Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1865-08-08

\. ll III =. = =
How PERFUMERY IS MADE FROM
FLowERs.-The odors OF flowers do
not, as 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 fra
GRANGE, but kill the flower and fra
GRANGE ceases. IL has not beenaas
certained when the discovery was
made of condensing, as it were, the
breath Of the flower during life !;
what we know is, that, if q living
flower, be placed near to butter,
grease, animal fat, or oil, those bod
ies absorb the odor given of by the
blossoms, and in turn themselves
become fragrant. If we spread
fresh, unsalted butter upon the in
side of two dessert plates. with
gathered fragrant blossoms of elem
! sits, covering them over with the
second CREASED plate, we shall find
that after twenty-four hours the
grease has become fragrant. The
blossoms, though separated from
the parent stem, do not die for some
time, but live and exhale odor,
which il absorbed by the fat. 10
remove the odor from the fat, the
fat must be scraped off the plates
and put. into alcohol, the odor then
leaves the grease, and enters into
the spirit, which thus becomes
scent and the grease again be-
comes odorless. The flower farm
ers of the Var follow precisely this
method on very large scale, with
but, little practical variation, With
the following flowers Rose, orange
acacia, violet, jasmine, tuberose and
jonq uil. The process is termed as
said before, en- aeasage, or in flower
ing. In the valley Of the river Var
there are acres of jasmine, of tube
rose, of vioIets, &c. In due season
the air is laden with fragrance-the
flower harvest is at hand. Women
and children gather the blossoms,
which they place in little panniers,
like fishermen's baskets, hung over
their shoulders. They are then car
ried to the flower laboratory and
weighed. In the laboratory the har-
vest of flowers has been anticipated.
During the previous winter great
quantities of grease, lard, and beef
'suet have been collected, melted,
washed and clarified. The great
success Of this project depends on
the absolute purity Of the grease
employed, and no pains are spared
to this end. In each laboratory there
are several thousand o@assss sashes)
or framed glasses, upon which the
grease to be scented is spread, and
upon this grease the blossoms are
sprinkled or laid. The chassc en-
oerre is, in fact, a frame with a glass
in it as near as possible like q win
dow sash, only that the frame is two
inches thicker, so that when one
chase is placed on another, there is
a space of four inches between
every two glasses, thus allowing
room for blossoms. Every chase is
about two feet long by eighteen
inches broad. The flower blossoms
are changed every day, or every
other day, as is convenient to the
general work Of the laboratory or
towering of the plants. The same
grease, however, remains in the
chase SO long as the particular
plant being used, yields blossoms.
Each time the flowers are put on,
the grease is ''worked"-that is,
serrated with knife--so as to offer
q fresh surface Of grease to absorb
odor. The grease being Uncovered
ia this way for three weeks or more
in fact, so long as the plants pro.
duce blossoms--is at last scraped
off the ehasse, melted, strained, and
poured into tin canisters,
---------@~.- o. -
EF- The following estimate may
serve TO show the extent Of the active
industry yearly carried on in the
depths of the Canadian forest Ia
1868 about 27,000,ooO cubic feet Of
timber were cut on the Ottowa and its
tributaries. No less than 25, 900 men
are engaged in getting out and man.
featuring this timber for market.
There are. annually consumed $4,000
barrels Of -four in the production OF
square timber. The horses devour