The midland journal., 1890-08-22
Pot Po urri and Sachets.

den, field, and hedgerow are most
redolent, recipes for the best way Of
conserving the sweetness of our flowers
are in order. We cannot in this country
as in more favored climes, distil the
essence of the fragrant breath of our
roses, and fix it for convenient future
use; although we excel in our prepare.
tion of essential oils from the harder
flowers of lavender, mint, and many
others used for the toilet, in medicine
and for culinary purposes. With the
more delicate of our sweet-sented flowers
we have to be content with preserving
their odorous qualities in more i'm
perfect manner, aud, it must be owned,
with loss of their natural perfume.
Dried rose petals alone do not consti-
tute pot,pourri; which is a mixture Of
all sorts of sweet,smelling flowers, mix
ed with germs, seeds, and essential oils.
Still, dried rose petals alone, with a
little otto of roses added, do duty for
the more comprehensive and varied
pot .pourri We will therefore start
with those beautiful feathers from the
queen of flowers, as forming a fitting
bed on which to rest all other odorous
delights that mingle in our vase Of
sweetness. And an additional reason
for dealing with the rose first is that
the processes of preparation necessary
for the preservation of the petals must
be applied to all other flowers and herbs
introduced into the pot-pourri.
The petals should be gathered when
the flowers are nearly full blown; and
as far as possible, in dry weather.
Spread them out on tray, sieve, or
cloth, exposed to the sun, in a place
outside, sheltered from the wind; or on
greenhouse shelf, or table in sunny
window. They must be turned occa
sionally till quite dry. The next step
is to place layer of the petals one
inch deep, in a jar; and over that to
sprinkle table salt in fine powders; mere
busting from -four dredger is sufficient.
This process must be repeated as long
as rose petals can be gathered; and the
same applies to other scented flowers it
may be desired to add to the roses.
AS suggestive of the profussion in
which liberal nature offers rich ingre.
dients to the maker of pot pourri, we
name few: wall-fowers, daphne, pinks,
lavender; the leaves of
thyme, balm, ETC.; and among trees, the
flowers OF the acacia and the lime.
Some people like to add to the in.
herent perfume of the dried flowers
various essential oils, balsams, sweet
woods, etc. These again may be varied
to any extent; and as a good mixture of
them also answers the purpose of filling
sachets or sccnt.bags. pincushions, etc,
a formula is given as an example.
Ground orange berry, 2 e.; cloves, ] OF
cassia, o.; styrax, J O. mace, i O.;
root of calamus aromaticus, 2 e.; cas-
carilla bark, oz.; coriander seeds,
and pimento, each J o.; orris root, / tb
red sandal wood, t e.; nutmegs, J c.;
all in powder. To these add | dr.. OF
vanilla, 8 gr. Of musk, and 10 gr. OF
ambergris. These ingredients having
been thoroughly mixed, add to them one
drachm of essence of bergamot, twenty
drops of otto of roses, thirty drops of oil
of neroli, fifteen drops of oil of verbena
and twenty drops of English oil of law
ender. Then let the powders be
thoroughly mixed, if rubbed through
sieve it will help to insure the equal
distribution of the essential oils. The
foregoing is quite sufficient for two gal.
Ions of dried flowers. For filing scent
bags and pincushions 1t may be largely
diluted with sandal wood in rough saw.
dust form, which is cheap material.
The essential oils in the above, or
any other combination, may be used
independently of the mixed powders;
but to ensure equal distribution it is
better to mix the oils with a portion OF
orris-root powder first, using lib of it.
Those who desire to preserve rose
petals alone, and do not mind the cost,
would fiud thirty drops of virgin otto Of
roses to every two gallons ofpetals, add
greatly to the bouquet of the whole, in
creasing its strength and durability =
ShawJaidge & CioMier's Monthly.