6 5 8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1888. 
security is t® buy of a known house and to pay a fair 
price. The cost of grinding Pepper is about 3s. 6d. 
per cwt., or |d. per lb. when filled in o kegs and 
barrels ; and by adding that amount to the price of 
good whole Pepper, the retailers can easily see whether 
they are likely to be buying a pure commodity. 
What object can it be to any retail Grocer to buy 
his Pepper §d., Jd., or even £d. below the prices offered 
by, say five or six of the leading wholesa'e G ocers 
or Drysalters, many of whom have been iu the business 
for generations? The saving on a year's purchases 
wood hardly be worth mentioning, while the risk of 
the disgrace of a conviction for the sale of adulter- 
ated Pepper is great. The profit to wholesale adulter- 
ators, on the other hand, would be very heavy on 
large transactions, and once they made up their 
mind to take to such practices, the further question 
of fervently asserting the absolute purity of their 
wares would be a small retail. Unfortunately, it is prac- 
tically impossible before grinding to extract the whole of 
the earth and stones which are accidentally mixed 
with whole Pepper in the process of gathering and 
drying the corns. This particularly applies to Penang 
Pepper, which is often very dirty. The cleaner 
Peppers cost about Id. more, and when sifted and 
brushed before grinding, can contain little dirt. In 
any case the original dirtiness of the bulk of the 
Pepper imported can be no reason for adulterating 
it in this country. It should be remembered that, 
owing to keen competition, there are few prepared 
substances which have left so little profit to whole- 
sale grinders, as Ground Peppers have done for 
mxny years past, and that this state of things ex- 
isted long before the recent developments of the 
trade. An ordinary average wholesale profit is Jd. 
per lb. , and when old-established firms are undersold 
by id., Jd. Id., and even ljd. per lb., suspicions 
should immediately be aroused. — Produce Markets' 
Review. 

THE USE OF THE ORANGE. 
[Translated from the French of Louis Figuer.] 
The orange is extensively cultivated in order to ex- 
traot from its flowers and leaves the essential oil 
which they contain. In the south of Italy, about 
Sorrento, whole forests of oranges exist, the fruit of 
which is carefully harvested of which Lamartine sings. 
" On the sonorous shore where the sea of Sorrento 
At the foot of the orange unrolls its blue wave." 
The orange sometimes attains great age «nd dimen- 
sion. In the orangery of "Versailles, a magnificent bitter 
orange (0. Bigaradier) familiarly called the Great 
Constable,, is known to be 450 years old. Its trunk 
is 30 inches in diameter. It was planted in 1421 by 
the gardener of the Queen of Navarre. The orange 
tree at the Convent of St. Sahina, at Rome, dates 
from the yesr 1200. It is about 33 feet in height. 
At Nice there wa^ in 1789 a tree which usully bore 
upwards of 5,000 oranges, was mo e than fifty feet 
high, with a trunk which it took two men to grasp. 
The substance to which dd^tiferdus plants owe V e 
qualities which render them so useful at the toilets 
is a volaiile oil. It lappens sometimes that distinct 
oils exist in the same plant. The orange furnishes 
an example. The essence drawn from the flowers of 
the orange is very different to that furnished by 
the leaves, and the latter differs from that furnished 
by the fruit. The mode of extracting these essences 
varies according t^ th :ir nature and condition. Some 
of them may be extracted by si nple pressure. But 
the greater part of the essences are obtained by distilla- 
tion, but even this practice is being superseded. The 
essential oils obtained by distillation dissolve readily 
iu fatty oils or at':oh>', h t very irrjp'erf ectly in w-t'-r. 
The condensed wate r , however, which passes over with 
tin oil is a truo watery solution of the essences, in 
fact orange, flower water. A rge proportion of tV es- 
sences used by the perfumer are not made by distilla- 
tion at all, they are extracted from plants by the'agency 
of fat. 
