Evening star., 1902-02-22
THE USES OF ROSES
INDUSTRIAL IMPORTANCE OF
THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS.
Cultivation Of the Blossoms For Their
Perfume-Odors Vary With
Species.
From the London Gardeners Magazine.

<asSoCidteu dS the rose IS In the mlnGS Oh
every English man. woman or child with
everything that is beautiful in poetry, form,
or color, 1t seems to amount almost to sac
rilege to consider these choice flowers in
connection with any practical uses. Yet
the perfume OF the rose has long been one
that has given delight to ancient peoples,
and to the desire of others to possess, or
even to initiate, and In these matter-of-
fact days people have not been behind in
recognizing that in the rose there was and
still is source Of most important and
widespreading industry. Consequently the
cultivation Of roses gives employment to
very large number of persons, whether for
garden purposes or for the preparation OF
altar or otto Of roses, which Is carried on
very extensively In Roumelia, as we'll as in
Persia and 1n1da. Besides being our ma
tional emblem, the rose Is also rendered
interesting from Its connection with the
armorial bearings Of some Of the most an
cient and noble families Of Europe. 1t was
perors, who allowed their most dnstin-
guished generals to inscribe 1t upon their
shields.
Cherished in Persia.
In no country is the rose more cherished
and cultivated than in Persia and it is gen.
orally associated with the nightingale by
the eastern poets, who represent the flower
bursting forth from Its bud at the song
Of it's tuneful lover. Chaucer, Spenser and
Shakespeare are among our own poets who
have written in praise of roses, as well as
many others of minor degree in all ages.
A rose bush of any size, age or beauty Is
always an object of admiration, and even
sometimes Of veneration. To any one en-
dowed only with the ordinary sense OF
smell, the odor of one rose, compared with
that of another, would seem to be almost
identical: indeed, we generally speak OF the
odor of the rose as a very distinct perfume
and not one OF degrees, as we are assured
1t is by experts. We all know that there
are many roses entirely devoid of any odor,
and we are told by one of the best authori-
ties on perfumes that there are experienced
rose cultivatOrS who can name many Va
rietes Of roses in the dark simply from the
smell. and that no two varieties possess the
same Odor.
AS further eccentricities in rose growing,
it may be stated that the natural odor is
never fully developed except In hot cl1-
| mates where the suns power gives the full
effect of light and heat. Again, the flowers
Of Rosa gallica are compare lively odorif-
erous when freshly gathered, but attain
their full fragrance in the course Of desic-
cation, while the Odor of the damask rose
is most powerful in an early stage, and is
lost by drying. On this account on the
Bulgarian plantations the flowers are gath
cred before they open and little before
sunrise. If fully expanded it is said the
perfume would be much stronger and of
less delicate fragrance.
Roses Of Bulgaria.
At Kezaulik, in Bulgaria, where by far
the largest number of roses are grown for
the production of altar, two forms are cult1-
waited namely, the red and white f1owered,
the former r. damascena and the latter r.
alba. On an average, about 5000 pounds
of roses will be gathered from about two
acres of land. The gathering, which is con-
tinued day by day during the whole period
of blossoming, begins at dawn. whatever
conditions of weather prevail. Every flower
is gathered, and every half-opened bud, and
they are thrown into a basket, which the
gatherer carries on the left arm, or simply
placed in her apron. The gathering Is nm
ished as early as possible. before the heat
of the day commences, and usually about
O. clock. The reason is that the flowers
gathered during intense sunshine have a
feeble scent, and yield but slight return
in altar. 1t is estimated that 1t takes about
LOCO roses to make a kilogram, or a little
over twenty-one pounds, and as about two
acres Of land will yield somewhere over
6OO0 pounds of flowers, or nearly 3O00,WO
roses 1t takes this quantity Of rose blooms
to produce one kilogram of altar.
The only other species of rose that may
be said to have any commercial value are
the common Dog rose of our hedges (R.
canina). the fruits, or "hips." of which are
used to make a conserve with sugar. which
Is sometimes used In medicine: also the
French rose. Provins rose or Red rose (R.
gallica), single rose that has been so
widely cultivated from remote period
that it has passed into large number of
varieties Of double form and numerous
shades of color. 1t was very early intro
duced and cultivated at Provins. in France.
and is still grown in that country, as well
as in Holland, Germany and In medicine
gardens In England Confection of roses
is prepared from the freshly gathered flow
ers Of this species. The flowers Of the Cab
bage rose, which has been cultivated from
a very early period and the varieties of
which are extremely numerous, are chiefly
used in the preparation of rose water.