ANONACE^E 515
his opinion, not be difficult to find out the special small precautions which
have to be observed, provided proper apparatus is employed. The great
mistake made by the distillers in the provinces is in the wrong choice of
fractions and in burning the blossoms, owing to which the oil shows too
large a content of resin. A matter requiring special attention is, that the
oil, which, as a rule, only represents a fraction of the total oil contained
in the blossoms, is distilled slowly with steam. The provincial distillers
FIG. 52.—Cananga (environs of Batavia).
[Roure-Bertr and Fits.usually make the mistake of distilling 1 kilo oil from only 150 to 200
kilos blossoms, so as to obtain a good yield, whilsi the average quantity
to be used for such purpose should be about 400 kilos. After distilling
out 1 kilo of fine quality oil, it is then still possible to obtain the same
quantity inferior oil. The distiller usually judges by the odour of the
distillate whether the time has arrived to change the receiver. The oil
itself is collected in Florentine flasks, of which two or more are connected
in series; the distillation-water is used for future distillations. It is
useful to tin the inside of the distilling apparatus, although some distillers