At the season when the flowers are in bloom, clarified 
fat, generally lard, i i melted in a water bath, such 
as a double glue pot, and as many flowers, such as 
jasmine, orange, or rose are put into it. These are 
allowed to remain commingled about 24 hours at a 
temperature just sufficient to keep the fat liquid; 
the fat is then strained off. It is strongly scented; 
the flowers have lost their perfume. The same fat 
is melted again and further flowers are added. The 
process is repeated in all seven times and is then 
very highly scented and is ready for use or exportation 
as pomade. To obtain the spirituous essenoe or tincture 
suitable as a perfume for the handkerchief, pomade 
is macerated in spirits of wine which dissolves the 
greater portion of the perfumed oil; what remains, 
however, is sufficient to render the grease a rich 
pomatum for the hair. — Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter. 
♦ 
HOW OKDERS FOR "ARTIFICIAL" QUININE 
WERE FILLED. 
The British and Colonial Druggist is relentless in 
its pursuit of Dr. Hewett, the alleged discoverer of 
"artificial " quinine. In a chapter devoted to his 
operation, it details as follows how pressing orders 
for the stuff were filled : — 
"At length so pressed was Hewett on the subject 
of the execution of orders, and so emphatic were the 
representations of his partner on this point, that he 
seems to have become impressed with the necessity 
that quinine must be supplied. At this time, as already 
stated, the Atlas Quinine Company were in possession 
of various orders, and of these Hewett appears to 
have selected one of the smallest for execution. It 
was an order from Messrs. Samuel, Davidson & Co., 
Palm'.'rston Buildings, Old Broad street, E. C, for 
100 ounces for shipment to Brazil. 
" At this cime Cresswell Hewett, according to his 
own representations, had accumulated in a laboratory 
at Clare Market (which scientific retreat, by the way, 
is undiscoverable), a supply of artificial quinine made 
by himself, and exceeding 1£ tons. From this stock 
he ostensibly drew the quantity of quinine necessary 
to execute the order referred to, and during his 
partner's absence from the offices at St. Mary Axe, a 
tin containing that quantity was delivered there with- 
out apparently any record as to how it came. 
" Now either Hewett's statement about his stock of 
a ton and a quarter was true or it was not; and if it 
was true it is strange that he should have g me to a 
wholesale bouse in London for the quinine which he 
supplied as his own manufacture. Some days prior to 
the execui ion of Messrs. Samuel, Davidson & Co.'s or- 
der, Hewett in person, accompanied by an acquaintance, 
drove in a cab to Messrs. Moore & Co.'s, 154 Hounds- 
ditch, and then and there, as we believe, purchased 100 
ounces and brought it awav with him. It appears to 
be the case — at any rate it is asserted by a person who 
claims to have seen him — that Hewett on his way 
back to the offices of the Atlas Quinine Company en- 
tered a wine bar with the package containing the 
qumine, and in a corner theresoraped off the labels and 
any other marks which might enable th? source from 
which it was obta'ned to be traced. It was then taken 
privately to the office of the company and half emptied 
upon soma papers cn the floor. 
" In the course of our iiquiries we have seen Mr. 
Moore and Messr \ Samuel Davidson & Co. the suppliers 
to an<\ the purchasers fr m Hewett of this parcel of 
100 oz. The latter firm d.d not hes : .ateto give the 
particulars required, and we had, therefore, no difficulty 
iri a certaining that the quinine was supplied to them 
at one shilling per ounce. On th other hand, Mr. M"ore, 
though he received our representative with all possible 
courtesy, not unnaturally declined to give any specific 
ii ur.Ti>ition relative to any of his trade transactions. 
We are, therefore, unable to say for a certainty the 
exact amount paid to Messrs. Moore & Co. for *he 
10) c z. of quinine, but it is beyond doubt that Hewett 
purchased the parcel at about the market rates for 
the express purpose of supplying it to Messrs. Samuel, 
Davidson & Co., at half what it cost him." — Oil, 
Paint and Drug Reporter- [How any one believed in 
the transparent impostor is the wonder. — Ed. T. A-t 
