The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-07-16
ALTAR OF ROSES.
An Account of the Manufacture of This
Costly Substance.

An Account of the Manufacture of This
Costly Substance.
The following account of the manu-
facture of this interesting substance is
condensed from a paper in the United
States consular reports. The annual
product in the district referred to
reached three tons in 1884, selling
for $500, 600. In 1881 the product
was 4, 600 pounds, but the cost of man.
ufacture has been greatly increased in
recent years and it sold for S625, 900.
Altar of roses is produced on large
scale in the province of Roumelia, on
the southern slopes of the Balkans, and
1t is only the altar of these districts
that is of any moment. Small Guanti-
ties are produced in India and Persia,
but they are used for home consump-
ton. and the same is the case with the
altar of roses produced in the south of
France, which, although of good quail
ity, forms only very small part of the
consumption, of these producing
places. The altar of Tunis is of the
best quality, but the quantity produced
is comparatively small and the price
high. Very little is exported.
The altar produced in Roumelia is
made by distillation from rosa darias-
Gina, whose color is, as a rule, bright
red; 1t is sometimes, but rarely, white.
1t is not very full as a flower, and
blooms in May and June. The rose
trees, when full grown, reach a height
OF about six feet, and are planted in
rows. They have to be tended very
% N hn TO e
gathering. The flowers when in bloom
are plucked before sunrise, only in
such quantities as can be distilled on
the day they are plucked. The distil-
ling apparatus consists of plain
timed still, from which a long curved
tube is directed through a tub filled
with fresh water, and empties in big
bottle. Several such apparatus are usu-
ally standing on stone hearths, by the
side of each other, and, if possible,
close to a brook in the shade of trees.
According TO the size of the appa-
ratus, the still may hold from twenty
five to fifty pounds of roses, on which
about double that amount of water is
poured, and is boiled briskly for about
half an hour. The distilled liquid is
collected in the bottle that stands at
the mouth of the cooling tube, and the
altar of roses, which separates from
the water appears on the surface,
where it Is skinned. The distilled
water is again used for distillation, and
constitutes ultimately the rose-water
which enters into trade.
After sufficient quantity of altar is
produced it has to be totally freed from
the water, and is kept in copper cans,
timed both on the inside and outside.
The rose trees attain their maximum
producing capacity in their fourth year,
say from 1900 to 1000 pounds per
acre. They are very sensible to cold;
fogs and rain are also very fatal to the
blossoms. But the yield depends most
upon the weather during time of distil-
lation; the latter lasts sometimes ten
days only, when the weather is warm
and clear, whereas it may require a
month and more if the sky is cloudy,
htafTiaiY i rap s 15 tails at intervals In
at the same time, and, as there is no
time to gather and work them all, the
odor of the flower soon vanishes, and
the yield in altar is much less in conse-
quence, SO that 5000 to 1000 pounds
of leaves are needed to give one pound
of altar. When the weather is favor
able and the buds bloom gradually
1900 to $500 pound of leaves will give
one pound.
Pure altar of roses when distilled
with due care is at first colorless, but
soon takes a yellowish color. No GER
tain method is known to detect falsiti-
cation. Admixtures' of alcohol for the
purpose of increasing the freezing ca
pacity, or admiXtures of spermaceti,
neither of which, at least in the whole
sale trade, is now resorted to, are, Of
course, easily detected. But the most
important falsitying medium Is Oil OF
geranium, which some dealers order
even at Constantinople to be sent to
kyZanlik, to. be distilled over again
with rose leaves, and to mix with altar
of roses. Moderate additions Of this
oil defy detection. The surest method
of testing is by smell, but it requires
much training, and can only be acqulr-
ed by many years patience. 1t is still
a widespread belief, although an er-
roneous one, that the quality of the
altar of roses corresponds exactly with
the degree of its freezing capacity.
The '.stearopten," which is the freez-
ing agent of the altar, is devoid of any
smell whatever, and has, therefore, no
bearing on the flavor or the purity of
the altar. A certain freezing capacity
is, it is true, one of the claims which
one may lay on really good altar, but
this only because the admixture of
other essential oils has the effect of
lowering the freezing point. The at
tar sets at 50 degrees to SO degrees
Fahrenheit, according to the quantity
of stearopten contained in it; it some
times, but exceptionally, congeals at a
higher temperature, it then shows
feathery, transparent crystals, filling
all the liquid; specific weight is 9.S7 at
67 degree Fahrenheit.
Altar made in the highest-situated
| villages is, as rule, considered OF
greater freezing capability, and OF
more intense, but harsher, flavor,
whereas the produce from the plain
| shows lower freezing point, and Is
/ possessed of a sweeter and finer fiavo'
Scottish agricultural Gazette.
/