376 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURiST. 



[Dec. I, 1886. 



ness, and a few hundreds who are employed in the manu- 

 facture of oHve oil are engaged either directly or in- 

 directly in the flower industry. The shop-keepers dis- 

 play their wares in the tiniest little shops, in which they 

 have scarcely room to turn about ; the hotels are antique 

 country inns ; but the air at this season is balmy and 

 delightful, and the views from the upper part of the town 

 charming. 



There are about sixty firms or individuals in Grasse 

 engaged in manufacture of perfumes from flowers. 

 Throe or four of these are very large establishments, the 

 others smaller. The harvest period here is a long one. 

 It begins in February with the violet and the jonquil, 

 which keep the perfume-makers busy until the end of 

 March, when the mignonette comes in, which is followed 

 in May and June by the orange flowers and roses, and 

 in July by the jasmine, then with the rosemary and 

 lavender, which are succeeded by the tuberose and cassia, 

 which keep the trade busy until quite late in the 

 autumn. 



The rose bushes are grown in rows about three feet 

 apart, with about eighteen inches of space between the 

 plants. They are closely pruned in the spring, which in- 

 duces a strong growth of young wood and an abundance 

 of flowers. The jasmine and other flowers, where the in- 

 dividual plants occupy less space, are grown more closely 

 together, the aim in each case being to have the ground 

 as closely covered as is consistent with convenience of 

 picking. The orange trees are about fifteen feet apart. 

 It is the bitter orange which yields the most fragrant 

 flowers ; but the fruit of this variety is not eatable, so 

 the trees are grown solely for the flowers they produce 

 and for the oil obtained from the rind of the fruit. 



In company with my genial travelling companions 

 Prof. J. P. Remington, I visited some of the principal 

 establishments, where we were received with much kind- 

 ness and courtesy; but to Mr. Warwick, of Warwick 

 Freres, we were indebted for special attention. We found 

 that while most of the larger manufacturers have flower 

 plantations of their own, the bulk of the crop is grown by 

 the peasants and small landholders, who during the 

 season bring them daily to the factories. We rose early 

 in the morning and drove into the country, hoping to see 

 some of the flowers gathered, but the flower-growers were 

 up before us, and had their fragrant crops collected and 

 packed in sacks ready to take to the manufacturer before 

 we reached the ground. Nothing is known here of the 

 movement in favour of short hours for the working 

 man. 



It has long been known that fatty substances absorb 

 odours very readily and retain them with much persist- 

 ence. The perfumers of ancient Greece and Rome 

 understood this well, and made use of Buch substances to 

 steep flowers in for the purpose of extracting their 

 odours. At Grasse fatty substances are largely used for 

 the same object, and the pomades made there consist of 

 fftts strongly impregnated with the odours of flowers, 

 which odours may be extracted from the pomades by 

 exhaustion with alcohol and used as spirituous perfumes. 



Pomades are made by two very different methods, the 

 one by maceration, the other by what it is known as the 

 process of enfleuraffe- Pomades of rose, violet, migno- 

 inette, cassia and orange flower are all made by macerat- 

 tng the flowers in fat warmed to 6° 0. The fat is allowed 

 ao remain in contact with the flowers for several hours 

 pnd occasionally stirred, after which it is put under a 

 powerful hydraulic press, by which means the fat is ex- 

 t ressed Avith but a trifling amount of waste. The same 

 tat is thus treated daily with fresh flowers for from 

 Bwenty to thirty days, during which time it becomes 

 trongly charged with the odour of the floAver. 



