and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society—October, 1911. 367 



many of these forests aro commercially of 

 little value." 



" How," I enquired, "about the forest in the 

 Cambridge Gulf?'' 



"This is the best located so far as accessi- 

 bility to the markets of the world is concerned. 

 It is only ten miles from navigable water." 



" What would you do to ship it, either cut or 

 in logs, to Ceylon or India ? " 



"The easiest way would be by means of 

 chartered sailing vessels of light draught. It 

 might be more advantageous to ship the timber 

 in logs, so they could be cut at port of destina- 

 tion according to local requirements. For con- 

 structional purposes, in connection with 

 houses, stores, factories, etc., in tropical coun- 

 tries, the timber has, in my opinion, no equal 

 and I understand that at Port Darwin there are 

 many buildings which were erected of this 

 timber many years ago and are still in a solid 

 state."— S. C. M. Post, Sept. 12. 



THE DISTILLATION OF ORANGE 

 FLOWERS AT GRASSE. 



[Oranges grow freely in Ceylon both in the 

 lowcountry and upcountry up to 5,000 feet above 

 sea — can nothing be done in distillation of 

 flowers as in the Riviera ?— A. M. & J. F.] 



The distillation of orange flowers on the French 

 Riviera, and particularly in the district surround- 

 ing Grasse, is a very important industry. Here 

 3,000 tons of these flowers are produced annually, 

 not including the leaves and even the young fruit 

 of the orange, which is also utilised for making 

 the essential oil, so valuable in the manufacture 

 of perfumes. The best quality of oil, called niroli, 

 is obtained from the flowers of the wild, or bitter 

 orange tree, locally termed bigaradier. The 

 flowers of the sweet orange are not so productive, 

 and yield a quality known as neroli doux, which 

 is inferior to the other. \ still more inferior 

 quality is obtained from the brouts (th9 leaves 

 and newly-formed fruit), this quality is called 

 petit grain. 



The flowers are gathered during the month of 

 May. For their distillation ao ordinary still may 

 be used, bat a special apparatus is preferable. 

 These are of smaller size at bottom than those 

 employed for distilling spirits, and somewhat 

 higher ; a grating is also provided, so that the 

 flowers and leaves are not in direct contact with 

 the fire. An ordinary-sized still should contain 

 about 40 kilogrammes of flowers (88 lb.), and be- 

 tween 50 and 60 litres (11 and 13 gallons) of water. 

 This should yield from 30 to 40 litres (6 to 8 gal- 

 lons) of liquid. 



The products of distillatiou pass from the still 

 into a receiver, so arranged that the condensed 

 liquid always remains at the same level in it, the 

 water is drawn off from the bottom by a bent 

 tube, whilst the globules of essential oil that 

 float on the surface are collected at the top of the 

 vessel. The oil, though not very soluble in water, 

 is sufficient to impart its perfume to it, and is 

 sold as eau de fleur d'oranger, whilst that ob- 

 tained from the distillation of the leaves is termed 

 eau de broute. A kilogramme of orange flowers 



yields, on the average, 2 grammes (30*86 grams) 

 of neroli, worth from 500 to 1,000 francs per kilo 

 (£9 Is 7d to £18 3s 2d per lb.) The orange- 

 flower water is sold, on the average, at 25 cen- 

 times per litre (about 2|d per quart). The leaves 

 yield about l£ grammes per kilo of petit grain, 

 worth about one-tenth the price of the neroli. 

 The quantity of flowers furnished by each tree 

 varies considerably, and depends on age, vigour 

 of growth, situation, soil and other circumstan- 

 ces. A well-kept garden near Grasse, with trees, 

 half of which were forty years and the other half 

 twenty-two years old, has produced as much as 

 2,800 kilogrammes (about 2 tons 15 cwt.) in a 

 single year. The cost of planting a hectare of 

 orange trees is estimated at 4,000 francs, or 

 about £65 per acre.— Journal of the Royal Society 

 of Arts. 



NUTS. 



A correspondent sends us the following com- 

 munication : " In your issue of 5th instant you 

 mention a coconut tree in Batu with 300 nuts 

 on it. This is without doubt a goodly number 

 for one tree. Will !hey all come to maturity ? 

 1 have picked 303 nuts off one tree in Ceylon. 

 But you speak of favoured coast districts 

 and say that coconut palms do not produce 

 enough nuts inland to make coconut planting 

 a (.rotitable industry. Has coionut planting 

 been tried inland in Malaya ? I guess not. I 

 have seen native trees, uncultivated, bearing 

 well in parts of this district. In Ceylon it has 

 long been admitted that coconuts do just as 

 well inland as on the coast. The great set back 

 to inland planting is the costly freight to a 

 shipping port, copra and fibre being bulky 

 rather than weighty. Given a free soil and a 

 fair rainfall coconuts will grow well anywhere 

 in the tropics, The ancient idea of sea-breezes 

 is exploded. — Malay Mail, Sept. 13. 



RUBBER STATISTICS. 



The World's Pkoduction and Consumption. 



According to the customary statistics pre- 

 pared by the firm of Heeht for the year ended 

 with June 30th, the total production of rubber 

 throughout the world amounted to 79,305 tons 

 in 1910-11, as compared with 76,553 tons in the 

 twelve months which closed with June 30th, 

 1910, being an increase of 2,752 tons. On the 

 other hand, the world's consumption is returned 

 at 74,082 tons in 1910-11, as against 76,026 tons 

 in the precedingyear, being a reduction of 1,944 

 tons. The harvest of Para qualities comprised 

 33,480 tons of the world's total production in 

 1910-11, as contrasted with 33,996 tons in 1909- 

 10, and the consumption with 33,921 tons and 

 39,363 tons in the two years respectively. 



The arrivals of rubber in Europe amounted to 

 45,085 tons in 1910-11, as aojain-st 44,336 tons in 

 the previous year, or an adv mce oF 749 tons, but 

 the arrivals in the United States experienced a 

 diminution of 2,433 tons. The stocks through- 

 out the world are stated to have reached 12,563 

 tons on June 30th, 1911, as compared with 6,998 



