Atjeh patchouli experiments (1921-1925)

The Atjeh patchouli experiments of 1921-1925 were the four-year experimental programme, conducted under the joint auspices of the Afdeeling Nijverheid and the Afdeeling Handel of the Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel at Buitenzorg, the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum of the Kon. Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut at Amsterdam, the Gewestelijk Bestuur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, and the Atjehsche Oliefabriek at Tapa Toean under its manager Van Vreeswijk, to develop an indigenous Atjeh patchouli-oil (nilam-oil) industry by distilling the oil at Atjeh itself rather than exporting the raw leaf to Singapore and Penang. The experiments culminated in the discovery that the leaf of Bakongan on the Westkust van Atjeh — when grown on the sand-and-swamp conjunction of the Bakongan coastal strip and dried with the care the Bakongan planters had begun to devote to it — yielded an oil equal in quality to the best Singapore-Penang product. The full correspondence is preserved in Bericht No. 21 of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum (Amsterdam, April 1925).

Origins: The Pre-1921 Pattern

Until 1921 the entire patchouli-leaf harvest of Atjeh was shipped raw, in bales, to Singapore and to a lesser extent Penang, where Chinese-owned distilleries processed it into patchouli oil for the European perfumery market. The Atjehnese planters of the Tapa Toean sub-division — where much patchouli was grown, on the small plots called kebun — saw little of the profit. The whole trade was in the hands of Chinese middlemen at Singapore, and the price paid to the Atjeh grower was a small fraction of the European market price of the distilled oil.

The question of changing this pattern arose within the Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel at Buitenzorg in the early 1920s. The Dutch colonial state in the post-pacification period had begun to sponsor volkscultuur (people’s cultivation) programmes aimed at lifting the indigenous Atjehnese economy; the patchouli crop, with its established European market and its proven adaptation to the Atjeh climate, was an obvious candidate for such development.

The 6 August 1921 Letter from Buitenzorg

The programme began formally with a letter of 6 August 1921 from the Afdeeling Nijverheid at Buitenzorg to the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum at Amsterdam. The letter announced that, through cooperation between the Gewestelijk Bestuur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden and the Afdeeling Nijverheid, the distillation of essential oil from patchouli leaves was thenceforth to be carried out in Atjeh itself, at Tapa Toean. The letter named E. de Kruyff, head of the Afdeeling Handel of the Department, as the man who would carry the first oil samples to Europe. The Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij had agreed to make an advance of ƒ25 per kilogram of oil, so that the Atjehnese planters would not have to wait five or six months for payment.

De Kruyff departed for Europe carrying a small sample of the very first Atjeh-distilled patchouli oil, and undertook to visit the Handelsmuseum in Amsterdam to deliver a sample in person.

The First Three Verdicts (September 1921 — January 1922)

The samples reached the Handelsmuseum at the end of September 1921 and were immediately distributed to three of the leading essential-oil houses of Europe. The Handelsmuseum had no way of knowing in advance how divergent the three verdicts would be.

The Schimmel & Co. Verdict (December 1921)

The great Saxon firm of Schimmel & Co. at Miltitz near Leipzig, the world’s largest essential-oil house, replied in December 1921 with an analysis signed by Dr. Richard Dunkel. Two distillation fractions had been sent: a first-distillate from the first two hours of distilling, and a second-distillate from the next two hours. The first fraction had “abweichende Konstanten” (deviating constants) and a smell “viel zu schwach” (much too weak); it was, plainly, not a complete distillate but a fraction containing disproportionately the more volatile components. The second fraction had constants tolerably close to those of the Singapore oil, and “in Eigenschaften und Geruch leidliche Uebereinstimmung mit den Singapore-Patchouliölen” (in properties and odour tolerable agreement with the Singapore patchouli oils); but “ein vollwertiges Konkurrenzprodukt für das Singaporeöl ist aber auch dieses Destillat nicht” — a full-value competitive product for the Singapore oil this distillate is not.