The jasmine and tuberose pomades are always made 

 by the other process. A large number of frames, or 

 " chassis are prepared, each of which is fitted with one 

 pane of glass about 18 x 24, set in a wooden frame, so 

 that the wood may j)roject on either side of the glass 

 about J inch and each side of the glass is coated with a 

 layer of fat about j inch thick. The woodwork of these 

 frames is so constructed that when laid the one on the 

 other they fit very closely, so as to avoid any waste of 

 odour. The freshly gathered flowers are strewed over the 

 fat in each freime iu a tbio layer and the frames then piled 



one on the other to a convenient height, the upper and 

 lower frames in each pile being coated with fat only on 

 that side next the flowers. The odour emitted by the 

 flowers is rapidly absorbed by the layers of fat above and 

 below them, and after twenty-four hours of exposure 

 they are practically exhausted. Every morning the 

 trays are examined, the old flowers thrown away and 

 fresh ones put in their place, the surface of the fat both 

 above and below being broken every few days by a 

 toothed spatula, and mixed so as to present a fresh sur- 

 face- This process is continued for about thirty days, 

 by which time the ftit has become saturated with the 

 odour, when it is scraped off the surface of the glass 

 packed iu tin cans, the process being continued with 

 fresh fat as long as the flower harvest lasts. Some of 

 the larger factories have many thousands of these 

 frames. 



The buildings in which this work is carried on are 

 built either of stone or brick, where the temperature is 

 maintained as low as possible, so as to prevent the fat 

 from becoming rancid. The fat is composed of a mix- 

 ture of lard and mutton suet, melted together and care- 

 fully washed and treated until it is free from all trace 

 of fatty odour. It is then slightly perfumed with orange 

 flower, which is said to aid in preserving it from change. 

 The fat is usually prepared during the winter months 

 and stored in cool celltrs until wanted for use. 



Roses are picked in the bud every morning just as the 

 buds are about to open. They are picked with the 

 green calyx attached, and this appendage is removed in 

 the factories by the women employed there before the 

 roses are treated. 



Mignonette is picked before the seed pods are formed. 

 The flowers of the violet, jonquil and tuberose are picked 

 with the calyx attached, but the jasmine flowers are 

 pulled free from their calyx in picking. 



The following are about the average prices paid 

 for the flowers as they are received at the factories : - 



Roses, 8 to 10 cents per kilogram ; orange flowers, 17 

 cents per kilogram ; violets, 70, to 80 cents per kilogram ; 

 jonquil, 60 cents per kilogram ; mignonette, 40 cents 

 per kilogram ; jasmine, 50 cents per kilogram ; tuberose, 

 50 cents per kilogram ; cassia, 1 dollar per kilogram. 



At these figures it is said the growers can make 

 far more off their land by devoting it to flowers then 

 they can from any other crop. 



A large quantity of orange flowers are used for the 

 preparation of oil of neroli and orange-flower water. To 

 obtain these products the flowers are placed in large 

 copper stills of water; steam is introduced and the water 

 made to boil, when vapour arising is passed through 

 coolers into suitable receivers. A small quantity of oil 

 gradually accumulates on the surface of the water, 

 which is removed from time to time. The water which 

 collects in the receiver is the orange-flower, water of 

 commerce. The largest part of the rose crop is similarly 

 treated, and rose water with a small proportion of otto 

 of rose the result. 



Distilled perfumed waters when first made have a 

 rank and rather unpleasant odour, which is softened and 

 becomes quite fragrant after they have been kept a 

 few months. While luidergoing this mellowing process 

 it is necessary that the jars in which these waters are 

 contained should be uncorked. They are left either 

 open or tied over with a piece of brown paper to exclude 

 dust. 



It is difiicult to obtain reliable statistics of the quanti- 

 ties of flowers grown in this district, but the following 

 may be taken as approximately correct. It is estimated 

 that the sixty firms or individuals engaged in the manu- 

 facture of perfumes in Grasse consume annually about 

 3,000,000 pounds of roses, 4,000,000 pounds of orange 

 flowers, 160,000 pounds of jasmine, 10,000 pounds of 

 mignonette, 40,000 pounds of tuberose, 20",000 pounds 

 of violet, and smaller quantities of jonquil and cassia. 

 They also use large quantities of orange leaves for the 

 preparation of oil of petit grain, and immense quantities 

 of lavender, rosemary and thyme, from which the oils 

 of these plants are distilled. 



The aggregate value of the perfumes exported from 

 Grasse is said to be about 3,000,000 dollars annually .-=» 

 PHrmsceutical Journal, 



