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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 399 
f&gp Contribution from the Bureau of P!ant Industry %2jly, 
S&Y < ^^U WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief/^*^^ JrW<r ^U"A, 
Washington, D. C. 
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December >16, 1916 
XV I 
THE PRODUCTION OF SWEET-ORANGE OIL AND A 
NEW MACHINE FOR PEELING CITRlJS FRUITS. 
■*J 
POSSIBILITY OF THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF SWEET- 
ORANGE OIL FROM WASTE ORANGES. 
By S. C. Hood, Scientific Assistant, and G. A. Russell, Expert, of Office Drug-Plant 
and Poisonous-Plant Investigations. 
CONTENTS. 
Introduction 
Importance of the industry 
Material available for the production of 
orange oil 
Methods of extraction 
Pressed oil 
Comparison of the various oils . 
Commercial possibilities 
Cost of production 
Yield of oil 
Summary ■_ 
Page. 
9 
10 
11 
11 
12 
INTRODUCTION. 
The oil extracted from the fresh peel of the sweet orange has long 
been an important article of commerce in the United States and 
Europe. It is extensively used in the manufacture of flavoring 
extracts, perfumes, and soaps, and to a small extent in the drug 
trade, the oil being official in the ninth decennial revision of the 
United States Pharmacopoeia. Until recently, this product was 
secured wholly from Italy, Sicily, and other parts of southern Europe. 
Since the year 1911, however, a considerable industry has grown up 
in the West Indies, and a portion of the annual requirement in the 
United States is now supplied from that region. 
The methods of extracting sweet-orange oil are similar in all 
countries wherever practiced. The fruit is peeled by hand, either by 
cutting it in half crosswise and scooping out the pulp or by stripping 
off the peel in three longitudinal pieces. The peel thus secured is 
inverted and pressed over a small sponge. By this means the oil 
Note.— This bulletin is of interest to growers of oranges generally. 
50399 c — Bull. 399—16 1 