The Roure, Bertrand fils Verdict (December 1921)

A wholly different tone came from the French house of Roure, Bertrand fils at Grasse, one of the oldest perfumery firms of France. Of the two samples, sample I had “un bouquet excellent de beaucoup supérieur à celui du No. II” (an excellent bouquet, far superior to that of No. II). Both samples were “de très bonne qualité et possèdent une valeur commerciale indiscutable” (of very good quality and possess an indisputable commercial value).

The Polak & Schwarz Verdict (January 1922)

The Dutch firm of Polak & Schwarz’s Essencefabrieken at Hilversum replied in January 1922. The laboratory found both samples identical: specific gravity 0.9489, optical rotation +1°7’, refractive index 1.5068, acid value 0.9, ester value 3.17. But the odour was “zeer matig” (very mediocre) in comparison with standard oil. Only at a price 30–40% below the current Singapore price (then ƒ45 per kilogram) might the oil find a market, for “goedkoope doeleinden” (cheap purposes).

The Handelsmuseum’s Response (11 January 1922)

The Handelsmuseum passed the three verdicts to Buitenzorg with the circumspect advice of 11 January 1922. They warned against stopping the project: “Wij zouden op grond van deze drie uitkomsten de zaak niet dadelijk willen stopzetten” — We should not wish to stop the matter at once on the basis of these three results. They advised trying to place a larger consignment in France (where Roure Bertrand fils had been so favourable), and proposed three improvements to the distillation:

Make the picking-to-distilling interval as short as possible.
Distil at low temperature (= reduced pressure).
Distil with much water, and especially not with superheated steam dry.

De Kruyff in Switzerland (19 January 1922)

On 19 January 1922 the Handelsmuseum wrote again to De Kruyff, then in Switzerland. The superiority of the Singapore oil, they observed, was still “an open question”. Two of the European experts had suggested that the quality might be influenced favourably by a slight fermentation or “broei” (sweating) before distilling, and unfavourably by too hot or too dry distilling. The Handelsmuseum’s advice was that “de grootste zorg aan de destillatie” — the greatest care of the distillation — was the indispensable condition of success.

The Long Silence and the 12 September 1923 Letter

After the exchanges of January 1922 there followed a long silence. When the correspondence resumed, it was again De Kruyff — now returned to the Indies — who wrote, on 12 September 1923. He now sent not oil but raw leaf: two bales shipped by way of the landbouwconsulent at Koeta Radja. He raised the question whether the leaf might undergo a “nafermentatie” (after-fermentation) after shipping from Atjeh, or whether the time elapsed between packing and distilling influenced the quality — a question to which no certain answer was ever given.

The two bales of leaf arrived in the autumn of 1923 and were distributed by the Handelsmuseum in the proportion of one-third to the Laboratorium voor Technische Botanie at Delft, and one-third each to two Dutch essential-oil factories (anonymised in the published correspondence as “a” and “b”).

The Delft Report (January-February 1924)

The Laboratorium voor Technische Botanie at Delft reported in January/February 1924. The fermented leaf weighed 20 kg, contained 15% moisture, and gave on distillation at 100–120 °C a yield of 4.10% to 4.38%. The constants — density 0.9707 at 15.7°, refractive index 1.5077, optical rotation −58°2’ — were “the most similar to Singapore patchouli oil” of any Atjeh oil yet analysed. The odour was “buitengewoon sterk” (extraordinarily strong); the laboratory, having no freshly distilled oil for comparison, offered no final judgement. The yield was respectable: 2.6% for Singapore leaf in the Indies, 4% for the same leaf distilled in Europe.

Factory “a”: The Anomalous 4.5% Yield

Factory “a” reported an extraordinarily high yield — 632 grams of oil from 14 kg of leaf, or 4.5%, “een buitengewoon hooge opbrengst” (an extraordinarily high yield), higher than any yield reported in the literature for European-distilled oil from dried leaf. The constants were normal, but the odour was “nog te versch” (still too fresh) to judge. The factory raised the question whether the botanical identity of the leaf had been verified: “of het blad soms van een andere Pogostemon of een ander geslacht afkomstig is dan gewoonlijk” — whether the leaf perhaps came from another Pogostemon species or another genus than usual. The Handelsmuseum could not answer this question, and so wrote to Buitenzorg. The botanists at Buitenzorg replied that the patchouli “noch op Java, noch op Atjeh ooit bloeit” (neither on Java nor on Atjeh ever flowers), and that the botanical identity of the Atjeh plant could not therefore be verified from flowers. Plants had been set out at Tjibodas in the hope that they might flower under montane conditions.

