Am April",'  1^7™'  ?    Production  of  Lemon-Grass  Oil.  ig^ 
Table  I. 
Yield  and  Citral  Content  of  Lemon-grass  Oils  Distilled  from  Plants  2  Feet 
High. 
Citral  Content  of 
Yield  of  Oil.  the  Oil.* 
Upper  third    0.46  70 
Middle  third   . ..      .24  78 
Lowest  third   10  82 
For  the  purpose  of  determining  whether  the  hauling  cost  could 
be  reduced  by  drying  the  plants  before  taking  them  to  the  still,  the 
following  test  was  made :  A  quantity  of  fresh  plants  was  collected, 
well  mixed,  and  divided  into  three  portions.  The  first  portion  was 
distilled  green,  the  second  portion  was  exposed  to  the  sun  for  several 
hours  until  the  blades  were  nearly  dry,  and  the  third  portion  was 
dried  in  a  loft  for  several  hours  at  no°  F.  The  two  dried  portions 
were  then  distilled  separately  and  the  yield  of  oil  calculated  on  the 
original  green  weight  of  the  material.  The  results  secured,  together 
with  the  citral  content  of  the  oils,  are  given  in  Table  II. 
These  results  show  that  there  was  considerable  loss  of  oil  by 
Table  II. 
Yield  and  Citral  Content  of  Lemon-grass  Oils  Distilled  from  Green  and  from 
Dried  Plants. 
Condition  of  Material. 
Weight  of 
Material 
(Green). 
Weight  of 
Material 
(Dried). 
Yield  of  Oil 
(Based  on  Green 
Weight  of 
Material). 
Citral  Content 
of  the  Oil. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Fresh  
78.1 
0-37 
78 
93-1 
58.3 
•31 
78 
100.3 
62.7 
•32 
79 
drying  the  plants.  In  the  case  of  the  sun-dried  plants  the  loss  on  a 
4-ton  crop  would  be  4.8  pounds  of  oil,  or,  at  the  prices  prevailing  for 
191 5,  a  loss  of  $3.84,  which  would  more  than  pay  for  the  extra 
hauling  charge.  Drying  the  plants  seems  to  have  no  effect  on  the 
citral  content  of  the  oil,  but  on  storing  it  was  found  that  the  solubility 
of  the  oil  in  alcohol  diminished  more  rapidly  in  the  oils  from  the 
dried  material. 
2  The  citral  content  throughout  all  the  experiments  was  determined  by  the 
sodium-sulphite  method. 
