The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-02
FRENCH altar OF ROSES.
Bulgaria Has Been AdulteFating the rs.
seRce n Must Face Composition.

Bulgaria Has Been AdulteFatIng the rs.
seAce and Must Face Composition.
Bulgaria has up 10 the present time sup
piled the world with altar Of roses. but
she seems to be on the point Of losing her
supremacy. 1t is partly the fault Of the
Bulgarian rose growers and partly the
work Of the French tariff makers.
France, as the worlds centre OF perfume
manufacture, has always beer Bulgaria's
best customer. She has been importing
rose essence to the amount OF $500 pounds
a year. and the perfumery people would
use more II they could get il at a reason
able price and Of assured quality.
But there Ia q duty Of about IS a pound
on all importations. and the quality of stun
furnished by Bulgaria has lately come under
suspicion. The Bulgarian farmer who
grows the roses la taxed at home to the
utmost limit. 1t is 80 hard to make a living
that the temptation to adulterate his rose
extract with other essential oils lie very
great. So, when a French perfumist has
bought q pound Of Essence in Bulgaria and
paid 500 for 1t, he does not know how much
Of it is geranium or lemon grass or some
other inferior deooction and how much Of
il is rose.
When he comes to use the extract he
finds out quickly enough. Pure rose
shares with musk the peculiar property
Of fixing other odors and strengthen.
ing them. But when it il adulterated
especially with the ooarser sorts Of extract,
it loses rs value and perfumes made up
with it are Of inferior quality.
In addition to the heavy taxes the Bull
garian producer has to bear the handicap
Of his own methods. The oil In extracted
in the most primitive way. Not only does
he fail to get all that the roses would afford
but also the quality is often impaired by
careless handling.
Lately the French took up the idea Of
growing their own roses and distillinR their
own extract. The plan was proposed
by q rose grower. M. Gravereaux, and the
Ministry OF Agriculture sent him TO Bull
garia with a commission to examine into
the subject.
Gravereaux reported that the first neces-
sity Of the industry was a plant which
would yield great masses of very leafy
blossoms and which would at the same
time have a very strong odor. These re-
quirements ave been met.
Experiments went on simultaneously
for the Improvement OF the system Of dis
tillaRon. The use Of steam was abandoned,
as il was found that 1t destroyed some Of the
choicest QunllU08 OF the essence. After
many trials an odorless ether distilled from
petroleum was found 10 be a perfect
medium.
The dlstillation is carried on in a still in
which the rose leaves are laid on perforated
metal plates placed In layers one above the
other so that the heated ether vapor may
circulate freely all around them. The en-
tire fragrance OF each leaf Is thus dissolved
from IL and carried with the ether to the
cooling chamber.
One hectare az aoresl OF ground. Graver-
eaux says, can be planted with 5000 rose
bushes. Each bush from the third year
on will average 100 blossoms giving about
sixty five grains Of available leaves. Thus
the heotare Of land will provide nearly
Is, 900 pounds OF rose leaves, and from these
may be distilled ny the new method more
than ten pounds OF pure rose essence.
Figuring this as worth 500 a pound, the
money result would be 81, 900 or about $500
an acre. But as a matter Of fact the per-
fumery manufacturers are willing To. pay a
much higher price for guaranteed quality.
II is stated that one big house has offered
$500 a pound for all rose oil OF the very
highest standard.
Since the French experiments began to
turn out we'll a rose growing movement
has also been started In Belgium. Bulgaria
also has wakened up. An effort In being
made TO improve methods and reduce taxes,
besides guaranteeing purity through come
system OF inspection.
The importation Of altar OF roses In the
past has been in the neighborhood OF
$751;, 900 annually.