The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-03
IN LAVENDER FIELDS.
Harvesting England's Great Crop of
Scent-Laden Flowers.

Scent-Laden Flowers.
From the London Globe
There are few more delightful scenes
than field of lavender with the morn
ing sun lighting up the ever changing
colors of the swaying stems. AS ilcecy
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 hindrance on the
great patch OF scent-laden flowers, the
hue becomes almost a Cambridge blue.
But only for a moment: the variations
are ceaseess. The color Of a lavender
field has bafTled the brush of many an
artist, and none that we can recall has
ever been able to catch these wondrous
tints with anything like truth. Just
now the lavender cutters are hard at
work, deftly 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 hawkers by way of Covent Garden
market. and devoting what is literally
the heat and burden of the day to
reaping for the stil. The lavender
which is destined for sachets and the
linen press will constitute but a small
proportion of that which is now being
reaped with quite feveriSh energy. for
1T is the oil of lavender that the grower
looks for his chief profit.
This has been a good season for the
lavender grower, and if he is now up
with the lark, and by no means to
bed when the birds so to roost, it is
because of the necessity of making
scent while the sun shines, or, rather,
extracting the essential oils which 90
to the making of the scent. And If he
Is reaping an abundant harvest he de-
serves it, for the cultivator of laven-
der, be he pharmaceutical agrlcultur-
ist" or herb grower suffers all the risks
and disappointments attending the till
ing of the soil. The good rains in May.
coupled with the abundance of SUM-
shine since that time, have resulted
in 4 lavender crop excellent alike In
quality and quality.
Spring frosts often do considerable
damage to the lavender plants, but
although this year the frosts We're
keen enough to cut down the potato
nalum they seem to have spared the
lavender. The net result is that while
the punches of so-called "Mitcham Law
ender" which find their way to Covent
Garden are full and well-flavored this
year, the yield of essential oils is also
excellent, for the long spell of sun
shine has enriched the little cups which
constitute the springs of bloom. 1t
| may surprise a good many people to
| learn that there is not, nor has there
| been for many years, such a thing as
the Mitcham lavender There wGs a
| time when Figs Marsh boosted az
many as five stills. and when Mitchan
was certainly the center of Ia lender
| industry, but the scene of operations
has shifted, and now Beddington, Wal
| lington and Carshalton constitute with
| a radius of about six miles Surrey 8
| lavender growing area. There are
| something like one hundred ana fifty
| acres under cultivation at Surrey
| (notably at Carshalton), and If the re-
tailers maintain the Mitcham legend
| 1t is because the Surrey lavender is
noted for it's quality, and Mitcham is
a good name to stick to it. The Gow-
| er is also grown at Hitchin (FcIts),
Grove Ferry, near Canterbury, and in
| BedfOrdshire.
Lavender growing is certainly one OF
| the things better done in Englar
| than in France, for a pound of English
| oil ranges in price from % shillinGs 10
as much as 100 shillings in exc aptionll
| times, where as Z shillings or s shill-
| ings is the price obtained for equal
! quantity of the French variety. \
| good deal of the French lavender is
| grown wild, and the natives of the
| Alpes Maritimes gather it and Gistill
the oils in primitive fashion. There is
| nothing primitive in the way the in
| dustry is carried on in this country
| and a visit to the fields of one Of the
| largest growers of Carshalton. Will
| liam Wood, affords abundant evidence
| of the careful manner in which opera
tions are conducted from the timl
| when the young plants are put in the
| ground until they have reached the
zenith of their yielding powers In
| the third and last year of their exist
enCe. In the first year they are plant
| ed some twenty inches apart AMI in
| the following year alternate rows are
| planted elsewhere, leaving the spr .a6-
| ing plants more than three feet q
| space In which to thrive and develop
| The planting is done on the sqla e
| and the symmetry of design presented
/ to visitor standing in the center a
| field of yearlings, the rows radiatinG
! in perfect formation from a mid l!e
| point, is eminently attractive. There
| is no mistaking the two and three
year-old crops, for while the former
| may be, as they are this season, fUll
! bodied. and strong, the sprigs of II {
! older plants are weighed down with
| the weight of their oil-laden cups
| Then, too, there is a distinct difference
| in color between a field Of lavender
! two years old and one which is near
| ing the end of it's term, the young
! blossoms partaking of more delicate
! hue. one advantage the lavender
| grower possesses over other cultiva-
| tors is that he has no need to feaI
| the depredations of the birds. Par
| tridges and larks may build their nests
| in his lavender but the scent of the
| flowers tempts them not at all, and
| but Tor the fact that the rabbits may
bite off the struggling sprigs which
! interfere with their runs, the laven-
| der has no enemy save the spring
| frosts.
The harvesting which is now proceed
| ing is to be conducted with the great
est caro-. The fields are rapidly rip
| ening under the summer sun, and all
the reaping which Is done for the call
| ers of "sweet lavender, sixteen
branches a penny" has TO be done
| while the dew Is still upon the land
for to bunch" the sprigs when the
sun has dried the ripeblossoms would
mean to lose millions of the scent
| giving cups that would fall under the
! pressure of the reaper. The lavende-
which is destined for the disti'lery