The Billings herald. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1882-1885, 1884-12-20
SWEET AND SUBTLE SCENTS.
Popular Perrumes-Hlxh Priced I0as
tasions-Attaf OF Roses. r..

sasions-Attar OF Roses. ",
(Chicago Tribule.l k.
There is probably more deception "a
ettar OF roses than in any other two va
rieties put together. AS is we'll known,
the very best samples come from Turkey,
done up in grotesquc little bottles; but
prominent perfumcrs about Chicago say
that fully 30 per cent. of the Smyrna
aud Bulgarian altar is made and bot
tied in the enterprisiny river towns OF
Connecticut. Along the Ganges river
great quantities arc made annually, but
even in the east the preparation is adul-
terated with oil of rose geranium and,
Himalaya grass, which latter ingredient
has become so valuable that an extern
sive trade is carried on with it. Only
an expert can tell real altar of roses,
and then the test is chemical. 1t con-
geals, if unadulterated, at 55 degrees
Fahrenheit, and the crystals are large
and almost transparent. The rose from
which this precious oil is taken Is the
Damascina, the leaves Of which are used
for the manufacture of rose water.
Nearly all the strong rose perfumes
are based on the funereal tube, which,
however, gets little or no favor among
people of refined taste, who never use a
powerful odor. They prefer the chaste
scent of the violet, about which tho
wiliowy Oscar Wilde talked so much.
The viol odorata is the species most
used and the harvest, which lasts from
February to May, gives employment to
hundreds OF women and children. Wild
olives mako a deliciously delicate per-
fune made almost exclusively in
southern Europe; whence also is obtained
thyme, and old-fashi0ned but very
agreeable odor. Rosemary belongs ex-
clusiyely to sunny France; being tho
delicious perfume that it is, to make
no mention of the beauty the poets
have woven round it, it is always in
demand and always high-priced. From
the Malay peninsula comes curious
little blossom called Patchouli Of most
powerful odor-indeed, few drops OF
the oil will go long way in . quart
bottle of distilled water.
The vcrbena of our garden Is never
used, as is generally supposed, for max
ing the cologne that bears its name. The
commercial verbena is extracted from
the lemon grasses of Singapore, but for
all that deception it is a favorite with 6
great many connoisseurs.
The lovely Provence, immortalized in
''Traviata," cultivates millions and mill
ions of rose geraniums, from which is
counterfeited essence of African gera-
mum. The substitute is by no means
an inexpensive one, as it takes 1000
pounds of rose geranium to make two
pounds of African.
Mignonette is another agreeable per-
fume, and q general favorite among
fashionable clubmen. Both lemon and
orange oils make delicate toilet waters,
which are most used by the exquisites Of
the tropics.
Lily of the valley is delicate but not
durable; however, nine ont of every
ten fastidious brides use it on their
bridal trousseaux. Heliotrope is an
other dainty fragrance, most effective
when it emanates from bit of rare old
lace, or is waited to the senses by the
graceful sway of some antique fan.
Celebrated beauties and old ladies who
have had romantic or varied girlhood
always have it in their forever and
ever boxes, and every old love-letter,
odd glove, and silken souvenir seems
breathing forth the delicate scent. 1t
seems almost sacrilegious to tell it, but
the flower which figures so conspicu-
ously in all lovers floral albums does not
sacrifice its cluster head for tho manu-
facture of the perfume that bears its
name. Heliotrope comes from mix
ture Of violet and vanilla, and, much as
it is priced, is rarely to be had with
those constituents unadulterated.
The seductive bergamot is made from
lemon OIL The fruit is picked while
green, 900 being required to yield six
ounce bottle of perfume. Most of this
comes from Messina, and no:witkstand.
ing the fruit is dirt cheap thu perfume
finds all its admirers among the
ua,lthy