Middletown transcript., 1886-03-19
FLOWERS IN pERFUMERY.

? flowers has been carried on more o.
:, less since the beginning of the historic
e era. The ancient Egyptians seem t.
have understood the process of dis
tilling affairs from various flowers and
fruits. During the middle ages We
) read of a perfume known as Hungary
water, which was first distilled from
rosemary in 1870 by Elizabeth, Queen
of Hungary, who obtained the recipe
from a hermit, and by the use of it is
said to have preserved her beauty to
old age. Catherine de Medicis, when
| she came to France to marry Henry
| H., brought with her a famous Floren-
| tine perfumer, who had the art Of
| manufacturing 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. m
| In an elaborate paper upon perfum-
cry, furnished by Eugene Rimmel to
the Society Of Arts, London, and pub
lished in No. 391 of its journal, scents
in general use are classified in eigh-
teen groups, and the vegetable pro-
ducts used in this art are arranged in
ten divisions, as follows: First: The
floral series; namely. jasmine, rose,
orange-fower, cassia, tuberose, violet,
jonquil and narcissuss; the altar, or
otto, Of roses is the most valuable pro.
duct of this division. Second. The
herbal series, comprising all aromatic
plants, such as lavender, spike. pepper
mint, rosemary, thyme, marjoram,
| geranium, patehouli and winter-green,
| which yield essential oils by distilla-
ton. Third. The dndropogon series,
which furnish the lemon-grass, cit
ronella and ginger-grass oil. Fourth.
The citriness series comprising the
bergamot, orange, lemon, citron and
lime, from whose rinds an essential
oil is obtained by expression or distilla-
ton. Fifth. The spice series, includ-
ing cinnamon, cinnamon leaf, cloves,
mace, nutmeg and pimento. Sixth.
The wood series, consisting of sandal
wood, rosewood, rhodium, cedar and
sassafras. Seventh. The root series,
comprising orris-root and vetiver,
called by the Hindoos kus-kus.
Eighth. The seed series, composed of
anise-seed, dill and caraway. Ninth.
The balm and gum series, including
balsam of Peru, balsan of Tolu, cam
phor, myrrh, benzoin, storax aud other
gums Tenth. The fruit series,
including bitter almonds, Tonquin
beans aud vanilla.
The artificial preparations and the
animal perfumes make two more series.
The greatest number Of the materials,
amounting to twenty eight. is obtained
from the south of France and Italy,
which is the chief centre Of manufac-
ture of perfumery materials. The East
Indies and China furnish about twenty
one, Turkey. two, Africa, two, North
America, six, South America, six and
England, flour. The only articles
named from the United States are pep.
perniint, sassafras, and winter green.
The chief places for the growth of
the sweet perfume-producing flowers
are Montpelier, Grasse, Mines, Savoy,
Cannes and Nice, in France. Ii is
there that the jasmine, tuberose, cassia,
rose and violet grow to such perfec-
ton, and that the processes Of enfeur-
age and maceration are commercially
worked. Nice and Cannes are the para
disc of yiolets, producing annually
something like one hundred and fifty
tons Of blossoms. The variety culti-
waited 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 bouquet a pound of
yiolets would make.
Mines is famous for its thyme, rose
mary, aspic and lavender; at Cannes
the acacia thrives particularly well,
and produces yearly about ten tons Of |
flowers. One great peitumery distill-
cry al Cannes uses annually about one
hundred and fifty thousand pounds of |
orange blossoms, twenty thousand
pounds of acacia flowers, two handred
thousand pounds of rose leaves,
forty thousand pounds of jasmine
blossoms, thirty thousand pounds of
tuberoses, together with great many
other sweet herbs. Nice produces an
annual harvest 6 two hundred thou
sand pounds of orange blossoms. Five
hundred pounds of orange blossoms
yield about two pounds ofpure Neroli
oil. The extraction of ethereal oils,
the small quantities of which are
mixed in the flowers with such large
quantities of other vegetable juices
that it requires about six hundred
pounds of rose-leaves, to produce one
ounce of otto of roses, demands very