Evening star., 1909-05-16

CLEAN new inspiration. In the
decaying vegetation of the woods or fields there
is sometimes waited to the senses new odor,
which, if captured and reproduced, would
prove of inestimable value to the perfumer. 1t
is not generally known that perfume experts
employed to wander among the woods,
fields, and flower gardens to detect Nature S
new combinations of fragrance High priced
experts do this continually. even invading the
hay loft. the vegetable garden and the crowded
thoroughfares of fashionable society.
The World Under Tribute
THE modern perfume manufacturer brings
all the resources of the world to his work,
and every country is laid under tribute. 1t Is
commonly supposed that most of our perfum-
cry Is made from flowers; but the manufacturer
does not hesitate to use such animal products
ambergrls castor, c1vet, and musk, as well
as the chemical bodies derived from various
minerals, refuse. and byproducts of factories.
There is long list of odoriferous gum resins.
barks and berries, such as benzoln, opopanax,
peru tolu. storax, and myrrh. which forms part
of his equipment
Ingenious processes of obtaining many of
these are resorted to, such as wounding trees and
shrubs distill1ng them chemically. Recourse
Is had to methods employed thousands of years
ago to obtain fragrant odors The franklncense
of the Scripture is obtained to- day from variety
of trees that exude fragrant gum This gum is
gathered from young trees that have been pur-
posely wounded and IN recent years 1t has
been obtained from trees found in the tenn
perate well as IN the tropical zone.
The different aromatic substances used for
incense purposes in the past are produced to-
dav in great quantities for the perfumer.
These include the basam of Tolu the oliba-
mum of Java. the benzoin or gum benjamin the
camphor laurel of China and Japan. the elemi
resin of trees in the Philippine Islands. Mexico,
and Brazil, the star anlSe of certain trees IN
Southwestern China, the sweet f1agroot, much
used for incense in India. and even aromatic
earths found on the coast of Clutch
But naturally the greatest supply of raw
material for perfumery comes from flowers,
berries and aromatic plants The list of these
Is very extensive and the gathering and mani
pulation of them to extract their fragrance
represents a widely extended and important
industry in many parts of the earth
Five Million Tons of Flowers
THE great flower gardens near the little town
of Grasse in Southeast France have fire.
quently been described 1t IS the perfume center
of France and of the world Ten thousand
million pounds of flowers are there annually
converted into essences and extracts Roses jas
mines. vIoetS tuberoSeS, and caSSIas are raised
by the common people and then converted
into extracts and essences by the process OF
maceration. Square glass trays are inclosed
in wooden frames and spread over with half an
inch of fat or pure grease The freshly gather
ed flowers spead over the layer OF grease.
and renewed every morning. The power OF
grease to absorb odors enables manufacturers
to secure most of the fragrance of flowers and
then when soaked in alcohol the grease
separates from its odors The alcohol retains
the fragrance and makes the manufacture OF
perfumes simple and efficient
Many woods such as aloe santal and cedar.
are used for manufacturing perfumery. and
also barkS of trees, such the cinnamon and
cascarilla, and the leaves of Others