The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-14
FURTHER FRooF Is READY.
ALTAR OF ROSES.

travellers who cross the Balkan noun
tains through Shipka pass, made famous
IN the war between Turkey and Russia.
have a unique and very pleasant ex-
perience when they reach the southern
slope Of the mountains. II they arrive
there in the month Of June when the
damask rose is in it's full glory. saws
the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A s,ur
of the Balkans jutting out from the
mountains extends some distance south
ward and then turns abruptly cast
stretching parallel with the main range
for hundred miles or so The valley in
closed between the mountains and the
spur is Wide and rather sandy: if Is
known to fame as the Valley Of Roses
More tnan half of the worlds supply Of
that most delicate Of all perfumes. the
altar Of roses, comes from this valley
IN the central part of Bulgaria IN this
month Of June the valley IS in all its
glory; the damask roses, covering the
heldS for scores Of square miles, are at
their best; the landscape is reddenCd by
their bloom; the air is heavy with their
fragrance; the busy harvest time has
come and many thousands of peasants
are in the fields cutting the flowers as
they arrive at perfection; the fruit of
their summers work if # is "a good
average year, VIII be about 100000 worth
of the altar Of roses, which viii De dis
trlDuted TO many markets of the world
1t was the irony of fate that led tae
conflicting armies i'm the Russo-Turki.h
war into this peaceful valley devoted to
the cultivation of beautiful flowers.
Here the struggle was at its icrcest. for
the Turks fought desperately to KEEP
their enemies from penetrating further
toward Constantinople. The valley was
laid waste, the rose bushes were tram
pied into the earth by the pass &c to
and fro OF cavalry and heavy artillery:
the peasants fed from their fields amid
the smoke Of their ruined homes; it was
years before the valley again blOss0rled
with the rose. The industry RECLAIMED its
former proportions only about ten years
ago and today the rose is one OF the
leading resources Of Bulgaria.
Everybody knows that the altar of
roses is very expensive, but no one VIII
wonder who understands That it takes
hundreds Of thousands of rose petals to
make a pound of altar; in other words,
about LOCO pounds Of the leaves are re-
quired to make a pound Of the oil. The
word altar is not applied alone to the
oil of rose, but to the esse initial oil Of any
plant which possesses in concentrated
form the odor of the vegetable substance
from which it is derived.
Why is it that many flowers Of OK
quisite fragrance are not MS d. like tie
damask rose and a number of other
blossoms in the manufacture OF pe-fur--
cry? 1t IS because they do not yield their
affairs by disiuation or GO it so splrug-
ly as not to admit Of the collection Of q o
altar for commercial purposes. but the
altar Of the danask rose is O tainaI
without great difficulty and because the
flower attains it's highest perfection n
the Valley Of Roses in central Bulgaria
that district is the largest center OF lrs
cultivation, though some regions in p T.
STA and Turkey also make important con-
tributions to the sup ~.
So today the Bulgarian peasautry in
this valley, men, women and chi dren, are
busy in the fields stripping the bushes
Of their bloom and singing merrily rs
they work The Oscillation of the oil
is carried on in a number Of towns but
the great center Of the industry is Kas-
nallk, a flourishing town of 1900 inhab.-
tans, where most of the altar is produced
The leaves are placed in stiH of quite
primitive construction. A small quaint ty
of water is poured over the leaves. tdeu
heat IS applied and the steam carries
with 1t to another part of the apparatus
the vapor Of the essential oil. which IS
then hquified in condenser and tho at
tar of roses is the result of this last o. err
alton.
course, obtain the pure article. but it IS
difficult for the casual pUr5haser even {
the place of manufacture to buy it eX-
cept in an adulterateI form. The com
modify is so expensive that it IS difficult
for the producers to resist the temp.a-
tion to add to their prO~t3 by dilut!nS
it a little. The more common 10 m i'm
which the altar OF roses ge,s into tine
general markets Is rose water, which is
nothing but water tinctured by distiid-
ton with a little of the altar
Though the Valley Of Roses is the la g
est European source of altar of roses
there are other re gions where perfImCry
from flowers is produced The most inn
pOrtant Of them all is the district around
Cannes. Nice and G-asse. which IS ten
miles inland from Cannes. Here roses,
jasmines and violets grow to such per-
lection that the processes OF perfumery
making are successfully applied, pacing
Nice and Cannes among the largest pro-
ducers of perfumes.