 



As a consequence the general ten- 

 dency is weak, and in spite of the ap- 

 proach of the monsoon, which will inter- 

 rupt the distilling season, we consider 

 cheaper prices not at all impossible. It 

 has lately become more difficult to form 

 an opinion on the probable movement 

 of the prices owing to the fact that in 

 the last few years the bulk of the trade in 

 citronella oil in Ceylon has become con- 

 centrated in the hands of three impor- 

 tant native traders, who work almost 

 exclusively with the export firms at 

 Galle. If these three traders should 

 work together, it would, of course, under 

 favourable conditions be possible to 

 keep up the prices artificially. 



Induced by the high prices which, as 

 already reported by us, were due to the 

 speculative action of one firm, a large 

 number of planters in Java have again 

 taken up the distillation, and the sources 

 supplying Java citronella oil, which had 

 given out long since, have recently 

 again commenced to flow. As long as 

 the consumers are able to absorb the 

 supplies straight away, a fall in the 

 prices is out of the question, but signs 

 are not wanting that it is found a diffi- 

 cult matter to interest buyers in forward 

 shipment at the present quotations. 



It may engage the attention of our 

 readers to learn that a factory has re- 

 cently been established in Java, which is 

 intended to work up the grassy residues 

 resulting from the citronella oil distil- 

 lation, into paper. Some ten years ago 

 we already occupied ourselves tho- 

 roughly with the question of this utili- 

 sation, and we are pleased to know that 

 it may now be reasonably expected to 

 see the idea carried into practice. — Semi- 

 Annual Report of Schimmel & Co., Octo- 

 ber, 1907. 



THE KUS-KUS ROOT. 



The plant has been used medicinally 

 for Asia tic cholera. Its taste and smell 

 are due to an ethereal oil termed in 

 pharmacy " Oleum aether' Vetiveriae." 

 This is used in perfumery in India, and 

 also in Europe. The oil occurs princi- 

 pally in resinous material lying in a 

 layer of cells just internal to the endo- 

 dermis, and also in the parenchymatous 

 cells forming the septa of the cortex. 

 In many vessels and broken-down 

 groups of cells, it occurs as a yellowish- 

 brown mass, which when treated with 

 alkalies resolves itself into drops of an 

 oily resinous substance. The ethereal 

 oil is steam-distilled from roots which 

 have previously been macerated in 

 water. 



The yield of ethereal oil is from 0"4 to 

 0"9 per cent. The specific gravity of the 

 oil is T02 to 1*03 per cent. It is soluble 

 in 80 per cent, alcohol. The oil is very 

 thick and tenacious, varying in colour 

 from green to straw-yellow, yellowish 

 brown and dark brown. In India the 

 long adventitious roots are used for 

 making mats, and are also ground into 

 powder which is placed among clothes 

 to prevent attacks of moths, etc. — Agri- 

 cultural News, Vol. VI., No. 146, Novem- 

 ber 30, 1907. 



SESAMUM IN BURMA. 



Next to paddy the most important 

 crop in Burma is sesamum, commonly 

 known as til or gingelly. Sesamum is 

 essentially a wet weather crop, but it 

 can be cultivated wherever the plantain 

 thrives, and as a matter of fact the crop 

 is grown in almost every district in the 

 province, the largest areas under se- 

 samum being met with in the dry zone. 

 As a cold weather crop it may be grown 

 on low, moist soils, in districts where 

 there is a heavy dew, but here the yield 



