The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-30 00:00:00

Perfumes and Flower Farming.

An interesting lecture was delivered yesterday
before the Royal Horticultural Society, on the sub-
ject of perfumes, and the methods of obtaining the
odours of plants as practiced in this and other
countries. The lecture was given by Dr. eeptimus
Piesse, and was illustrated with a variety of living
plants obtained from the conservatory and grounds
of the Horticultural Society. In commencing his
lecture he divided the plants from which perfumes
were obtained into three classes. In the first the
lecturer placed the odoriferous gum resins which
exude naturally from the plants, such as benzine,
myrrh, frankincense, and camphor—of which, he
said, not less than 5,000 cwt. were annually im-
ported into this country. These odorous bodies, he
said were principally consumed in religious cere-
monies, and from the early custom of burning as
incense upon the altars are derived their name per-
fumus. A number of very interesting specimens of
art workmanship were referred to, as illustrating
the numerous contrivances for burning incence. In
the second class of perfumes mention was made of
those which are procured by distillation, end which
arc known as the various ottos. Sage, mint, thyme,
rosebud, sandal-wood, and other fragrant-bearing
substances, yield by distillation an otto peculiar to
each ; thus is procured otto of patchouly from the
leaves of the patchouly plant. Pogostemon patchouly
a native of Burmah ; otto cf caraway, from the
caraway seed; otto of geranium, from the leaves of
the Geranium rosa ; otto of lemon, from lemon peel,
and many other varieties. All the various ottos
are very slightly soluble in water, so that in
the process of distillation the water which comes
over is always fragrant. Thus, elder water, rose
water, orange water, dill water, are, as it were, the
residue of the distillation for obtaining the several
ottos. The process of distillation is very simple.
The fragrant part of the plant is put into the
still and covered with water—and when the
water is made to boil, the ottos rise along with the
steam, are condensed with it in the pipe, and re,
main floating on the water, from which they are
easily separated by decanting. In this way 1001 b
of orange, lemon, or bergamot fruit peel will yield
about 10ez of the fragrant otto; 1001 b on cedar
wood will yield about 15ez of otto of cedar ; 100 lb
of nutmeg will yield 60oz to 70ez of ctto of nut-
meg ; 100 lb of geranium leaves will yield 2oz of
otto. Every fragrant substance varies in yield of
essential oil. In variety the ottos are as numerous
as fragrant plants ; but there are certain relations
ship among odours as among tints. The lemonalikel
odours aro the most numerous, such as verbena,
lemon, bergamot, orange, citron, citronella ; then
the almond-like odours, such as heliotrope, vanilla,
violet ; then spice odours, cloves, cinnamon, cassia.
The whole may be classified into 12 well-defined
groups. A'l these ottos are very soluble in alcohol,
in fat, butter, and fixed oils. They also mix with
soap, snuff, starch, sugar, chalk, and other bodies,
to which they impart their fragrance. And it is
thus that we aro enabled to transfer the odorous
principle from the plant that produces it to an in-
odorous body, wanting fragrance alone to make it
of commercial value. Though snuff is by no means
eo popular en article in the reign .of Victoria as it
was in Anne's time, yet the increased population,
and still more increased exports to colonies, cause
a positive increased production in scented snuff
now than 50 years ago; snuff perfumed with her.
garnet is especially in demand in the fur countries
of Northern Canada. More than 200,0001 b of
various ottos were imported into Britain in 1860,
end valued at over £180,000; to this must be
added at least one-third as much again distilled
in England. Of oils of lemon and bergamot,
from the Two Sicilies, we received 123,8091 b,
valued at £57,054. The third class of per-
fumes were what he described as perfumes
proper, such as are used for perfuming handker-
chiefs. Contrary to the general belief, nearly all
perfumes derived from flowers are not made by dis-
tillation, but by the process of en fleurage or in-
flaming and by maceration or infusion. The
odours of flowers do not, as a general rule, exist in
them as a store or in a gland, but they are developed
as an exhalation. While the flower breathes it
yields fragrance, but kill the flower and fragrance
ceases. The blossoms, though separated from the
parent stem, do not die for some time, but live and
exhale odour; which is absorbed by the fat. The
process of obtaining the perfume was then described
at some length. The flower farmers of the Ver
culti-
vate acres of jasmine, of tuberose, of violets, and the
other flowers named; and the air is laden with free
grance when the flower harvest is at hand. Woinen
and children gather the blossoms, which they place
in little panniers like fishermen's baskets hung over
the shoulder?. They are then carried to the labora-
tory of flowers and weighed. In the laboratory the
harvest of flowers has been anticipated. Daring
the previous winter great quantities of grease, lard,
and beef-suet have been collected, melted_ washed,
and clarified. The great success of this process de-
pends on the absolute purity of the grease employed,
arid no pains arr spared to this end. In each labors.
tory there are several thousand chassis (sashes), or
framed glasses, upon which the grease to be scented
is spread, and upon this grease the blossoms are
sprinkled or laid. The chassa en verre is, in fact, a
frame with a glass in it as near as possible like a
window sash, only that the frame is two inches
thicker, so that when one chasm is placed on another,
there is a space of four inches between every two
glasses, thus allowing room for blossoms. The flower
blossoms are charged every day. The same grease,
however, remains in the chasse so long'as the particu.
lar plant being used yields blossoms. The grease being
ieflowered in this way for three weeks or more—in
feat, so long as the plants produce blossoms—is at
last scraped off the chasse, melted, strained, and
poured into tin canisters, and in this state was fit for
exportation. la every moderate-sized flower laboe
ratory there were employed from 2,000 to 3,000
sashes. Fat or oil is also perfumed with these same
flowers by the process of maceration—that is infu-
sion of the flowers in oil or melted fat. In order to
obtain the perfume of these flowers in the form
used for scenting handkerchiefs, the scented fat or
oil—made by any of the above methods—is infused
with strong alcohol. The lecturer next referred to
the remarkable fact that these flowers yield per.
fumes, which either separate or mixed in various
proportions, are the types of nearly all flower
odours. Thus when jasmine and orange flowers
are blended the scent produced is like sweet pea—
when jasmine and tuberose are mixed the perfume
is that of the hyacinth. The commercial import•
ance of this branch of perfumes was indicated by
the quantity of flowers annually grown in the dis
trio of Cannes. ,Flower harvest : orange blossoms,
1,475,0001 b ; roses, 630,0001 b; jasmine, 100,0001 b;
violets, 75,0001 b ; acacia, 45,0001 b ; geranium,
30,0001 b ; tuberose, 24,0001 b ; jonquil, 5,000119;
with violets and orange there are more, but with
casein less than here stated. In growing flowers
for perfumery nothing can be simpler or more pri-
mitive than the farming operations. For roses the
field is first scantily manurcd—especially with the
refuse matter left after the distillation of various
plants ; it is then ploughed with oxen at the yoke ;
young plants of roses procured from layers in the
usual way by tongueing and laying at a joint, are
then planted, and nature does the rest. The cab-
bage provence rose is the kind cultivated. A plan-
tation of roses well tended will last from six to
eight years ; but for this the lead must be well
dreined. It re gaires about 7,000 rose plants to eau
an acre, area this acre will produce in an average
season 5000. b weight of roses of the value of ld
to lid per lb--yielding say £3O an acre. For
cassie the land is
,prepared in a similar way.
The young plants are raised from seed, which
is sown in beds. The best plants are left, the
doubtful ones removed. In the third year they have
generally a height of 2ft. or Wt., and are then
planted out in fields, each tree requiring about 12ft,
square. After the third year the tree produces
flowers, growing at the same time till they attain
maturity, when they reach a height of 10ft. or 12ft.,
with branches Cft. long, and a stem as thick as a
man's wrist. Each full-grown tree will produce
about 2ib weight of flowers, value from 3d to 4d per
lb, say £3O to £4O per acre. The jasmine is culti-
vated by slips of the wild jasmine, grafted at the
end of two years with the Spanish jasmine. Thu
produces a blossom the size of a shilling, of intense

