— 6o — 
of plants bedded out, by about 40 to 50 per cent, may be looked 
for. Time only can bring about a lasting improvement in the present 
conditions, provided that the production be brought back within 
reasonable limits. The producers themselves are to a great extent 
to blame for the present state of affairs, for it was self-evident that 
the competition of ionone would affect the value of orris-root. 
The issue of August 24^^ of ''L'Economista", the trade -paper 
published at Florence, contains a long article, as detailed as it is 
interesting, of which we reproduce here a free translation. The 
article is entitled: > 
/ 
Orris-root in Tuscan agriculture. \ 
O J' 
Orris-root suddenly threatens to bring about a disturbance of the economic 
equilibrium, a small crisis in Tuscan agriculture, and we will, with the help of 
statistics, examine the questions relating to this subject, with the view of ascer- 
taining what their practical solution might be. 
The decline in the prices of orris-root, with which we are face to face, 
is such, that the cultivation no longer pays. We do not propose to demonstrate 
this, as both producers and exporters agree that the present value of Florentine 
orris-root, at 43, — lire per 100 kilos, is barely sufficient to pay a miserable 
rate of wages, without leaving the smallest profit to the owner of the land, or 
to the tenant. The following statistics give particulars of the movement in the 
prices during the last twenty years. 
Price per 100 kilos of Florentine orris-root.-^) 
I88I 
Lire 
146 
1892 
Lire 
310 
1882 
128 
1893 
200 
1883 
80 
1894 
i» 
200 
1884 
9» 
60 
1895 
135 
1885 
»» 
46 
1896 
180 
1886 
45 
1897 
135 
1887 
40 
1898 
J» 
65 
1888 
50 
1899 
7» 
70 
to 
100 
1889 
82 
1900 
11 
80 
11 
100 
1890 
5? 
130 
1 90 1 
J> 
50 
11 
65 
I89I 
11 
176 
1902 
11 
40 
11 
50 
In view of the present low quotations the question arises, whether we have 
before us a variable or a lasting economic fact, an operation which may come 
to an end to-morrow, or a manifestation of the unbending law of supply and 
demand. 
Our opinion above everything is, that the orris-root market at present 
pays the penalty for the old mistake committed in 1892 by the artificial increase 
in the prices, when the quotations, with a dexterity never suspected, were driven 
up to over 320 Lire per 100 kilos. This operation for a rise was a complete 
success, for it was started at a time when, owing to various circumstances, the 
stocks in the Florentine district had dwindled down to 250 tons. The inevit- 
able reaction has not stayed away, as we see at this moment, for from that 
time the cultivation of orris-root ceased to occupy a subordinate position, but 
^) The prices of 1881 — 1898 agree with the checked selling prices of one of 
the principal trading firms of the province; those of 1899— 1902 have been taken 
from the official market reports. 
