To these facts, which by themselves are sufficient to explain the present 
position of the market, should be added a further fact which may serve to 
grasp the situation. Chemistry, which has caused a complete revolution in the 
entire agriculture, has also exerted its powerful infhience on the modest cultiv- 
ation of orris-root. Until a few years ago, the violet aroma was only obtained 
from orris-root, of which looo kilos yield about 2 kilos concrete oil. At the 
present day it has largely been replaced by ionone, a ketone isomeric with irone, 
which is obtained by condensation of citral with acetone, and subsequent con- 
version of the condensation-product with concentrated sulphuric acid. Pure ionone 
is a colourless liquid with a strong odour of violets, which certainly does not 
equal pure concrete orris oil, and does not replace it synthetically. Ionone has, 
however, succeeded, on account of its cheapness and convenient manipulation, 
in frequently taking the place of Florentine orris oil, the consumption of which, 
contrary to that of other products of luxury, has not increased ; at any rate this 
applies to the last five years. 
If the means are considered by which this crisis may be overcome, the 
first thought must certainly be of reduced production; but at the same time 
the question arises, whether it is possible to demand such a reduction from the 
producers of a whole province, — whether it is, after all, any use, to make 
arrangements and to receive promises, which in the end are not carried out? 
It would rather appear to us that the equilibrium will be restored in a natural 
manner in the course of a few years, by the fact that the cultivation of orris- 
root will grow smaller owing to the absence of profit. 
In face of the complete depression of the market, it seems to us that the 
time has come when producers and exporters, whose interests run in the same 
channel, should combine, — when manufacturers and traders should work together 
in a sensible manner. We believe that offers to buyers abroad, from producers 
without commercial experience, have only been made in isolated cases, but for 
that very reason they confuse the purchasers, whereas a well-considered, properly- 
conducted export trade, carried on by a few exporters, hardens the prices and 
puts a stop to a further decline. For this reason we most strongly recommend 
the proposal made by the Marchese Ricci, viz , to form a Company well provided 
with capital, which would distil the concrete orris oil in this country, for we 
must and we can fight against the foreign industry and may succeed in driving 
it from the field. A factory erected on the place of origin would have no ex- 
penses for carriage of the raw material, and would therefore apparently have a 
prospect of success. But if the new undertaking should be in the form of a 
company, and if it is to progress, it should only consider its own advantage 
which may occasionally be opposed to that of the producers, for it should take 
advantage of specially favourable market conditions, in order to cover itself at 
a low price; on the other hand, its sales are again subject to the influence of 
supply and demand. 
We see salvation in a well-organised industry, satisfied with a small profit 
and fitted up with the most modern plant in such a way that it can immediately 
enter into competition with the important factories abroad, — otherwise it will 
soon come to grief. 
But the manufacture alone is not enough; the product must also be sold 
at a profit, and skilled, careful management of the sale is therefore of great 
economic importance, for its duty will be to bring about and maintain the 
equilibrium between production and consumption; the present crisis is a con- 
sequence of the disturbance of that equilibrium. 
The contemplated undertaking has been planned on a modern, sound basis, 
and it will show the practical and productive results which the gentlemen to be 
placed at its head will be able to obtain for it. 
