6i6 
THt TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March r, 1890. 
of water in the ordinary way. The pressure of steam 
employed is about 10 pounds per square inch, but it 
varies with the size of the worm and the temperature 
of the water used to cool it. 
One pikul of the dried patchouli, just as it is cut, 
yields frrnn 24 lo 30 ounces of essential oil. and a 
sample free from the heavier stalks yields about double 
th'it amouut. 
Mr. Hardouin says, that by an ordinary still not 
more than one-half of the oil can be extracted, the 
temperature I presume not being high enough to vola- 
tize the whole of it. 
He also says that the green leaves yield little or no 
oil, and therefore it is necessary that they be dried 
before being subjected to the process of distillation. 
The oil is of two distinct varieties, the one being 
sage green, and the other the colour of medium 
colnuied sherry. 
Mr. Hardc uin informed me that the green oil is pro- 
duced from young leaves, and the golden-brown from 
o'd leaves, but I am inclined to think that there is a 
II i tie doubt about this, and that soil and shade have 
more to do with the oolour of the oil than the age of 
the leives. 
Sometimes the one colour is in greater demand than 
the other, but the prices are the same for both. At 
present the prion in Penang is about 50 cts. per ounce. 
Whe'her the oil is adulterated or not I have been un- 
able to find out, but the changes are largely in favor of 
it if it passes though the hands of the Chinese mer- 
chants. I obtained two samples of the oil direct from 
the distiller, and find they are limpid and quite fluid at 
ordinary temperatures, but at 4 C F. they become rather 
thicker, but remain bright and clear. 
The golden-brown oil has a specific gravity of '9580 
at 85° F., and the green oil a specific gravity of '9578 
at the same temperature. 
The spectrum exhibited by the golden-brown oil is 
not crossed by any absoption bands, and i , therefore, 
not of much use in detecting admixture of foreign oils. 
The red, yellow, and greeu light, as far as the b line, is 
transmi'ted with full intensity; but the blue. green 
from b to F is much absorbed, and beyond the latter line 
all is complete darkness. The limits of this spec'rum in 
wave lengths are 7140 to 4165, the oil being contained 
in a tube - 6 inch in diameter, both daylight and lamp- 
light being used with tne same results. 
The green oil gives a spectrum of full intensity from 
the c line midway between the b and F. lines, from 
which point it shades off gradually and disappears a 
little before the h liue is reached. At the red end it 
extends beyond the c liue, but with reduced intensity as 
far as to between the A and a lines. In wave lengths 
the limits of this spectrum are 7390 to 4130 indavlight. 
Lamplight yives a greater extension towards the red 
end, but much less in ihe violet. 
I have seeu o'l that has been kept for 10 years in a 
bottle with a loose stopper, which had become of a dark- 
brown colour and of a syrupy consistency, but it seems 
probable that it would not undergo this change if kept 
in a tight stoppered or corked bottle. The scent of this 
old oil, however, was little inferior to fresh, though not 
quite so powerful. This bears out the statement in 
Ure's Dictionary of Arts, that "the essential oil of 
patchouli is one of the least volatile of any known, hence 
it if one of the most persistent of perfumes from plants." 
In the same work it is stated that if the plant be dis- 
tilled, after it has been gathered several years, more than 
half the product will assume a crystallisable form far 
less fragrant than the newer fluid essential oil, and 
would probably be quite odourless if repeatedly cry- 
stallised from alcohol. The crystals of patchouli are 
rhombic with pyramidal summits ; chemically they 
resemble camphor in composition. When the fluid 
essential oil of patchouli is sumtnitted to fractional 
distillation, there comes at the highest temperature 
a peculiar blue body, termed by Pies«e Azulene, 
" resembling the blue in the essential oil of wild 
camomile ; it requires, however, further examination." 