In January 1924 the same factory reported that the odour of the oil had “reeds aanmerkelijk verbeterd” (already markedly improved) since the first analysis. By February 1924 the factory was advising the Handelsmuseum not to pass final judgement on the basis of a single distillation, but to await the results of further shipments, since “natuur-producten wisselen” — natural products vary — and especially so for a product such as patchouli leaf “dat toch zeer waarschijnlijk nog een fermentatie heeft ondergaan” (which has very probably undergone a further fermentation). Harvest-time and weather might also have an effect.

Factory “b”: The European-Distilled-Oil Preference

Factory “b” reported a much lower yield — 0.520 kg from 14.5 kg of leaf, or “nauwelijks 3%” (barely 3%) — but a finer odour. The factory compared five oils: old Java, new Java, Atjeh, Singapore, and its own distillate from the Handelsmuseum leaf. The Java oils had a “hooiachtige bijlucht” (hay-like off-odour); the Atjeh oil “ruikt aanvankelijk sterk naar Oud-leem-lucht” (smells at first strongly of old-clay smell) but “de achterblijvende reuk is echter vrij goed” (the after-remaining odour is however fairly good); the Singapore oil was “geuriger” (more fragrant) than the Atjeh; and the factory’s own distillate “ruikt zuiver naar Patchouly zonder de bijlucht van de Nos. 1, 2 en 3” (smells pure of patchouli without the off-odour of Nos. 1, 2 and 3).

The factory’s verdict was decisive for the future of the experimental programme: “de verzending van gedroogde Patchouly-bladen voor destillatie in Europa verdient de voorkeur” — the shipment of dried patchouli leaves for distillation in Europe is to be preferred — because the European-distilled oil lacked the off-odour attributable to leaf with “een begin van rotting of fermentatie” (a beginning of rot or fermentation). The factory also reported a remarkable conversation with a Singapore manufacturer some years earlier, in which the Singapore manufacturer had claimed that the superior qualities of Singapore oil were distilled from selected leaf — “uitgezocht blad”.

The Quarterly Programme (1924)

The Handelsmuseum proposed a regular quarterly programme: roughly 55 kg of leaf every two months, direct from Atjeh, distributed in the same manner as before. Buitenzorg agreed. The first baal of the new programme — one pikol (about 61.8 kg) — was shipped from Tapa Toean in early July 1924, via Sabang, to Amsterdam. The leaf had been “under European supervision selected”, so that it could be guaranteed not to be adulterated with foreign leaves, sand, stones and branches, “zooals bij de Inlandsche handelaren dikwijls het geval is” (as is often the case with the native traders).

The leaf came from a new source. The Atjehsche Oliefabriek at Tapa Toean had been taken over by a European resident, Van Vreeswijk, after a period of standstill. Van Vreeswijk shipped the first baal of the new programme.

Van Vreeswijk’s Letter of 16 August 1924 — The Discovery

On 16 August 1924 Van Vreeswijk replied to a Handelsmuseum letter of late June, in which the Handelsmuseum had asked for a description of the treatment of the leaf from picking to shipping. Van Vreeswijk’s reply was the turning-point of the four-year experimental programme:

“In doorsnee zal ‘t blad aan de steel direkt gedroogd worden in de volle zon, welk proces 1 à 2 dagen duurt. Daarna worden de groote stengels verwijderd en ‘t blad komt nog een weinig soepel op de markt.” — On average the leaf is dried at the stem directly in the full sun, a process that takes 1 to 2 days. Then the large stems are removed and the leaf comes to market still a little supple.

Van Vreeswijk then ranked the Atjeh patchouli districts by quality:

Labohan-Hadji — the least valuable

The leaf from Labohan-Hadji — modern Labuhan Hajji — was the least valuable. “Het komt zeer vuil op de markt” (it comes very dirty to market), and was often weighted with sea-water to increase its weight at sale. Market price: ƒ5 to ƒ6 per pikol; after cleaning, only 50% of the bale remained.

