RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN ESSENTIAL OILS 313 ravages of mal secco have been checked by the great care growers now give to their lemon plantings in addition to surgical treatment (which consists of cutting and burning any infected branches, or even trees, at the first appearance of the disease), all planters practice repeated spraying with copper salt solutions in the autumn. Within the last few years the acre- age devoted to lemon plantings has increased slightly. While the average for the period 1936 to 1939 was 22,000 hectares in Italy, the average for the last three years is up to 24,000 hectares. Fruit production has not shown any great variation, being 326,000 and 314,000 metric tons, respectively. According to La Face (87), production of lemon oil in Sicily and Cala- bria now amounts to about 325,000 kilograms per year. Yearly exports of lemon oil from 1952 to 1954 averaged 290,000 kilograms per year, and were distributed as follows: Great Britain ........... 37% France ................. 14% United States ........... 12% U.S.S.R ................. 10% Western Germany ....... 8% Other countries .......... 19% Lemon oil is now obtained in Sicily and Calabria almost exclusively by means of the so-called Sfumatrice machines, small motor driven oil presses that yield oils of a quality similar to that of the hand-pressed oils. Less than 10 per cent of the Italian lemon oil is produced by old fashioned hand- sponging, a process now practiced in remote mountain villages where only little fruit is available. Bergamot oil is produced in Calabria in amounts approximating 160,000 kilograms per year. Annual exports of the oil from 1952 to 1954 averaged 135,000 kilograms, and were distributed as follows: France ................. 23% Great Britain ........... 17% United States ........... 16% Western Germany ....... 10% U.S.S.R ................. 10% Other countries .......... 24% As regards floral oils, southern Italy produces only about 100 kilograms of neroli bigarade oil, two-thirds of this quantity originating from Sicily (Messina and Syracuse) and one-third from Calabria (Reggio). On the other hand, production of jasmine concrete has been increased lately to approximately 2200 kilograms per year, of which quantity Calabria (Reg- gio) supplies about 1200 kilograms and Sicily (Messina and Syracuse) 1000 kilograms. Exports absorb 90 per cent of the entire production, most of the concrete going to France, the balance to Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. The quality of the Italian jasmine concrete has occasionally been criticized as being somewhat inferior to the product from the Grasse region (Southern France), a result, perhaps, of

314 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS lack of know-how in extraction techniques and of a poor grade solvent (petroleum ether). Recently, however, several manufacturers in Calabria and Sicily have ordered new extraction equipment from Grasse, and as soon as they learn to purify their solvent with the utmost care, a marked improvement in the Italian jasmine concrete can be expected. So far as orris root (Iris pallida Lam.) is concerned, the best grade origin- ates on the mountainsides near Florence in Tuscany. It is only after several years' storage (aging) of the peeled and dried root that on hydro- distillation a good quality of orkis concrete, with a high content of irone (about 15 per cent), can be obtained. Apparently the distillers' heavy demand for orris root in recent years has made it difficult to get properly aged roots hence oil quality has suffered. Mexico During the past fifteen years Mexico has emerged as a large producer of lime oil (distilled and expressed). Prior to World War II production of this oil in Mexico was almost negligible, and the small lots appearing on the market were often of poor quality, characterized by lack of uniformity. In the last fifteen years the writer has spent much time in various sections of Mexico, experimenting and attempting to improve the quality of this oil. In 1940 production of distilled lime oil in Mexico rose to about 47,000 pounds in 1954 it totaled 223,000 pounds. As a result of the application of new distillation techniques many of the lots now reaching the United States are of excellent quality, and the Mexican lime oil--both distilled and expressed--has largely replaced that from the West Indies. The oil of best qttality originates from the Pacific coast (Colima and Acapulco). For many years Mexico has been a substantial producer of linaloe oil, distilled from the wood of closely related species of the genus Bursera. To fill the demand for this oil the trees used to be cut down recklessly, without much thought given to replanting. To prevent extermination of the re- maining trees the Mexican Government a few years ago enacted laws by which oil derived from the wood can be exported only under a license (which, however, is seldom granted). Hence very little linaloe wood oil is produced today, and this exclusively for the domestic market. On the other hand, no restrictions have been imposed upon the export of linaloe seed oil, and a few tons per year are still produced. Morocco Of all the recent developments in the field the most important and inter- esting is probably that which has taken place in Morocco since the end of the Second World War. Within these ten years Morocco has emerged as a heavy producer of natural flower oils, in some of which (chiefly rose) Morocco already by far outranks the Grasse region.