The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1896-08-27
A NEW INDUSTRY.
RAISING FLOWERS To MAKE
PERFUMERY IN THE sutTH.
Highly Interesting Experiments In
North Carolina-How Altar OF
Roses and Other Famous
Perfumes Are Made.

must convince the most skeptical that
there is no product OF the soil that
cannot be raised somewhere within
the limits of the United States. II may
sound little strange TO some to hear
such professional as Professor Mas.
sey OF the North Carolina Experiment
Station say that the rich lands of the
coast counties of his State can pro.
duce better lily bulbs Tor general pur.
poses than can be grown in Bermuda.
IL is well known that most of our lily
bulbs come from Bermuda. our mar.
cissus from Southern England or the
Scilly Islands, and the lily of the val
ley pips from Holland; but here at
the experiment station in North Caro-.
lima all of these imported bulbs are
being cultivated to demonstrate the
superiority OF American grown bulbs
But this is only tho beginning of
flower farming in this section that is
destined to spread and become one of
the most important industries in this
country. The question OF raising
flowers for manufacturing perfumery
has been agitated for some time in the
tDbulut hlAil IOltrobI AfAuNNtl uub klNtu
his advice and helped to forward every
effort in that direction. Some excel.
lent extracts rom the Gowers have been
made and sold in the market. A po.
made distilled from the tuberose how.
ers was made by lady in South Caro-
lima, near Columbia, which sold for
gil per pound in New York. A lead.
ing firm offered to take all similar po.
mades that she could manufacture at
correspondingly high prices. At the
Atlanta Exhibition quite n variety of
American perlumery made in the
Southern States was exhibited and at
tracted considerable attention.
Now efforts are being made toward
manufacturing the famous latter of
roses aud the damask rose bush, the
Rosa Damascena of the Balkans, has
been introduced in the thermal
belts" where every condition seems
favorable to its growth. This is the
rose from which ninety peg cent. of
the after of rose is made. 1t is the
ancestor from which the infinite var
iety of hybrid perpetual roses derive
u large part OF their blood. Other
sorts of roses have been tried for
distilling the celebrated perfume, but
only two Others yield even faint
trace of this essence. One of these is
the white musk rose and the other a
dark-eyed variety of Damascena, but
they do not contain more than one.
half the perfume found in the bushy
damask rose.
Although the greatest amount OF at
tar of roses is made in the Balkans and
at Leipsic, France is still the home of
most perfume flowers, aud Grasse,
Cannes and Nice are famous for their
perfumes OF roses, violets, jasmine,
lavender and orange. The French
chemists have succeeded better than
any other in distilling from the flowers
the most delicate periumery. Their
methods of extracting the perlumery
are supposed to he held secret and
guarded with jealous care, and the
difficulty in this country has been that
no one has given the attention to the
distilling part of the business that the
occasion demands. A French chemist
NOAbNNbIh WIN OlJI VI VIC ltIRGHI per
fumery firms in France recently visit.
ed this country to make experiments
with our roses, and he claimed that
the flowers raised in the South and in
California yielded about twenty per
cent. more of the volatile oil than
similar flowers in his own country.
The report to his company was to de.
n11a flnnN n 10 thn ,,,aafsNn - a.
to establish branch house in this
country, and it IS rumored that ne
gotiations are already under way to
secure valuable flower land either in
the "thermal belts" along the Allan.
tic coast or i'll California.
Meanwhile, however, progress in
making American perfumery has ad.
vanced to such n point in the South
that many growers are actually plant.
ing extensive gardens for this pur-
pose. The damask roses of the
Balkans have been planted not far
from Fayetteville, n. c., and they are
rapidly growing and producing large
crops. Experiments with the bios
SONS have been made, and they have
yielded n fair quantity of the after.
In their native home the roses are
threatened with frost at night, but
rarely injured, and it is supposed that
this cool night atmosphere develops
the precious altar. Now the thermal
belts" along the Atlantic coast are ell
evated above the damp air of the val
leys, and are usually exempted from
the late spring frosts, but the nights
are very cool. The soil here is of the
right texture to produce the rose
bushes, and so far as experiments can
be made everything seems to be in
favor OF the new industry. This year
the first altar OF roses will be extract.
ed from the new plants in sufficient
quantity to be sent to the market, and
upon the success of this crop will
largely depend the future outlook.
The altar of roses is not difficult to
make. The chief question is to obtain
the flower leaves that will yield the
oil. The freshly opened roses are