"^°'Aprn?im''°'  }  Patchouli  Oil  and  Leaves.  185 
powerful  odor  of  the  oil  may  be  communicated  to  other  goods,  stored 
in  the  vicinity.  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  such  communication  could 
take  place  to  any  inconvenient  extent  if  the  patchouli  were  packed 
with  sufficient  care,  and  if  the  goods  j)laced  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  the  shipment  were  selected  with  some  discrimination. 
But  the  fact  remains  that  for  a  considerable  time  there  has  been  a 
great  scarcity,  and  that  a  market  could  be  found  in  Europe  for  con- 
siderable quantities  of  fine  leaves  and  pure  oil,  as  patchouli,  though 
perhaps  its  popularity  as  a  perfume  is  slightly  on  the  wane,  is  still 
used  largely  in  conjunction  with  other  essential  oils,  notably  otto  of 
rose,  while  the  dried  leaves  are  well  liked  as  a  sachet  powder.  Peisse, 
in  fact,  states  that  if  the  oil  could  be  obtained  more  cheaply,  the  con- 
sumption would  be  increased  tenfold.  Planters  in  the  Straits  Settle- 
ments appear  to  have  paid  close  attention  lately  to  the  propagation  of 
the  plant,  and  the  head  of  the  Straits  Settlement  Forest  Department 
announces  that  during  the  year  1886  there  has  been  a  steady  inquiry 
for  young  plants,  which  are  easy  of  cultivation,  and  require  but  little 
.attention.  In  xlugust  1886  samples  of  three  different  varieties  of 
patchouli  were  sent  home  to  the  Kew  authorities,  with  a  request  for 
information  concerning  their  commercial  value  and  employment  in 
Europe.  The  first  two  samples  consisted  of  selected  leaves  of  the  en- 
tire flowering  tops,  the  system  of  drying  having  been  the  same 
for  both.  The  third  represented  leaves  of  the  Urena  lobata,  which 
are  used  in  the  East  to  adulterate  the  true  patchouli.  The  Urena  lo- 
bata grows  wild  to  a  large  extent  in  the  cocoa-nut  gardens  near  the 
coast,  and  its  leaves  are  worth,  locally,  l^d.  to  l^d.  per  lb.,  whereas, 
for  true  selected  patchouli  leaves,  as  much  as  6^d.  per  lb.  is  paid  in 
Penang.  The  object  of  the  Forest  Department  in  sending  home  spec- 
imens of  the  adulterant  was  to  know  whether  it  contained  any  valu- 
able ingredients  or  was  merely  added  to  the  true  herb  in  order  to  in- 
orease  the  bulk.  The  Kew  authorities  placed  themselves  in  commu- 
nication on  the  subject  with  a  West-end  firm  of  perfumers,  a  city 
wholesale  drug-house,  and  a  Mincing  Lane  importer  of  essential  oils, 
but  the  answers  of  these  three  firms  do  not  agree  in  every  respect. 
The  perfumers  value  the  selected  leaves  at  from  8^d.  to  lOjcZ.  per  lb., 
and  the  flower-tops  at  a  less  figure,  on  account  of  the  worthless  stalks, 
and  they  state,  with  regard  to  the  adulterant,  that  they  know  it  well, 
as  it  always  occurs  in  the  leaves  bought  by  them  for  perfumery  pur- 
poses.   The  value  of  the  patchouli  oil  they  consider  to  be  2s,  ()d.  to 
