The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-22

riched the little cups which constitute
tie sprigs of bloom. 1t may surprise
good many people to learn that there Is
not nor has there been for many years,
such thing as Mitcham lavender.
There was time when Figs Marsh
boosted as many as five stills, and when
Micham was certainly the center of the
lavender industry, but the scene of OPP
erations has shifted and now Be iding-
ton, Wellington and Carshalton cOnsti-
tute within radius of about six miles
Surveys lavender growing area. There
are something like one hundred and
fifty acres under cultivation in Surrey
(notab!y at Carshalton), and if the re-
tailers maintain the Mitcham legend
it is because the Surrey lavender is not
ed for its quality, and Mitcham is a good
name TO stick to- The flower IS also
grown at Hltchin (Ierts), Grove Ferry,
near Canterbury, and in BedforGshire.
Lavender growing is certainly one of
the things better done in England than
in France, for pound of English oil
ranges in price from % shillings to as
much as 100 shillings in exceptional
times whereas shillings or 5hjllings
is the price obtained for an equal qGCn-
tity of the French variety.
A good deal of the French lavender
is grown wild, and the natives OF TIE
Aipes Maritimes gather it and distii the
oils in primitive fashion. There is moth
ing primitive in the way the industry
is carried on in this country, and a
visit to the fields of one of the largest
growers of Carshalton, William Wood
affords abundant evidence of the cara
full manner in which operations are
conducted from the time when the
young plants are put in the ground IN
til 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 planted some twenty inches
apart, and in the following season al
ternate rows are transplanted else
where, 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 visitor standing in the centre of a
field of yearlings. the rows radiating in
perfect formation from a middle point,
is eminently attractive. There is no
installing 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 the 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 lavender two years old and one
| which is nearing the end of its term,
the young blossoms partaking of a
| more delicate hue.
One advantage the lavender grower
possesses 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 flower 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 proceed
ing has to be conducted with great
| care The fields are rapidly ripening
! under the summer sun, and all the
reaping which is done for the callers
| 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
ripe blooms would mean to lose mil
| lions of the scent giving cups that
| would fall under the pressure of the
| reaper.
! The lavender which is destined for
! the distillery and which is cut
| throughout the day, is laid on what are
| known as ST. Petersburg mats, which
are bound round 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
lavender, boil the flowers, the steam