The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-02-06
The Perfumery Industry.

| Ine manuIacCure OF perfume from How
ers has been carried on more or less since
the beginning of the historic era. The an
cient Egyptians seem to have understood
the process of distilling affairs from various
flowers and fruits. During the middle ages
we read of perfume known as Hungary
water which was first distilled from rosemary
in 1870 by Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary,
who obtained the recipe from hermit, and
by the use of it is said to have preserved
her beauty to old age. Catherine de Med
icis, when she came to France to marry
Henry II, brought with hera famous Flor
ence perfumer, who had the art of manu-
featuring oils from flowers, both by the
processes of infowering and by maceration,
though of course his methods were rude
and unscientifc as compared with those of
to-day. From that time the French have
paid great attention to the cultivation of
flowers for this purpose.
In an elaborate paper upon perfumery,
furnished by Mr.. Eugene Rimmel to the
Society of Arts, London, and published in
No. 391 of its journal, scents in general use
are classified in eighteen groups and the
vegetable products used in this art are ar
ranged in ten divisions, as follows: First
The floral series, namely, jasmine, rose,
orange-hower, casa, tuberose, violet, jonquil
and narcissus; the altar, or otto, of roses is
the most valuable product of this division.
Second: The herbal series, comprising all
aromatic plants, such as lavender, spike,
peppermint, rosemary, thyme, marjoram,
geranium, patchouli and wintergreen, which
yield essential oils by distillation. Third
The andropogon series, which furnish the
lemon-grass, citronella and ginger-grass oil.
Fourth. The citrine series, comprising the
bergamot, orange, lemon, citron and lime,
from whose rinds an essential oil is obtained
by expression or distillation. Fifth. The
spice series, including cinnamon, cinnamon
leaf, cloves, mace, nutmeg and pimento.
Sixth. The wood series, consisting of san
dal wood, rosewood, rhodium, cedar and
sassafras Seventh. The root series, COM
prising orris root and vetiver, called by the
Hindoos kus-kus Eighth. The seed Sc
ries, composed of anise seed, dill and cara
way Ninth The balm and gum series,
including balsam of Peru, balsam of Tolu,
camphor, myrrh, benzoin, storax and other
gums. Tenth. The fruit series, includ-
ing bitter almonds, Tonquin beans and
vanilla.
The artificial preparations and the animal
perfumes make two more SERIES The
greatest number of the materials, amount
ing to twenty-eight, is obtained from the
south of France and Italy, which is the
chief center of manufacture for perfumery
materials. The East Indies and China
furnish about twenty-one, Turkey two,
Africa two, North America six, South
America six, aud England four. The only
articles named from the United States are
peppermint, sassafras and wintergreen.
The chief places for the growth of the sweet
perfume producing flowers are Montpelier,
Grasse, Mines, Savoy, Cannes and Nice, in
France. 1t is there that the jasmine, tube
rose, cassie, rose and violet grow to such
perfection, and that the processes of en-
feurage and maceration are commercially
worked.
Nice and Cannes are the paradise ofv vio-
lets, producing annually something like one
hundred and fifty tons of blossoms. The
variety cultivated is generally the double
or Parma violet, which is so productive that
the flowers are sold at about five pence per
pound, and we all know what sort of bou-
quet pound of violets would make. The
abundance in Sicily of every flower which
in our climate is most highly priced, recalls
the traveller in the story who arrived in a
country where the children played at pitch
and toss and marbles with diamonds, ru-
bies, emeralds and other precious gems.
''These are, doubtless, the sons of some
powerful king" he said, and bowed re-
spectfully before them. The children,
laughing, made him soon perceive that they
were the street boys, and that the gems
were only the pebbles of that country
In Sicily the crimson grenade and rose
trees, the peach-colored rhododendrons and
the delicate white oamelias form the coun-
try hedges. The white and green myrtles,
and pink, white and hame-shapcd and fame
colored tulips grow wild. When pleasure
garden is made the orange and lemon trees
are taken out, because they are too common.
Alphonse Karr was much surprised to notice
that the ladies of Nice never decorated
themselves with real flowers, but seemed to
dislike them. He thought this all the more
strange in a country where it is no longer
NEUROLOGICAL fattery to say that flowers
spring from the footprints. The roses, vio-
lets, jasmine and mignonette are cultivated
by the peasants only for perfumery pur-
poses and honored but as we honor pota-
toes or cabbages.
We are now wholly dependent for our
finest perfumes on France, so that when
flower crop fails, as the jasmine and rose
to serious inconvenience 1t is, therefore,
to the interest of perfumers to promote the
production of these flowers in other coun-
tries, and the high price they fetch in the
market would make it very profitable
! speculation. Great praise is due to the
pioneers of flower farming in the British
colonies of South Africa and Australia, and
especially to Col Talbot in Jamaica, whose
efforts in this direction bid fair to meet
with complete success The cultivation of
flowers on large scale for perfumery pur-
poses in this country would perhaps be i'm
practicable For American flowers, how
|
ever beautiful in form or color, do notpos-
sess the intensity of odor required for ex-
traction; and the greater part of those used
in the south of France for perfumery pur-
poses would grow here only in hothouses.
The one flower which might be had in
abundance would be the rose; but the smell
of it is very faint compared with that of
the Southern rose. The shortness of the
Towering season and the high price of labor
as compared with those in Europe would
be serious disadvantages with which to
contend
In the little village of Mount Pleasant,
in the potteries in Stafordshire, England,
is to be found child whose extraordinary
growth excites great wonder Little Alice,