Loboang Koang — better

The leaf from Loboang Koang — a locality “vlak bij Tapa-Toean” (right by Tapa Toean) — was better cared for and gave a better oil yield. Van Vreeswijk had been able to buy freshly picked leaf here, dry it himself, and send one baal of it to the Handelsmuseum.

Bakongan — the best

The leaf from Bakongan was the best. Van Vreeswijk had just returned from a trip to Bakongan, where he found “verreweg de meeste zorg door de Inlanders eraan besteed” — by far the most care devoted to it by the natives. The leaf “komt biina geheel gezuiverd aan de markt” (comes almost wholly cleaned to market). Within the last year the Bakongan planters had begun to plant on a strip of land along the coast, bounded on the other side by swamp-land. The conjunction of sand and swamp “schijnt de plant zeer ten goede te komen” (seems to agree very well with the plant). The new planting had already been picked twice, and a third picking would follow within the year. “De geur van het gedroogde blad was veel sterker dan dat uit eenig andere streek in Atjeh” — the odour of the dried leaf was much stronger than from any other region in Atjeh. Market price: ƒ14 per pikol — more than double the Labohan-Hadji price.

Van Vreeswijk had therefore made up the second shipment — sent end of October 1924 — from Bakongan leaf.

The Bakongan Triumph (December 1924 — April 1925)

The Bakongan leaf was distributed to the same two factories, plus a sample to Schimmel & Co. of Miltitz. The results, when they came in over the winter of 1924-1925, were uniformly good.

Factory “b” on Bakongan oil

Factory “b” reported a yield of 2.46% (lower than the 3.38% of the previous Loboang Koang shipment), but with normal constants — density 0.9755 at 15°, optical rotation −60°30’, refractive index 1.5100, ester value 3.7, soluble in 1 vol. of 90% alcohol — and, after standing, an odour judged by the factory directors as follows:

“Het ons gezonden monster van het Koloniaal Instituut Nr 21718 ruikt heel goed en komt ons inziens in reuk overeen met goede kwaliteit Penang-olie en is in ieder geval veel beter dan de Java-olie (z.g. Dilem-olie). De kleur is heel mooi.” — The sample sent to us by the Colonial Institute, No. 21718, smells very good and in our opinion in odour corresponds to good-quality Penang oil, and is in any case much better than the Java oil (the so-called Dilem oil). The colour is very beautiful.

Schimmel & Co. on Bakongan oil

Schimmel & Co. of Miltitz distilled the Bakongan leaf — calling it “Dilemblätter” (Dilem leaves), using the Javanese name for the plant — and reported: yield 3.6%, colour light-brown, “kräftiger Patchouligeruch” (strong patchouli odour); constants: density 0.9830, optical rotation −62°5’, refractive index 1.51130, soluble in 0.3 vol. of 90% alcohol, acid value 0.4, ester value 5.6.

“Die untersuchten Dilemblätter sind hiernach den Singapore-Patchouliblättern als gleichwertig zu erachten. Die Oelausbeute ist recht befriedigend und das Oel selbst nach Geruch und Konstanten von guter Qualität.” — The examined Dilem leaves are accordingly to be considered equivalent to the Singapore patchouli leaves. The oil yield is quite satisfactory and the oil itself, in odour and constants, is of good quality.

Factory “a” on Bakongan oil

Factory “a” reported a yield of 2.97% — also lower than the Loboang Koang 4.16%. The factory’s view was that “de bijzondere zorg, aan het uitzoeken etc. van het blad, besteed, eerder nadeelig dan voordeelig is” — the special care devoted to the sorting etc. of the leaf is rather disadvantageous than advantageous. In their judgement the finer odour did not outweigh the lower yield: “In ieder geval weegt de fijnere reuk tegen de mindere opbrengst van olie niet op” — In any case the finer odour does not outweigh the lower yield of oil.

