Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1888-04-12
THE PERFUMER'S ART.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION or A GREAT
FRENCH INDUSTRY.

The Flower Growers and Perfume DistIll-
era of Southern France-How Floral
Beauty Is sacriiced-Pomades and Per-
fumed Oils-Distiliation.
The flower growers and perfume distillers
OF southern France have no fear of any COM
petition. They think that because they in
herited this industry from their ancestors
and because no other country has ever taken
it up successfully no other country or people
ever can or win. But there is nothing mys-
terious about the business, and nothing inn
possible to any man or community who win
choose suitable soil, location and exposure
in, well, say California, and go about the
business intelligently and with energy.
Only the simple, most natural varieties of
flowers are used. The roses that are grown by
tons for this purpose are the plain, pink June
rose that every country schoolboy in America
has picked from the bushes in the garden or
door yard and presented blushingly to his
schoolma'am. The single white ionquil, the
wild violet, the single tuberose are the only
ones known to the perfumers. For orange
blossoms small, bitter, non-edible variety
is used, which makes up for its poor fruit by
producing wealth of blooms that are large
white and heavy with perfume. There is
nothing in the growing of flowers that any
peasant farmer of ordinary intelligence can
not readily master. 1t is in the manufacture
of the perfumes from the gathered blossoms
that the greatest skill and experience are re-
quired 1t requires capital, too, but the profits
of the business are liberal, and those who
have been long enough engaged in it have no
want of money.
PoMADEs AND OILS.
The perfumes of commerce are in one Of
four generic forms, viz, pomades and per-
fumed oils, which are made by the process of
absorption, or essences and essential oils,
which are made by distillation. Every large
establishment is provided with apparatus for
all these processes The first two classes
pomades and oils-are used simply as vehicles
to absorb the perfume and retain it for trans
portation. Pomades are made from roses, jon
quils, tuberoses, jasmines and some other
alien species of flowers. Before the season
begins each manufacturer provides himself
with large number Of wooden frames set
with plate glass. These frames are about
two feet square and their wooden sides are
perhaps five inches wide, SO that when piled
up edge to edge they form q series of close
chambers five inches deep and two feet
square Over the plate glass, on both sides,
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mixture of purified lard and tallow-which,
when the boxes are piled one above another,
forms the floor and ceiling of each separate
chamber thus created. All is now ready for
the flowers.
As these arrive each morning they are
assorted and the petals carefully picked from
the stamens and pistils, which are thrown
away as worthless. Over the bottom of each
frame or chamber above described is spread
a layer Of petals and the frames piled one
upon another, SO that in each chamber the
layer Of white grease. which absorbs the per-
fume until the petals become limp and with
cred. They are then removed and replaced
with fresh ones, and this is repeated each
morning until the pomade attains the re-
quired degree of perfumed strength. 1t is
then carefully removed, packed in carthen
jars, sealed, labeled and made ready for ex-
MORT