The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-13
PERFUMERY AS AN
 AMERICAN INDUSTRY
This Nation Has Not Improved
 Its Opportunities
FLOWERS FLOURISH HERE
Prefumery Manufacture is Confined Almost Entirely to Oscillation of Peppermint oiI-story of the
 Experiments.
BY FREDERIC J. HAsklN.


 BY FREDERIC J. HASklN.
 About ten years ago some enterprisins American did some figuring and discov- cred that the country was importing over s2,000000 worth of perfumery every year It was then decided to see what the United States could do toward making her own perfumes, not only to save the g oO0,OOO, but to make possible other mil lions besides. A careful investigation was made, climatic and geographical condl- tions were studied, and a census was taken of all the indigenous plants and of those that could be introduced, to see what could be expected of them.
 The report on the possibilities of this new industry in America was exceeding ly cheerful and encouraging, but little has been done to verify the Investigators faith in such a project The only i'm portant essence made In the United States Is oil of peppermint, manufactured at the rate of about 150000 pounds a year, an amount that equals just half Japan S output Other oils made in small quan- titles are wormwood, wintergreen, spruce and witch hazel, the value being about s50O,00O a year, which is only ne-twelfth the value of the manufacture of the same articles In the little town of Grasse, the perfume center of southeast France, where 1O,O00,00O, GOO pounds of flowers are converted Into extracts and essences every summer.
 The climate of this country compares most favorably with that of the flower centers of the old world. The roses that grow on the southern slopes of the Balkans, and between the Maritime Alps and the Mediterranean. are easily rivalled by those of the southern states in this country. The rosese most used for mak- ing the celebrated altar of roses, are the red damask of Bulgaria and the hundred leaf or cabbage rose of Provence in Southern France. An expert on rose cul- turo in Augusta, Ga., declares that the Glorie de France rose has the true odor of altar of roses, is @ perfect bloomer, hardly and productive, and could be made the source of a remunerative manufac- turing industry. oil of geraniums Is Iudub lTOIIl tHe three NdTleIleS UlOSI COHl- mon in all American gardens, the rose geranirms. the skeleton leaved and the nutmeg. All we use comes from the dis tilleries of Algiers, Reunion Islands, Spain, Corsica and Italy. It is claimed that Floridas facilities for geranium cul- ture are vastly superior to those of AL giers.
 Bhe orange is the most profitable plant f1 1fctiI Co fumes. The leaf, the flower, and the rind of the fruit are all used in some branch of the art and tIis tree fuorihes on many thousands of American acres. At Santa Barbara, Cal, the manufacture of neroli, or orange flower oil, was at- tempted some years ago, and an effort to get a good extract of violet. rose and tube-rose was made also, but these failed. Scientists say it was because the experi- ment stations were too near the coast, where the flowers were affected by the Alaska current. Further inland the con- dtions are better adapted to such work. Los Angeles eXperimenters have reported pleasing success in making oil from lemon, lime, orange and eucalyptus.
 On the San Mateo farm near Jackson ville, Fla, E. Moulie started a perfume farm in 1880 and proved the vast possbil- ities in that line for America The pro-
 
 successfully distilled, oil was made from lemon verbena, and the process of en- feurage tried with many of the more delicate plants. The orange flowers of the Louisiana coast are declared to be the best in America for perfumers' uses, and among the best In the world.
 Lavender Is grown generally in the United States, but not for commerce. Cal ifornia and the dry lands of the west could be made to yield a most profitable crop of 1t. Thyme, used so extensively in the manufacture of soaps has become fairly we'll naturalized in America France distills 90,000 pounds a year from her wild growth and the United States im- ports about 45,000 pounds. Eau de CO., logne cannot be made without rosemary, the stimulating effect in the water being imparted by this plant. It is only a rare guest in our gardens, yet can be grown in abundance wherever there are calvareous soils. For five consecutive years the United States imported orris root at the rate of 23S, GOO pounds a year, the value running up to s30,000, yet the iris of which 1t is a part is so adaptable to our climatic conditions that in Vir- ginia as the blue flag 1t escapes from the gardens and wanders wild over the fields and marshes.
 The annual importation of oil of al- monds an essential in the manufacture of fine soaps, is about 5000 pounds, the price from $1. to $3 a pound. This is made from the bitter almond, which grows hardy here from California and Florida to Michigan, yet has never been cultivated for this purpose, it's California use being as a stock for the sweet all mond and as a pollenizer for sweet al- mond flowers. Fennel grows wild on the Potomac, yet the annual cost of im- ported caraway and fennel oils exceeds $75, 900. Anse and coriander are easily naturalized in America, but are not raised for profit. Cassie, the "opoponax' of the south, and the indigenuous ''nuisache" perts as profitable plant
 Oils from sassafras and wintergreen have already proved a profitable indus try in parts of the United States, and the oil distilled from the red or pencil cedar has proved superior to that from the famous cedars of Lebanon. Tube roses, violets and yellow jasmine have all had their test In American manufac- turers' hands and have proved that their essences are just as good as those of foreign make. Wild ginger, known as the Canadian snakeroot, yields an aromatic oil that can be used in strengthening perfumes, the sweet-leaved golden rod dis tills into an oil that smells like anise, and the sweet gay and swamp laurel all offer great possibilities in the manufac- turing me AS yet they nave appealed little to the practical side of man, and he thinks of them still as only essential ele- ments of beautiful landscape.
 The deer tongue" of Virginia, Carolina and Florida is the basis of the perfume known as new mown hay. but has not yet been developed to it's fullest as an indus try. The artificial vanillin, of which we import 25.O00 pounds a year, is found in hanznfn ctrero ocn