fragrance. It requires about 8,000 plants to stock
an acre; and they are not in fall bearing till the
second year after grafting ; but when miter e every
1,000 plants yield about 601 b weight of flowers an.
nually. They are planted in rows, horizontal poles
being thrust between them for suppo t, the branches
being woven in and out, somewhat as the raspberry
canes are arranged by the Chiswick gardeners.• The
tuberose needs more care than any other flower of
the farm. It is the most difficult to rear, bat the
best worth rearing ; a good plantation on a good
soil will last for seven or eight years. It is a bulbous
plant, and throws out a stem like a hyacinth, covered
with fleshy flowers. Orange trees are cultivated from
seeds ; at the third year they are grafted either with
the sweet Portugal or the bitter Bigaradier. A tree
requires 15 years to roach maturity, but will pro.
duce both flowers and fruit in four or five years.
When in full vigour each tree yields an average of
251 b. weight of blossoms annually. Many planta-
tions of orange trees atNico are more than 100 years
old. At Nice there is a public market for orange
blossoms during the season. The bitter orange
flowers fetch 33 per lb, the sweet about 2d, -With
us the violet grows any wh3re, but the terrible sun
of Nice during July and August is but ill borne by
the violet. Consequently, on the farms they are
planted under the green shade of the orange and
lemon trees, or close to walls and houses. A surface
of land equalling an acre of planting yields 1801 b.
to 2001 b. weight of flowers, valued as an average at
2fr, the lb. Oak or rose.leaf geraniums are grown
for the sake of the rose-like odour extracted by dis-
tillation from the leaves. A ton of leaves will yield
about a kilogramme, or rather less, of otto. The
geranium is propagated by cuttings made in Sep•
tember, which are planted out in the spring. Rose-
mary, lavender, and thyme are also grown to a vast
extent. One can hardly say cultivated, since they
grow like brooms and heaths on the wild wolds of
Yorkshire. Any quantity may be found on the high
regions of the maritime Alps. Those persons who
seek for the ottos of these plants carry the distilling
apparatus up the hills on the backs of mules, while
they encamp themselves in tents near to some snow
stream. England has always been famous for the
production of lavender, and farms of it exist at
Carehalton and Mitcham, in Surrey; also at Hitchin
in Hertfordshire. It requires abcut 3,500 plants to
an acre, and when the plant is in full bearing we
can procure from this quantity about 6 to 7 quarts.
of otto, which, at the present price of 545. per lb.,
a good average price of 10 years, yield £32 per acre.
The lecturer concluded by stating that in France,
'where this kind of commerce has risen to the value
of £3,000,000, there are no published accounts or
statistics relating to flowerafarming ; and he ex.
pressed an earnest hope that the object of the council
of the Horticultural Society in bringing the subject
of the odours of plants before the fellows would be
obtained, and that young gardeners emigrating to
some of the warm British colonies might eventually
lay there the foundation of a flower-farm and per»
fume laboratory, such as can only now be seen on
the banks of the Var. The thanks of the society
were given to Dr. Piesse for his lecture, which, it
was announced, would be repeated on Saturday next.