The National tribune., 1906-01-11
SCIENCE AND INVENTION.
Work the Worlds Busy Brains in Discovering lnvenng and
Creating


ESSENTIAL OILS.
The head of the immense business
done in essential oils is the firm of
Schimmel & Co, which has establish
ments near Leipzig and in London and
New York. Their semi-annuaI report,
which gives a review of the essential-oil
trade OF the world, is always awaited
with great interest and eagerly read.
The report for the last half OF 1905 has
many new features.
The United States is the largest con-
sumner of many essential oils. Among
these is Cajeput oil, which comes from
Macassar and of which we took last
year 31,127 pounds, or more than any
other country. We took the astonish-
cinnamon. but Germany greatly exceeds
US. The citronella oil Is also very i'm
pcrtant one. our importations last year
reaching 320,9OS pounds. The citronel-
la oil all comes from Ceylon, and has
been the subject of wholesale and very
coarse adulteration. usually being mixed
with Russian petroleum. There is be-
ing strong effort made to diminish this
practice. and as result there has been
somewhat less adulterated oil put upon
the market
There Is a possibility of an essential
oil business developing In South Dako-
ia. from the distillation of the Erigeron
Canadensis. popularity known as butter
fly weed or fireweed. 1t grows abundant
ly in South Dakota, and is found to
yield an OIL of dark color and highly
aromatic.
Bergamot oil comes from Italy, and
the immensely of the business is sur
prising. In eight months last year there
was exported from Italy 523,45S kilos,
each kilo being a little over a quart.
Australia has developed quite a bust
ness in Eucalyptus oil, though she has
competitors in Portugal and Algeria.
In Galicia and Roumania there are
great quantities Of fennel oil produced.
The leading oil product of Algeria Is
geranium oil, which brings from $3.50
quart upward.
The lavender oil business is an i'm
mense industry i'm some parts of Eng
land and France.
The most important essential-oi
business in this country is that OF pep
permint. in which We lead the rest of
the world. This production is confined
to few Counties in New York Michi-
gan and Indiana. In Wayne County,
II. Y, there were last year 933 acres
under cultivation, which was something
OF an increase over the previous Ss2r.
as the high prices had tempted farmers
to go into the business. They suffered
some damage from the rain and an in
sect attacked their plants. but they have
done fairly we'll in spite of these detrf-
ments. Lyons, n. Y, was formerly the
center of the peppermint-oil trade, but
lately Newark has assumed that posi-
ton. In Michigan there are about 1875
acres in peppermint in the Counties OF
Muskegon, Allegan, Van Buren,, Cass.
Berrien, st. Joseph, Branch and Kala-
mazoo. The weather was not favorable
last year. especially on the lower lying
fields. which were too damp. Cloud
bursts also occasioned much damage.
Still. the yield averaged about 25 pounds
per acre and was fairly remunerative.
There are about 1000 acres of pepper
mint I'm Indiana. i'm the neighborhood of
South Bend. Mistrawaka and Osceola,
which Is a doubling OF the area of tire
previous year, and IL is believed that the
yield will be about 35 pounds per acre.
Crude American peppermint oil reached
its highest price of IS per pound in Oc-
tober. 1902. and then began to fall until
IL reached $3.50. since which time the
price has been going up, though il Is
yet far from its maximum figure.
The Japanese are our strongest COM
petitors. but the japanese oil Is not
equal to that raised in this country. A
considerable quantity Is raised at Mitch
am, I'm England. but this has lost caste
owing to the constant adulteration
The United States led all the coun-
tries Of the world in It's consumption of
rose oil, taking almost half OF the
worlds supply.
The Philippine Islands have a mo-
nopoly of the production OF Ylang
Wang oil, and in 1904 exported to the
value OF $103.247. The YIang Ylang
oil has been successfully initiated by n
synthesis OF coal-tar compounds, and
which Is now offered at a great reduc-
ton from the price OF pure oil.
THE PRODUCER GAS ENGINE.
The producer gas engine Is the COM
Ing motive power. and undoubtedly
within few years will divide the
world with water as source Of orig