The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-11
AMERICAN ALTAR or ROSES.
Efforts Being Made to Produce It In Ou1
Southern States.

Efforts Being Made to Produce It In Our
Southern States.
At the Atlanta exhibition quite q va
riety of American perfumery made in
the southern states was exhibited, and
attracted considerable attention.
New efforts have been made toward
manufacturing the famous 'attar oil
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 90 per cent. of she altar of roses
is made. 1t is the ancestor from which
the infinite variety of hybrid perpetual
roses derive large part of their blood.
Other sorts of roses have been tried for
distilling the celebrated perfume, but
emily two others yield even a faint trace
of this essence. One of these is tho
white musk rose and the other a dark
eyed variety of Damascena, but they do
not contain more than one-half the per.
fume found In the bushy damask rose.
The question Of making this rose do
well in any other part of the world has
been doubted for some years. After the
Turkish war of 1878, that government,
having lost it's Balkan provinces, and
with them, the rose gardens, undertook
to transfer the industry to Asia Minor.
but while the bushes grew end produced
Immense numbers of roses near Broussa
80 little attar could be extracted from
them that the enterprise was aban.
doned. After that ii was thought that
the damask rose could be made to pro-
duce its altar only on the south slope
Of the Balkans, where it has grown fol-
ages.
But within the last three years an
other experiment has been made with
the roses, and this has proved SO suc
cessful that the gardeners have con.
cluded that similar conditions as those
prevailing in the Balkans can be found
In this country. Extensive plantations
of the rose bushes were made in the
neighborhood of Leipsic, Germany, and
the roses yielded such an amount of at
tar that an enormous industry has sud
denly grown up. The mandatory meas
Leipsio treats during the season 1000.
900 roses day and extracts from ther
800 pounds of altar per year. AS the
altar sells for about six dollars PEI
ounoe, the value of this new industry
can be readily estimated. although about
$1,000 roses are required TO make an
ounce The distillery is placed in the
middle of the rose garden. 30 that the
flowers reach the stills within few
minutes after they are cut
Although the mention OF the altar OF
roses carries Us back to the enst and sug'
gests immediately It's Persian origin
the manufacture practically died out
ehree year. ago. and the center Of the
business has been for long time IL
the country about kanzanhk- on tbs
south slope of the balkans. close 10 the
Shipka or Wild Rose pass made f1nous
in the history Of the Russo-I urkish war
The rose belt extends TO length OF
about II miles and with an average
brendth of ten miles On this ground
are produced annually from 5000, 0oo..
600 to 5000. ooo. 600 rose blossoms But
now that the LeiPsic d'sailery Is N foli
operation. the business in the Balkans
has been seriously injured The only
question remaining TO complete the his
tory of this industry Is 20 find out
whether it can be transferred 20 this
country. From present indications II
seems as IL Il could. and instead OF i'm
porting hundreds of thousands Of dol
lars worth OF psrfumery. our dealers
will find the supply right at saeir door
-Philaielphia Tines