The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-08-04

II at all, and the population finds easy
and we'll remunerated employment dur
ing 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. Rou.
mania. and 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
q dozen races. There are Greek women
with jaunty little caps, Albani an women
with the headdress peculiar to that region
Turkish women with nun like hoods,
made on the order of motorman's he'll
met, with little slit in front, through
which the black eyes of the harem beauty
glitter; Roumanian and Servlan women,
Bulgarian and Russian peasant girls,
with every sort of head dress, and in
many instances emitting the head dress
one respect, that they, during the season,
decorate themselves with roses. The
Turkish women present a groteque APP
pearance, 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
boutonniere or a bunch of roses fastened
on his turban or 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 between two bushels
of rose leaves and two bushels of potatoes.
When the baskets are full they are emp
tleed into sacks, and as soon as possible
these are transported to the houses and
there convicted 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
recommended at 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 CEN
trail stations. Even the donkeys are not
forgotten in the general desire to orna-
ment everything and everybody with gar
lands during the rose season, and the
patient asses present singnlarly lncon-
gruous appearance 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 under
meath. Each ,alembic has capacity of
ITO litres, a litre being about standard
quart, but for charge only rs litres Of
water are used and 10 kilos of roses,
kilogram being % pounds, or about rs
quarts of water to 20 pounds of rose
leaves. The process of distillation is car
ried on for an hour, when the flask which
is used to receive the distilled product
contains 10 litres of oil and condensed
water; it is removed, the alembio is re-
charged, and the process begun anew,
while the flask with the product is set
aside; the altar of rose, or oil, which
floats upon the surface is subsequently
taken off by cooling and condensation.
The quantity Of the product as proper
toned to the amount of rose leaves used
varies considerably. Some kinds of roses
produce the altar in much greater album
dance than others. The product also
been found by experience that the season
has much to do with the quantity of at
tar; a humid spring, with intervals of
warm sunshine, causing the petals to
yield more literally than is the case in
! a dry, hot season. In Bulgaria 300 kilos
| of rose leaves produce one kilogram of
| the altar, and this is the yield of about
| one hectare, or 2 Ia acres. A kilogram
of altar is worth from 800 to 1900 francs,
| say an average of 1000, and thus the Bull
garian realizes about 500 an acre on his
crop, very fair return for the amount
invested and the outlay. In France the
production Is about the same, or 5000
pounds of rose leaves to pound Of altar,
and it is computed that the leaves Of
ounce of the oil. In Algeria the roses are
much less productive, but in Cashmere
and at Ghazipur it is estimated that from
| 1900 to 1000 pounds of petals produce one
| pound of the essence. Only the red rose
| is used for manufacturing the essence;
| rant to the nostrils, appearing to lack the
essential oil which forms SO valuable a
| product.
| 1t is not generally known that the
altar, or otto Of rose, as it is sometimes
| called, is one Of the most valuable and
costly substances in the world An ounce
| Of the pure altar is worth from $100 to
| $3.50, and when it is remember ed that the
market price of gold is only about $40 an
| ounce, some idea of the value of this mar
yelous oil may be gained. A few years
ago some dredgers off Coney Island
brought up from the depths of the sea
box, and opening it ascertaind that it con
| tanned nearly 100 ounce walls of altar of
roses. It was remembered that fifty or
sixty years before an East Indian had
been wrecked near the point where the
box was found, and the box had undoubt.
eddy formed part of the cargo. The oil
was uninjured by Its long submersion in
sea water, and the dredgers realized a for
tune from box little more than fourteen
inches square. The value of the annual
yield of the Balkan rose district alone is
about $400. 900 worth of altar.
The Persians have pretty legend to
account for the discovery of the altar, ac-
cording to which, in the year 1912, the
Princess Nour Dihan, who was about to
marry the Prince Djihanguyr was walk
ing with her atfianced in one of the gal
leries of the palace, when she noticed that
in the pools of rose water furnished by
the fountains in the palace there were
drops of yellow liquid. She ordered
the attendants to collect the scattered
globules W it'll feathers, and when this