138 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



manufacture, the green fruit containing much more oil than the ripe 

 yellow lemon ; besides, there is always a difference between the different 

 years. One might calculate the number of lemons necessary for the 

 manufacturing of one pound (English) of oil, at from 1,000 to 1,400, 

 or even more. 



While the orchards of lemons are chiefly in Sicily, those of the oranges 

 are in Sicily and also in Calabria. Of the Sicilian orchards those around 

 Etna, at Paterno, and in that neighbourhood produce fruit of particularly 

 good quality, which is almost entirely exported. The manufacture of oil 

 is chiefly carried on in the large plains of Barcelona, Sicily, and in 

 those of Gioja Tauro in Calabria. In both districts the operation is 

 completed underneath the trees in the orchards, lest the delicate fruit 

 might suffer from transport to the village and the factory. The process 

 of manufacture is just the same as that of lemon oil, viz. the peel is cut 

 into three parts, and the oil is pressed out with the hand. 



The bergamot tree — a member of the extensive genus of Citrus — 

 grows only in the southern parts of Calabria, along the shore of the 

 Straits of Messina and around Cape Spartivento, the southernmost 

 point of Italy. Wide orchards of this tree cover the lower slopes of the 

 mountains and the valleys between them ; all efforts to cultivate the 

 tree in Sicily have failed hitherto. 



Contrary to the methods of manufacturing the oil of lemons and of 

 oranges, the bergamot oil is gained almost exclusively by mechanical 

 process. The very round and equal shape of the fruit, which is almost a 

 perfect sphere, makes it very easy to treat by this means. A dozen of 

 bergamots of equal size are placed into a round copper receptacle 

 provided with a heavy lid, which rests, however, on the fruits ; the 

 interior of this receptacle is provided with fine small teeth, and the 

 whole revolves around an axis, the teeth rasp off the very outermost 

 part of the peel, which contains the essence, and the pulp thereby pro- 

 duced is then filled into large woollen sacks or stockings of about 

 two feet in length, and from them the oil drops into some vessel placed 

 below the sack, which is gently pressed. The oil is then poured into 

 big copper jars and is ready for the market. 



The bergamot is a very delicate tree, and its products differ widely 

 according to the soil in which it is planted. In general, those grown 

 on ground which has been under cultivation for a very long time will give 

 a better oil than the plantations made on new soil ; however, this rule 

 does not always hold good, and sometimes plantations which are separated 

 only by a small path yield different oils. 



Perfumes. 



Perfumes as they are known to the public are, as a rule, compounded 

 or blended essences prepared from extracts of flowers and essential oils 

 which have been made by one of the processes already referred to, in 

 some instances by the addition of synthetic substances to which I will 

 allude briefly later. In many instances the perfumes are produced from 

 the flowers alone. In other instances a blending of the odours produces 

 the odour of a particular flower. 



