March i, 1890.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
able to reproduce itin the Kauo Bulletin: — 
The plant yielding the perfume known as patchouli 
is usually stated to be indigenous to the Malayan 
Peninsula, but tbis seems to be doubtful, as there 
appears to be no evidence that it has beeu met with in 
the jungle, except in place where it could be clearly 
traced to some old cultivation. 
It is grown and much esteemed by the aboriginal 
tribe& of Perak and Pallang, and this should be borne 
in mind when cases of its being fouud in out-of-the- 
way places are brought forward in support of its being 
a native of the Peninsula. I have met with it at an 
altitude of nearly 5,000 feet amongst the Sakais of the 
mountains at the source of the Pallang River, far away 
from any Malayan villages, also among the same people 
in the Bernam, Batang Padeng, and Kinta Districts of 
Perak, and among the Semangs in Upper Perak and 
Selama. 
The leaves are made into garlands and worn round 
the waist by the women, and bunches of them are often 
stuck into their bamboo earrings. 1 have also seen 
them mixed with other leaves and flowers and formed 
into ornamental bunches which are hung up and used 
in some sort of demon worship or propitiation. 
The Sekais of Batang Padang call the plant Boon 
kalif; and, as this is not a corruption or derivation of 
the Malayan name, it may point to its being known to 
them prior to their coming in contaot with the Malays. 
The latter people call it Boko nilam. The word nilam 
means sapphire, therefore the translation would be 
sapphire plant. 
Patchouli is a very shy flowerer, so much so that by 
the natives it is said never to flower ; and Mr. Hardouin 
told me tl »t though he had grown and bought it for 
the last 30 years he had never seen or heard of such 
a thiog as a flower or fruit. Mr. N . Oantley , in " Notes 
on Economic Plants," says : " Plants raised from seed 
are reported to grow well, but to have no scent, but 
retain it when produced from cuttings. I have not 
been able to verify these statements, but it is well 
known that plants do sometimes play tricks of this 
kind — saudal-wood frequently." If this report was 
obtained from native sources it probably only 
represents another way of saying that the plant hardly 
ever bears seed. 
Many similar sayings exist in regard to other occur- 
rences which are either very rare or do not occur at 
all. For instance, hidden treasure is said to be found 
beneath a flowering plant of lemon grass ; and the 
nest of a certain bird (which does not build one) will 
render the finder of it invisible. 
Cultivation. 
The cultivation of patchouli is carried on almost 
exclusively by the Chinese in the Straits Settlements. 
Th^y do not grow it on a large scale, but a man will 
plant a patch of perhaps half an acre, or an acre at a 
time. 
The land is trenched and thrown up into long beds 
either 4 feet or 18 inches wide. The former width 
will take two rows of plants, and the latter only one. 
The plants are put 2 feet apart along the rows. 
The planting should be done in the wet seasorj, and 
the cu'tings, which are about a foot long, require care- 
ful shading with leaves until rooted, or they will get 
withered aud die, the plant being a delicate one, and 
very susceptible to the heat of the sun. 
The first cutting of the crop is made in about six 
months after planting, by which time the patchouli 
will have reached a height of 2 to 3 feet, and two other 
cuttings are made from the same plants at intervals of 
about six mouths. At the end of this time the old roots 
are dug up, the land re-trenched and manured and 
fresh cuttings plauted. 
I oou'd got on reliable information as to the yield 
per acre, nor the cost of cultivation, but it must bo 
rather high, as tholand has to bo thrown up into beds, 
manured and carefully weeded, and the cuttings shaded 
aud in the event of dry weather sotting in before they 
are rooted, they have to be watered until established. 
Both flat and hill lauds are suitable to its cultivation, 
arid it seems to flourish best under slight shade, but 
probably the production of oil is less in that grown 
under shade than in that grown out in the 6un, though 
the yield of leaf would be greater, 
615 
I was told by a Chinese merchant, a dealer in patch- 
ouli, that it is ofteu plauted 01 new laud between cjffee, 
nutmegs, and other permanent crops, and that it pays 
all the expenses of clearing and planting, leaving tue 
permanent crop as clear profit. 
Of natural enemies patchouli seems to have a fair 
share. One was described to me as a beetle, but as the 
young leaves which it is said to attack are dwarfed and 
deformed rather than eaten, I am inclined to think it is 
a bug. The older leaves are very much attacked by 
some insects, probably caterpillars and some of tho 
grasshoppers. 
Curing and Prices. 
The plants are cut down near the ground when they 
have reached a sufficient size, one stalk only being left 
to each bush. The patchouli is then laid out iu the 
sun to dry in the daytime, and put under cover at night 
and on the approach of rain. 
The time required to dry it varies with the weather, 
taking from four days to a week. When thoroughly 
dry it is done up into bales, and sold either to dealers 
in the leaves or to the distillers. In this state it fetches 
about $8 per pikul of 133 J pounds. 
The dealers cut it up and separate a great quantity 
of the larger staiks, and, according to its freedom from 
these, it is classed as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd quality. The 
best consists of leaves odIv, and is valued at $30 to 
$32 per pikul; but owing to the labour involved, this 
quality hardly pays to prepare. The seejnd quilitv is 
composed of leaves and young shoots with little of the 
heavier stalk, and ranges in price from §17 to $20 per 
pikul. The third quality contains less leaf and more 
stalk, and fetches about §14 per pikul. 
The best quality of all would be produced by pick- 
ing from the plants the leaves and tops of the young 
shoots, and dryiug these in the sh.de, but it is doubtful 
if it would pay. Prepared in this way 36 lb. of green 
leaves produce 10 lb. of dried patchouli. The per- 
ceutage of essential oil in shade-dried leaves is, as 
might be expected, higher than in those which have 
been exposed for many hours to the full heat of a 
tropical sun, which in this latitude often goes over 
120° F. 
Adulteration. 
Large quantities of the leaves of a plant known by 
the Malayan name of RuJcit are often mixed with 
patchouli. The botanical name of his plant Ocimum 
Basilicum, L., var. pilosum, Benth. 
I was told by Mr. Hardouin (the principal distiller 
of patchouli oil in the States) that recently a China- 
man bought the wh de of the Bitfat growing wild in a 
coconut plantation in Province Wellesley, and 700 pikuls 
of the dried herb were collected and taken to Peuang, 
to be used for the adulteration of the more valuible' 
patchouli. Mr. Hardouin says he a'ways prefers to buv 
the plant just as it is cut, as then it is easy to see i"f 
it is adulterated or not, but if the leaves are bought 
it is very hard to detect the imposition. 
The Baku leaves are rather whiter and the stalks 
smaller and rounder. Seed vessels are often also mixed 
with them. The smell of the two herbs is quite dif- 
ferent, but if the samples has beeu baled for some time, 
this would be imperceptible except as communicating 
a twang to the general odour of the. sample. 
The leaves of another plant are also often mixed 
with patchouli. This plant is called perpulut by the 
Malays, aud is known botanically as Urena lobata. The 
leaves are when dried much like those of the herb it 
is used to adulterate, but, unlike it, they are scentless. 
Berpulut IB a very common weed all over the S raits 
Settlements, and is to be had in any quantity for the 
•trouble of collecting it. 
Manufacture of the Oil. 
The dried patchouli is put into a lnrtre copper cy- 
linder fitted with a perforated false bottom aud mouu- 
ted on trunnions. Through one of these steam eaters 
from a boiler and is conducted by a tube beneath 
the false bottom. The remaining trunnion is also 
hollow, and thestoam, after passing through the leaves, 
pauses owti by it and into a worm iomiewed in a tube 
