Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-14
IN THE LAVENDER FIELDS.
Harvesting England's Great Crop Of
scent-Laden Flowers
From the London Globe.


than field of lavender. with the morning
sun lighting up the ever-changIng colors
of the swaying stems. As fleecy clouds
move across the sky the blue mauve of the
field takes a darker tinge. and then. as the
suns brilliant light plays again without
hlndrance on the great patch OF scent-laden
flowers, the hue becomes almost a Cam
bridge blue. But only for moment: the
variations are ceaseless. The color Of a
lavender field has baffied the brush Of
many an artist, and none that We can re-
call has ever been able to catch these
wondrous shifting tints with anything like
truth. Just now the lavender cutters are
hard at work, deity reaping, with sickle in
hand, the fragrant CROP cutting in the
early morning the punches which find their
way into shops and the hands OF the hawk
ers by way of Covent Garden market. and
devoting what is literally the heat and
burden of the day to reaping for the Sun.
The lavender which is destined for sachets
and the linen press will constitute but a
small proportion OF that which is now be-
ing reaped with quite feverish energy, for
II Is to the oil OF lavender that the grower
| looks for his chief profit
This has been good season for the
lavender grower, and II he is now up with
the lark, and by no means to bed when the
birds go to roost, il is because OF the neces-
slty OF making scent while the sun Shines
or, rather, extracting the essential oils
winch go TO the making Of the scent. And
II he Is reaDing an abundant harvest he
deserves II, for the cultivator Of lavender,
be he pharmaceutical agriculJurist" OF
herb grower, suffers all the risks and dis
appointments attending the tilling Of the
SOIL. The good rains in May, coupled with
the abundance of sunshine since that time,
have resulted in lavender crop excellent
alike in quantity and quality.
Spring frosts often do considerable dam
age TO the lavender plants, but although
this year the frosts were keen enough TO
cut down the potato haulm they seem to
have spared the lavender. The net result
is that, while the punches of so-called
"Mitcham lavender which find their way
TO Coyent Garden full and well flavor
ed this year, the yield OF essential oils is
also excellent, for the long spell of sunshine
has enriched the little cups which constf-
tute the sprigs Of bloom. 1t may surprise
a good many people to learn that there is
not, nor has there been for many wears
such thing as Mitcham lavender. There
was a time when Figs Marsh boosted as
many as five stills, and when Mitcharn was
certainly the center of the lavender in
dustry, but the scene of operations has
shifted, and now Beddington, Wellington
and CarShaltOn constitute with a radius of
about six miles Surveys lavender growing
area. There are something like one hun
dred and fifty acres under cultivation in
Surrey (notably at Carshalton). and if the
retailers maintain the Mitcham legend It is
because the Surrey lavender is noted for its
quality, and Mitcham is n good name 10
stick to. The flower is also grown at
Hitchn CHerts), Grove Ferry, near Canter-
bury, and IN Bedfordshre.
Lavender growing is certainly one Of the
things better done in England than in
France, for a pound of English oil ranges
in price from % shillings as much as 1870
shillings in exceptional times. whereas
shilings or shiliings is the price
obtained for an equal quantity of
the French variety. good deal
OF the French lavender is grown wild.
and the natives of the Apes Maritimes
gather it and distill the oils in primitive
fhara 10 rgFir,a
way the industry is carried on in this
country, and a visit to the fields of one OF
the largest growers of Carshalton, VIM.
Wood, affords abundant evidence Of the
careful manner in which operat atoms are
conducted from the time when the young
plants are put in the ground until they
have reached the zenith of their oil-yielding
powers in the third and last year of their
existence. In the first year they are plant
ed some twenty inches apart, and in the
following season alternate rows 9re trans
planted elsewhere, leaving the spreading
plants more than three feet of space IN
which to thrive and develop. The planting
Is done on the square, and the symmetry
Of design presented to a visitor standing
in the center of a field of yearlugs, the
rows radiating In perfect formation from
middle point. Is eminently attractive.
There is no mistaking the two and three
year-old crops, for while the former may
be, they are this season, full bodied and
strong, the sprigs of the older plants are
weighed down with the weight Of their OIL
difference in color between field of layen-
der two years Old and one which Is near
ing the end Of its term, the young bios
SONS partaking Of more delicate hue.
One advantage the lavender grower pos
sesses over other cultivators is that he has
no need to fear the depredatiOns of the
birds Partridges and larks may build their
nests in his Lavender, but the scent Of the
flowers tempts them not at all, and but
for the fact that the rabbits may bite off
the struggling sprigs which interfere with
their runs the lavender has no enemy save
the spring frosts.
The harvesting which is now proceeding
has to be conducted with great care The
fields are rapidly ripening under the sum
mer sun. and al the reaping which Is done
for the callers of sweet lavender, sixteen
branches a penny" has to be done while
the dew Is SUlt upon the land. for 10
punch the sprigs when the sun has dried
the ripe blooms would mean to lose mil
lions Of the Scent-giYing cups that would
fall under the pressure of the reaper. The
lavender which IS destined for the distilery.
and which Is cut throughout the day, IS
laid on what are known St Petersburg
mats which are bound around about sixty
pounds Of lavender stalks, and in this way
the bloom is carried to the stills. Here
coppers holding as much as a ton of Law
ender boil the flowers, the steam which is
given off being condensed, and the oil sep
arated from the water Stripped to the
waist the men work night and day in the
heat of the barn-like buildings Of two
stories, with the furnaces below and the
distllery IN the floor above. Carefully the
boiling process IL watched until the t.ne
comes for securing the precious oil of law
euder which makes scent for the million.
But that after all is the business and the
least attractive side of the calling of the
grower over whose fields one is roaming.
1t is the growing lavender which possesses
so many charms for the visitor. The air is
charged with q faint scent of the flower
the bees (black humble bees) buzz in
thousands above the sprigs of blossom, and
butterflies-the chalkhill blue, the hand
some sulphur-tinted yellow and many
others-add to this scene of varied co!ors
over which the reaper is passing with the
swish of his sickle. Who would not envy
the lavender grower. who pursues his CALI
ing amid such delightful surroundings?
He Deserves 1t.