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BORONIA AND ESSENTIAL OILS,
On August 10 of last year I pub-
lished in the Mutual Help column
some notes on collecting boronia
blossoms for making ottar of bo-
ronia. An appeal was made,to the
readers of the Mutual Help column
asking them to communicate with
Plaimar Ltd., 169 Havelock-street
Perth, and make a special effort to
supply sufficient boronia blossoms to
enable thc firm to make a test of
its value for making a high quality
scent. In due course the firm thank-
ed the "Western Mail" for the
trouble taken, and said that owing
to the advocacy of the Mutual Help
Editor they had been able to ob-
tain nearly half a ton of the blos-
soms, and had distilled a sufficient
amount of essential oil to enable a
proper test to be made.
The firm have now written again thank-
ing the "Western Mail" for its good
service, and stating that they hope to
further benefit by last year's experience,
and to obtain if possible 15 or 20 times
as much blossom as they handled last
year. I hope that renders who are lo-
cated near supplies of boronia plants in
the South-West will communicate with
Plaimar Ltd., who are willing to pay a
reasonable price for the blossoms. On
no account should brown boronia plants
be destroyed. The purpose is to get
the blossoms, without the leaves, and
not to injure the plants. Plaimer Ltd.
will supply instructions as to how to
do this.
Other Essential Oils.
Mr. Marr, managing director of the
company, now asks the assistance of Mu-
tual Help readers in several other direc-
tions. He states that under special ex-
cise regulations of the Commonwealth
Government recently passed, it has be-
come possible for firms having facilities
at their disposal, such as are possessed
by Plaimar Ltd.. to produce citrus oils
on a commercial scale; but in all such
ventures the main consideration is a
sufficiency of raw material. The term
"citrus oils" means the essential oils of
the lemon, orange, lime, petigrain, and
neroli. Oil of lemon is the material
from which essence of lemon is made;
orange oil is the corresponding oil
from oranges, oil of limes is the corres-
ponding oil from limes, i.e., the oil
contained in the small oil vessels seen
in the skin of the fresh lemon, orange,
or lime. Petigrain is the essential oil
obtained from unripe partially develop-
ed oranges, as will be explained later,
and neroli is the essential oil obtained
by distilling orange blossom. Mr. Marr
goes on to say:
Waste Lemons and Oranges.
"We do not think we are overstat-
ing the position by saying that there are
a good many hundreds of tons of fruit
of orange and lemon trees going to waste
in our State, either in the way of wind-
falls or mal-formed fruit which is allow-
ed to rot on the ground because it is
unfit for marketing. This wastage, could
it be gathered, would ensure for us suf-
ficient raw material for the extraction
of the oil which we require.
"If growers could be induced to collect
all their waste fruit, however small in
size, bag it and send it to us we are
sure that it would be profitable for them
to do so.
"The esential oil obtained from the
fruit is all found in the rind. The fruit
itself would be totally destroyed and it
will, therefore, only be utilised by us
at the present time for the extraction
of the oil. Should, however, the industry
prove remunerative and the amount of
raw material obtainable be sufficient, the
question of the manufacture of citric acid
from the residues might eventually be
possible, This, of course, only refers to
lemon.
"Oil of Lemons: Lemon trees bear fruit
more or less throughout the year. Their
maximum production being in the winter
and main outlet being during this period
of the year, sells to manufacturers of
candied peel.
"If growers, during the maximum bear-
ing season when there is generally a
glut on the market, sent their waste fruit
and windfalls to us and kept their best
fruit for the market, it would pay them
well to do so.
"Oil of Orange and Petigrain: These
oils are produced also from the rinds
of the fruit, and we are able to take
all thc waste and mal-formed fruit of
the orange trees from the orchards in
the same way as the lemons.
Market For Small Green Oranges.
"In regard to oil of Petigrain, at cer-
tain seasons of the year the small green
oranges drop from the trees before com-
ing to maturity, and it is these tiny green
oranges which are used for the produc-
tion of oil of petigrain.
"Apart from the material obtained by
windfalls, we believe it would pay
orchardists to thin out their trees by
removing a percentage of the Petigrain
before the fruit comes to maturity, with
the result that the quality of the fruit
left on the trees to mature would be
considerably improved.
Prices.
''With regard to the maximum price
we can pay for fruit of the above de-
scription, a fairly lengthy test would be
necessary in order to get reliable figures
regarding yield and so forth; but bas-
ing our calculations on present data, we
believe we can pay for waste fruit from
£3 to £6 per ton f.o.r. country station
or siding in bags."
This subject appeals to the Agricul-
tural Editor in two ways. First of all,
it is a matter of public importance to
endeavour if possible to develop new
industries, and make Australia indepen-
dent of outside supplies. At present
practically all of the essential oils re-
ferred to by Mr. Marr come from Sicily
and Italy, and I do not see any reason
why the surplus fruit which now goes
to waste or is placed on thc market
to bring down the price of good stuff
should not be used in this connection.
Another reason is that the growers of
lemons and oranges find that in the glut
of the season a great deal of fruit is
unprofitable, either because it is too
large or it is too small, or it is defective
in some way. Putting this fruit on the
market causes a glut, and if it can be
kept off the market the better price for
good stuff can always be obtained. The
matter is a commercial one, and grow-
ers of these fruits should apply to
Messrs. Plaimar Ltd., at the above ad-
dress, for particulars.
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