The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-01
MAKING THE ALTAR OF ROSES.
Bulgaria and RumeIiH Are Centeru
of This Industry.

FROM the ST. LOUIS NIlODe-DeInOCIdJs
Gathering the rose crop in Southeastern
Europe Is now in progress, and In the re-
gions where roses are grown as a com
mercial product the rose harvest is as
much of an event as the strawberry crop
in some parts of the United States. It is
estimated that from the middle of May
until the middle Of July over three-quar-
tiers of a million of people. mostly women
and girls, are employed in gathering the
roses, and the fact that this flower, gem
orally esteemed solely for its beauty
should, by means of It's petals furnish
employment and bread to so many people
is one of the most singular phenomena of
our complicated civilization. The belle in
Paris, London or New York, needs a per-
fume, and the gazelle-eyed daughters Of
the Ganges, the jetty negro women of
Egypt, the yelled wives OF the tawny Ar
abs in Southern Algeria; French and
Spanish peasant beauties in Herault and
Bouches-du-Rhone Italian girls of Lom-
hardy; maids not exactly of Athens, but
of Greece and its isles; the wives of tur>
baned Turks and shabby-capped Bulgar-
ians, all contribute to fill the demand.
The fair lady to whom the essence or
altar of roses is only a delightful per
fume has little idea of of the labor neces-
sary to produce 1t, of its importance to
the country where 1t Is made, or of the
races of people who, through its produc
| ton, contribute to her pleasure. 1t is,
however, but one illustration of the fact
| that no part of the worlds inhabitants is
| Independent of the rest Just as thous-
ands of men and women in Sumatra and
! Borneo, in Ceylon and India, find the
means of subsistence from the taste OF
the civilized races for pepper, so men and
women earn bread in Asia and Africa be-
cause in France, England and America
fashionable people have taste for a rich
| perfume.
The antiquity of the rose is so great that
| all account of its origin has been lost. 1t
| is not Mentioned in the biblical writings
earlier than the reign of Solomon, but the
| alusion to it then made Is such as TO i'm
/ dicate that the flower had already long
been known, for the essence of roses was
| extensively used in Jerusalem and Judea
| during the reign of the luxurious and
much married king. In Egypt the rose is
| depicted on a number Of very early monu-
ments, believed to date from 5000 to $500
| B. c., and in the tomb of an Egyptian
princess, disinterred a year ago, in south
| ern Egypt several Theoretically sealed
| Walls were found which, when opened,
contained genuine altar Of roses so that
| the modern claims for the discovery of
TINS uenClOuS perfume are ' ain ANboN VIZ
| ter, or the essence OF roses, is mentioned
! by Homer in the "Iliad;" Homer and Solo
mon were nearly contemporaneous. Both
the Greeks and Hebrews probably borrow
ed the idea of its manufacture from the
Egyptians, and these, for aught anybody
can tell, may have had 1t from the In
dams or from the Chinese, for the latter
claim for each Of their discoveries and in
ventions a most marvellous, not to say
incredible, antiquity. The rose is one or
those flowers which, by the people OF
every land. are taken for granted as so
well known as to need no description and
hardly mention, for 1t is a singular fact
that every continent on the globe, with
| the solitary exception of Australia, pro-
duces wild roses Even the frozen regions
| of the north, where the summer lasts hut
two or three months, and is at best a sea-
son which may be described as very late
in the fall, produce their wild roses, and
travellers through Greenland, Kamsehatka
and Northern Siberia found. IN the proper
season, an abundance OF blossoms, while
the crews of whaling vessels which call
at SDitzberpen come off shore with bop-
| duets OF the native Spitzbergen rose. All
wild roses are not of the same kind, Tor
| there are over 1000 species of the wild
rose known to botanists, and the varieties
are innumerable.
As n commercial product the rose Is
grown in many parts OF the world. Not
| only in the neighborhood of Paris, but
| more extensively in the south Of France,
roses are cultivated for the purpose OF
manufacturing the altar, and over 3OOW,-
| 900 pounds of rose leaves are annually coll
lected by the French for the purpose OF
making rose water or the altar Of rose.
| In Algiers and Tunis the rose was for
| merly grown much more than at present.
for the competition Of other places has
| become so severe that the Algerians and
| Tunisians are now turning their attention
| 10 the geranium, which In that mild cli-
| mate producing It's flower nearly all the
| year Is more prof table crop. The val
| ley OF Damascus yields fine quality OF
| altar, and the vale Of Cashmere has for
ages been famous, not only for It's roses,
but also for the quality OF It's product In
| Northern and Central India rose water
| and altar are manufactured. AZ Ghazlpur,
near Benares. there are miles upon miles
| OF rose gardens really fields. In which the
rose Is cultivated for the'nowers. in IT,
ally and Sicily rose culture rs practiced
for the sake Of the product. and during
| the last twenty-five or thirty years the
altar or essence Of the rose has become
| one OF the most important commercial
resources Of Bulgaria. The rose fields OF
| Roumania are found on the southern
| slopes OF the Balkans and the plains which
| descend 70 the River Martha. There r.
a district IN Roumania over 80 miles long
soil Is slngularly well adapted 20 the pro-
duotion OF the rose. and almost the whole
OF this region Is given up 60 rose fields.
| The soil IA a light loan, inclined 20 san
| dinoss, the drainage ~ good. while the
cold winds from Central Russia are de-
| nccted by the Balkans, that here act as a
protecting barrier against Icy blasts. To
| the south lie the Mediterranean ana 40.
| gcan seas, and the warm southern breeze.
| laden with moisture, furnishes abundant
rains IN spring and autumn. ana during
| the summer a humidity very favorable
| 10 the growth OF the plant. The roses are
| known 10 b0tanists a. tho Rosa Maachafa.
n red rose, and are propaEated by laycrlng
| the shoots, the layers being placed IN rows
about six feet apart. In three years the
| plants are IN fun bearing, ana continue
M their best for i've years longer, when
| tho quality and The quantity OF tho pro.
| duet begin 90 dotcri0rato. the plants are
/ rooted up and others vet out In their stead
"A fo1d grower 20 MANAGES his planting