180  Production  of  Lemon-Grass  Oil.  {Am'2^\fgi7Tm 
represented  by  the  food  and  drug  industries.  He  will  decide  later 
what  can  be  done. 
J.  W.  England. 
POSSIBILITY  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  PRODUCTION  OF 
LEMON-GRASS  OIL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.1 
By  S.  C.  Hood,  Scientific  Assistant,  Drug-Plant  and  Poisonous-Plant 
Investigations. 
Lemon-grass  oil  is  the  volatile  oil  distilled  from  the  plant  known 
botanically  as  Cymbopogon  citratus  DC.  and  commonly  called  lemon 
grass.  It  is  lemon  yellow  to  brownish  in  color,  with  a  strong  odor 
resembling  that  of  the  lemon  verbena,  and  for  many  years  has  oc- 
cupied a  prominent  place  in  the  perfume  industry.  The  value  of 
this  oil  depends  almost  entirely  upon  its  content  of  citral,  which  is 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  ionone,  or  artificial  violet.  Considerable 
use  is  also  found  for  the  oil  in  the  soap  industry. 
The  principal  regions  where  lemon-grass  oil  is  produced  are  the 
Travancore  Province  and  Madras  Presidency  of  India  and  the  island 
of  Ceylon.  Small  quantities  are  regularly  produced  in  other  parts 
of  the  East  Indies,  and  from  time  to  time  in  many  other  parts  of 
the  world. 
Exact  figures  are  not  available  regarding  the  consumption  of 
lemon-grass  oil  in  the  United  States,  but  estimates  place  it  at  about 
100,000  pounds  annually. 
For  the  past  eight  years  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry  has  been 
conducting  experiments  in  the  growing  of  lemon  grass  in  central 
Florida,  and  during  the  course  of  the  experiments  field  tests  have 
been  made  with  13  varieties  secured  from  eight  different  parts  of 
the  world. 
SOIL  AND  CLIMATIC  REQUIREMENTS  OF  LEMON  GRASS. 
The  best  results  with  lemon  grass  have  been  obtained  on  well- 
drained  sandy  loam,  but  this  plant  also  does  well  on  light  sand,  such 
as  the  high  pine  lands  of  the  Florida  peninsula.  Newly  cleared  sandy 
pine  land  without  the  previous  application  of  lime  has  also  given 
good  results.    Soil  which  is  poorly  drained  or  underlain  by  hardpan 
1  Reprinted  from  Bulletin  No.  442,  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  U.  S.  De- 
partment of  Agriculture. 
