The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-13

The Manufacturing rerfumers' Asso- ciation of the United States meets in annual convention at New York City today. Upward of one hundred Amer icsn perfumers will gather to discuss their business in all it's various phases. One hundred and fifty concerns in the United states are engaged in the man. ufacture. of perfumery. Their capital aggregates perhaps sA5oo.o0o. and the value of thsirS annual products Is be- tween s5,eo0,000 and $s,000.0o0. If the business of making other proprietary toilet goods, c0smetics and similar ar- ticies is taken into account. these fig- ures must be doubled.
 The American perfumer's business has increased greatly during the last ttwenty-five years. In 1850 the num- Der of establishments here. including those making cosmetics etc. was only sixty seven. The output of American perfumers has incfeased B 1-s per cent during the last live years and there was an equal percentage of in- crease during the ten years previous. i. Half million dollars worth of es- sential oils and other raw materials for perfumes fs Imported into this country every year Of attar of roses alone. the imports increased from 31,e0o ounces in 1sses to sb.4es ounces In 1906. The London market for musk SssR lss sssrs 2 Y"
 while enormous quantities of pera furnefy are made in the United States. the industry practically depends upon imported raw materials. Of such raw materials very little ts produced In this country, the total production of essential oils in America being valued at s5O0,o00 a year. This production in- cIudes i50.o00 pounds of peppermint oil and some witch hazel winter green. etc. which can hardly be ciassed as uerfumer's materials. Flower fields are cultivated in California to some ex- tent. The Agricultural Department is In flower growing for 'perfumery purposes at Washingtons and in Florida the, cultivation of. oris. ge- raniuin, lavender and many imported plants. is being encouraged. America. however, Is "a great field for the per- fumer to expleit. In addition to the s5.o0o.o 1000 or ss.oo0,ooo worth Of per- fufnery manufactured in this country, imports of psrfumery continue to h. crease. @# -
 France is the center of the worlds perfumery trade and the little. ancient town of Grasse, on the Riviera. tne azure side of the Mediterranean,'.f Is the center of the French trade and the Mecca of the worlds perfumers. From that little town s6.000,000 worth Of perfumes are exported yearly. The place is literally smothered with now CTS. Sixty thousand acres. or ninety three square miles of land are covered with flower beds at Grasse, not 10 mention many thousand more acres cultivated in other parts of Southern France.
 Ten or twelve billion pounds of flowers are gathered in and about Grasse every year There are ITO tons of tessamine blossoms harvested. One hundred and sixty-five tons of tube- roses nav tribute to the perfume rnak- CTS, as do also 2.750 tons of orange blossoms, with roses. vioIets. jonquiis, and other nowers In proportion. As may be imagined, the 10000 people of Grasse are very busy. Their harvest lasfs througfout the year. except about two or three months in the dead of winter, the early spring flowers com ing in March and so on through the list until the cassia, whose scent en- tars into many perfumes of commerce, blooms late in the fall.
 Bulgaria is the center of the rose culture In that country of recently acquired independence. 660,Q0e acres of roses are grown and their essence converted into oil or altar of roses. The United States takes about one third of this precious product. This altar of roses has been esteemed for many years as the vry quintessence of perfume. Twenty thousand pounds of rose petals are required to make one hound of altar, worth t200. A thous- and pounds of jessamine petals can only produce one pound of neroli, worth s20, from which the faSortte eau de cologne is made.
 There are four different processes of getting the perfume from howers--py expression. distillation, maceration or extraction with volatile solvents, some- times the blossoms are spread on glass n,ates whfeh has been smeared with lard, There is peculiar affinity be- tween the essence of the flower and this product of the lowly pig which causes the latter to absorb the former sfh thi sprocess the flowers are changed frenuently. fresh flowers being spread on the plates as aften as eighty times until the iardsis completely saturated Tn this process the flowers are ehangeo are thoroughly. mashed up ana put ir melted lard. and afterwards the lard If strained, on. This is repeated many tines pomade is formed in these ways which may be dissolved in Alco- hai Roane perfumes, including iaven' der, are diatille1 Others are extracted srhs history of perfumery Is praoti- eailv Che history Of the human race, I The most ancient peoples known were familiar with the use of aromatic gums woods and similar substances. In an ctent Greece and Rome perfumes con stituted mart of the food and drink. al well as being used In the toilet of thu | naon1e The nerfufner's art almost dis.