The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-01
MAKING ALTAR OF ROSES.
A GREAT HARVEST TIME IN SOUTH.
EASTERN EUROPE.


Process of Distillation and Great
Value of the Fragrant Product.
It is estimated that from the middle
of May until the middle of July over
three-quarters of million of people,
mostly women and girls, are employed
in gathering the roses, and the fact
that this flower, generally esteemed
solely for its beauty, should, by means
of its petals, furnish employment and
bread to so many people is one of the
most singular phenomena of our COM
plicated civilization. The belle in
Paris, London or New York needs a
perfume, and the gazelle-eyed daugh-
ters of the Ganges, the jetty colored
women of Egypt, the veiled wives Of
the tawney Arabs in Southern Algeria;
French and Spanish peasant beauties
in Herault and Bouchas- -du-Rhone;
italian girls of Lombardy; maids not
exactly of Athens, but of Greece and
its isles; the wives of turbaned Turks
and shabby-capped Bulgarians, all
contribute to fill the demand.
No more charming spectacle is pre-
sented in the world than Roumelian
rose field during the picking season; ;
the azure sky above, the gray Balkans
closing the northern landscape, the
plain leading off to the Martha toward
the south and thousands of acres COW
cred with rose bushes in full bloom.
It is as though the earth had suddenly
burst into blossom. Everywhere
through the fields in swarms and
armies are the pickers, men, women
and children, boys and girls, for the
rose harvest must be quickly gathered
if at all, and the population finds easy
and well remunerated employment
during the season. The time of the
harvest is known for 400 or 500 miles
in every direction, and whole families
migrate from Bosnia, Servia, northern
Bulgaria, Albania, and even from
Greece, Roumania aud Asia Minor to
take part in gathering the roses. The
harvest lasts, as already stated, about
eight weeks, and during this time any
one who can pick roses can find job
in the southern Balkans. Coming from
all directions, the pickers, of course,
represent types of half dozen races.
There are Greek women with jaunty
little caps, Albanian women with the
headdress peculiar to that region. Tur-
kish women with nun like hoods, made
On the order of motorman's helmet,
with a little slit in front, through
which the black eyes of the harem
beauty glitter; Roumanian and Servian
women, Bulgarian and Russian peasant
girls, with every sort of headdress, and
in many instances emitting the head
dress altogether. All are alike, how
ever, in one respect, that they, during
the season, decorate themselves with
roses. The Turkish women present q
grotesque appearance, with clusters of
roses pinned on their huge round
hoods. The Greeks and Bulgarians
make garlands for head, neck and waist.
Everybody wears roses; even the old
Turk or Greek who manages the re-
torts makes himself beautiful with a
boutonniere or bunch of roses fast
ened on his turban OF bearskin cap.
Every picker is equipped with
basket holding about two bushels, for
rose leaves are light, and there is a
considerable difference in weight be-
tween two bushels of rose leaves and
two bushels of potatoes. When the
baskets are full they are emptied into
sacks, and as soon as possible these
are transported to the houses and
there converted into essence. Picking
begins at early dawn, when the dew is
on the leaves, and is continued until
10 or II o'clock, or during cloudy
days, all day long. When the sun is
shining brightly labor is discontinued
toward noon, and recommended at 4
or 5, and then work is carried on as
long as the pickers can see. Labor is
paid for by the pound, and tally men
are in attendance to weigh the bags,
which are placed at the end of the
rows, and when weighed and recorded
donkey power is used to convey them
to the central stations. Even the DON
keys are not forgotten in the general
desire to ornament everything and
everybody with garlands during the
rose season, and the patient asses pre-
sent singularly incongruous appear
ance as they trudge along under the
huge sacks of rose leaves, the woolly
necks of the bearers garlanded with
roses, an occasional facetious driver
sometimes ornamenting the ears and
tail Of the beast with large punches of
the flowers that in other countries are
a luxury.
The factories where the altar of
roses is made are primitive, but quite
sufficient for all practical purposes.
They are mere sheds; sometimes the
walls are of brick, more frequently of
stone, occasionally of plank. On one
side stand the retorts in rows, copper
alembics about three feet in height,
with brick furnace underneath. Each
alembic has a capacity of 10 litres,
litre being about q standard quart, but
for charge only seventy-fve litres of
water are used and ten kilos of roses,
a kilogram being % pounds, OF about
seventy-tive quarts of water to twenty
two pounds of rose leaves. The pro-
cess of distillation is carried on for an
hour, when the flask which is used to
receive the distilled product contains
ten litres Of oil and condensed water;
it is removed, the alembic is re-
charged, and the process begun anew,
while the flask with the product is set
aside. tho ottor of roca or oil which