The Handelsmuseum’s Conclusion

The Handelsmuseum’s conclusion, in its letter to Buitenzorg of December 1924, was concise and decisive:

“prima blad, prima olie; op de winning van het goede blad komt het aan! en niet op de nabehandeling te Penang of Singapore.” — Prime leaf, prime oil; it is the winning of the good leaf that matters, and not the after-treatment at Penang or Singapore.

The dependence on Singapore and Penang for the production of prime patchouli oil had been broken. The key had been not in the distillation technique — the focus of the 1921-1923 experiments — but in the leaf itself: in its place of origin, in the care taken in its cultivation, and in its proper drying.

The Concluding Prospect (April 1925)

The 1925 Bericht closes on an optimistic note. The Atjehsche Oliefabriek was seeking commercial connections in the Netherlands, and the Handelsmuseum considered it unlikely to be disappointed. The Handelsmuseum reported that, following a conversation with the American vice-consul at Medan in the previous month, a report on the patchouli-culture of Atjeh would shortly appear in the United States. The pamphlet’s final sentence was:

“Er openen zich aldus voor de cultuur van nilam-blad in Atjeh, en de verwerking tot olie aldaar ên in Nederland, aardige perspectieven! Er is een sluier opgeheven, en de afhankelijkheid van Singapore en Penang, wat betreft het verkrijgen van prima patchouly, vervallen.” — There thus open up for the cultivation of nilam-leaf in Atjeh, and for its processing into oil there and in the Netherlands, attractive prospects! A veil has been lifted, and the dependence on Singapore and Penang, in respect of obtaining prime patchouli, has lapsed.

Aftermath

The Atjeh patchouli experiments of 1921-1925 established the indigenous Atjeh patchouli-oil industry on a firm basis. By 1931 — as surveyed by Ir. W. Spoon in his *Atjeh Patchouli-Olie* (1932) (Bericht No. 71) — the Atjeh nilam-oil export had risen to 3,468 kg, with destinations including Singapore, Penang, Japan, the Netherlands, France, Germany and the United States. Two or three distilleries operated at Tapa Toean, and additional distilleries had been established near Kota Radja and at Meulaboh. The Bakongan leaf, whose virtues Van Vreeswijk had discovered in the summer of 1924, continued to be reckoned the finest patchouli-leaf of Atjeh.

Significance

The Atjeh patchouli experiments of 1921-1925 are significant for the encyclopedia of Aceh history on three grounds. First, they are the founding episode of the indigenous Atjeh patchouli-oil industry — an industry that would, by the early 1930s, export thousands of kilograms of oil annually to European, Japanese and American markets. Second, they document in detail the colonial industrial-research methodology of the post-pacification period: the systematic distribution of samples, the cross-comparison of European expert judgements, the patient pursuit of the botanical question, and the close cooperation between the metropolitan research institute (the Kon. Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut), the colonial economic department (the Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel at Buitenzorg), the regional colonial government (the Gewestelijk Bestuur van Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden), and the European-managed Atjeh factory (the Atjehsche Oliefabriek at Tapa Toean). Third, they record the discovery — by Van Vreeswijk in August 1924 — of the Bakongan leaf, whose superior quality transformed the economics of Atjeh patchouli cultivation and broke the Singapore-Penang monopoly on prime patchouli oil.

Source

Over patchouly-olie en patchouly-blad van Atjeh (Noord-Sumatra). Berichten van de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van de Kon. Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut, No. 21. Overgedrukt uit De Indische Mercuur van 8 en 15 Mei 1925. Amsterdam: Druk De Bussy. OCR-filename: 20260801_233856_DLP-153-Over_patchouly_olie_en_patchouly_blad_van_Atjeh_Noord_Sumatra_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 3-21.

tags	event, industry, agriculture, colonial, acheh, patchouli, essential-oil, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, tapa-toean, bakongan, loboang-koang, labohan-hadji, van-vreeswijk, de-kruyff, handelsmuseum, koloniaal-instituut, nijverheid, schimmel, roure, polak-schwarz
aliases	Atjeh patchouli oil experiments 1921-1925, Patchouli oil experiments at Tapa Toean, 1921-1925 Atjeh patchouli trials, Bakongan patchouli discovery, Van Vreeswijk's patchouli experiments, Tapa Toean patchouli experiments

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