The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-09-17


Z this country, and experiments
are being made III flower farming that
must convince the most skcptical that
there is no product of the soil that
cannot be raised somewhere within
the limits OF the United States. 1t may
sound little strange to some to hear
such professional as Professor Mas
6ey OF the North Carolina Experiment
Station say that the rich lands of the
coast counties Of his State can pro-
duce better lily bulbs for general pur
poses than can be grown III Bermuda.
1t is we'll known that most OF our lily
bulbs come from Bermuda, our mar
cissus from Southern England or the
Sicily 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 ere
being cultivated to demonstrate the
superiority OF American grown bulbs.
But this is only the beginning Of
flower farming in TINS 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
South, and Professor Massey has given
his advice and helped to forward every
effort in that direction. Some excel
lent extractsfrom the flowers have been
made and sold in the market. A po-
made distilled from the tuberose flow
ers was made by a lady in South Caro-
lima, near Columbia. which sold for
S1l 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 a variety of
American perfumery made in the
Southern States was exhibited and at
tracted considerable attention.
Now efforts are being made toward
manufacturing the famous "attcr of
roses and 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 PEI cent. OF
the after OF rose is made. 1t is the
ancestor from which the infinite var
! lety of hybrid perpetual roses derive
a large part of their blood. Other
sorts of roses have been tried for
distilling the celebrated perfume, but
only two others yield even a 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, and 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 perfumery. Theil
methods of extracting the perfumery
are supposed to be 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
connected with one of the largest per
tumery firms in France recently visit
ed this country to make experiments
with our roses, and he claimed thai
the flowers raised in the South and il
California yielded about twenty pc,
similar flowers in bis own country
The report to his company was to de
eide them as to the question of trying
to establish branch house in thi!
country, and it Is rumored that ne
gotiations are already under way tc
secure valuable flower land either il
the ''thermal belts" along the Allan
TIC coast or in California.
Meanwhile, however, progress il
making American perfumery has I'D
vanced to such o point in the Soutl
that many growers are actually plant
ing extensive gardens for this pur
pose. The damask Roses of tn,
Balkans have been planted not fa1
from Fayetteville, N. c., and they arr
rapidly growing and producing larg,
crops. Experiments with the bios
SONS have been made, and they hav,
yielded fair quantity of the after
In their native home the roses ar,
threatened with frost at night, bu
rarely injured, and it is supposed tina
this cool night atmosphere develop
the precious altar. Now the "therma
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 night
are very cool. The soil here is of tn
right texture to produce the ros
bushes, and SO far as experiments Col
be made everything seems to be il
favor OF the new industry. This yea
the first altar of roses will be extract
ed from the new plants in sufficien
quantity to be sent to the market, an,
upon the success of this crop vii
largely depend the future outlook.
The altar of roses is not difficult t,
Tho