— 33 — 
became convinced that a good new crop was to be expected, and 
gradually became more yielding in his demands. 
For a few weeks the prices fell slowly, until finally the pressure 
of many sellers caused an almost panic-like drop on the market of 
nearly 2 marks. It seems as if for the present the downward movement 
has come to a stop, but it is not impossible that in the course of the 
next few months, until the commencement of the new harvest, a further — 
if, perhaps, only very slow — drop in the prices may occur, as the 
stocks of old oil may possibly amount to about 9,000 kilos. 
Up to now the prospects for the harvest are good; but it will 
of course depend on the oil-content of the fruit, whether the hope 
now entertained will be realised in a greater or smaller degree. 
Lemon Oil. Although in the spring everyone connected with 
the trade in this oil expected a rise in the prices, the reverse has 
happened, and the quotations have slowly fallen by about i mark 
per kilo. 
The fact, that at this moment perhaps not more than 40000 kilos 
old oil are at disposal on the island, as against about 80000 kilos in 
the previous year, whilst the export in the course of the summer- 
months has been smaller than that of the last year, shows that the 
drop in the prices was not justified by the statistical position of the 
article. If, in spite of this, the expectations were not fulfilled, this 
must be attributed exclusively to the large unused stocks which are 
still held abroad, where, in view of the low prices of the 1 902 season, 
the requirements had been more than abundantly covered. 
One thing is certain, that the production of the article has reached 
a stage at which a further fall of the prices is scarcely conceivable; 
at the same time, large movements upwards are probably also out of 
the question. 
Thanks to the great increase in the number of lemon-gardens in 
Sicily in the course of the last decade, it is possible that lemon oil, 
which at one time was during almost every season subject to price- 
fluctuations of several marks, has now, leaving out of the question 
some minor movements, reached a comparatively firm basis of value, 
which should prove advantageous to the consumption of oil and to 
the whole trade. 
The new harvest will, it is believed, turn out somewhat smaller 
than that of last year, but it is difficult at this time to make definite 
statements on the subject, as the lemons of the July blossoms are still 
too small to allow of a correct estimate. 
In our Report of October 1902 we mentioned that, when frac- 
tionating further the low-boiling laevorotatory first runnings of lemon 
oil, we also obtained a fraction whose boiling point and optical behaviour 
3 