" ill effects, such as loss of appetite and sleep, 
nervous at'acks, &c, have been ascribed to the ex- 
cessive employment of patchouli as a perfume." (Lind- 
ley'a Treasury of Botany.) But es one of its great 
uses is to mix with the stuffing of beds aud pillows, 
under the i iea that it is inimical to vermin, this 
can scarcely be the case. This same projierty of 
keeping-off insects caused it to be used to pack with 
Indian shawls and so led to its introduction into Europe. 
In connexion with this it should be mentioned 
that I have distilled a quantity of the Ruku leaves 
(one of the plants used to mix with patchouli), and 
have obtained a very dark green viscous oil, smelliDg 
strongly of the plant. 
The amount of oil is not great, and it is unlikely 
to have any value of its own, for the scent of it is 
not altogether pleasant. 
Market. 
Mr. N. Cantley, Superintendent of the Botanical 
Gardens, Singapore, in a paper entitled, " Notes on 
Economic Plants " in the Journal of the Straits Branch 
of the Royal Asiatic Society, says, " Plants of patchouli 
have been in demand for experimental planting, and 
a good number have been supplied. Picked leaves 
are now selling at $17 per pikul. The plants grow 
freely with but little care, and should figure among 
colonial products." Th>s statement, although correct 
as far as it goes, gives a mistaken idea of the cir- 
cumstances of the case. The production now is quite 
equal to the demand, which seems to be very limited, 
consequently the market is soon glutted, particularly 
with the oil. A Penang merchant writes me that 
the demand is very slack at present owing to an 
over-production of the leaf, stimulated by the high 
prices paid about a year and a half ago. The article 
(the leaf) is used very largely in Calcutta and Bom- 
bay, principally in the latter place." The same slack- 
ness is felt in the sale of the oil, the market for 
which, by-the-bye is London. Another merchant in- 
formed me that the last lot of oil he had shipped to 
En.da' d had not found buyers at prices whicn would 
pay him to sell. 
Unless therefore the use of the leaves and oil could 
be very materially increased, there seems to be no 
prospect of jirofitably cultivating it on a large scale. 
P'U-ERH TEA. 
In the Kew Bulletin for last month (1889, p. 118) 
an account was given of P'u-erh tea which appears 
in commerce from the province of Yun-nan in the 
south-west of China. At the time this account was 
written Kew had not received from the Foreign Office 
the very important Report of a Journey in South- 
Western China by Mr. F. S. A. Boumey, Her Ma- 
jesty's Consular Agent at Ch'ung Kiang. — China, No. 
1. (1888), presented to Parliament last June. Atten- 
tion to this report was drawn in the Daily News 
by a writer who had evidently made himself thoroughly 
acquainted witb the subject. The information sup- 
plied by Mr. Bourne respecting P'u-erh tea confirms 
in every respect the account already given in the 
Kew Bulletin, but he was ahle to gather locally 
numerous interesting facts respecting the manufacture 
and selection of the tea which are given in the 
following extracts : — 
The tea hills are situated six to ten days south- 
west of Ssu-mao and about the same distance north- 
west of the Me-khong on both sides of a left bank 
affluent of that river. It is six days' journey from 
Ssu-mao to I-bang, the chief of the tea-hills. The 
road was said to cross two steep hills during the 
first day and two steep hills during the second day ; 
the third day the road is downhill for the most part 
to Meng-wang T'u-ssu which is very malarious ; on 
the fourth day there is a further descent to the Man- 
nao river ; on the fifth day the road is up and down 
hill for the whole distanee ; and on the sixth day 
there is a steady ascent to I-bang. From I-bang to 
Yu-le is three days' journey, and to I-wu two days'. 
From Man-nai to Cheng-tung is two days', and from 
Chengtung to Mo-hei three days' journey. A day's 
journey mav be taken as 18 to 22 mi'es. Yu-le formerly 
belonged to the I-bang district, but became vhe property 
of a Yao chief who gave it with his daughter when 
she man ied a former Hsuan-wei Ssu whose private pro- 
perty the hill now is. 
