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Four years ago Ruatumpura contiined on'y a single 

 iamily, < u.tivating about twenty acres ; it has now a 

 population of nearly 500, attracted here by the liberal 

 terms offered by the proprietor. A school and a post- 

 office have already been establii-hed. The water-supply 

 is not good as yet, but Mr. Bomanji has spent a good 

 round sum on the village, well, and tank, and hopes for 

 sympathy and assistance from the local board. The food 

 grains produced on the farm are not more than sufficient 

 for the consumption of the colony, and exports are 

 confined to cotton and oil seeds. The station of 

 Bahadarpur is only six miles distant, but the road is 

 very bad, and even more disheartening than the road, 

 is the transit duly taken by Ilis Highness the Guicowar 

 on all produce carried by his own railway ! It is 

 melancholy to see agricultural enterprise and every 

 branch of trade handicapped by these obnoxious duties, 

 and the policy is as short-sighted and suicidal as it 

 is barbarous. I rode this morning over a very large 

 extent of waste land belonging to His Highness, still 

 nearer to the railway than Rustumpura, and with 

 equally good soil. A few roads, a few wells, and the 

 abolition of these duties would soon turn this bare 

 plain into a valuable cotton-producing and revenue- 

 paying district. 



Mr. Bomanji has found time for a few experi- 

 ments, having given some attention to Nankin cotton, 

 linseed, safflower, and white wheat. With tobacco he 

 has done well, and his crop of red " hansotia " wheat 

 looks excellent. Mr. Bomanji himself is an Honorary 

 Magistrate, a member of the Local Board, and a most 

 hospitable gentleman, very well worthy of the success 

 which, I feel sure, you, sir, will join me in hoping 

 is before him. — G- F. S. 



If fm^PiCAL AQmcistA'imtUf. [Avm j, mf. 



THE MANUFACTUllB OF SCENT. 



This is the time of year most perfect on the Reviera • 

 the sky is serenely blue, the sea rolls lazily as if over- 

 burdened with warmth, the scent of the orange-blossom 

 still lingers undisturbed by wind upon terraced hills, the 

 air is gently bracing, and everyone is in a good humour. 



AVith the advent of the new year, the wild flowers 

 be"iu to bIo:)m, violets coming first in great abundance, 

 soon followed by hyacinths, blue-bells, narcissus, and all 

 their sister train of light and colour ; but iu February 

 the aspect is changed, the mistral sweeps along the land, 

 curling over the olive leaves, till the country becomes 

 silver-grey instead of sombre-green, driving clouds of 

 dust before it, and penetrating everywhere like a 

 thorough scavenger. A period of restlessness then 

 commences ; the iuvalid losys ground, and is weary of the 

 proximity of the sea, from which there is only one 

 escape to a quiet, old-fashioned Proven^'al town called 

 Grasse, lying under the shelter of the Basses Alps, 

 with fresh, invigorating air, and having for its chief 

 attraction the important business of mauufacturiug 

 scent. The position is very pleasant, at an elevation, 

 of 1,100 ft. on the side of a mountaia guarding off the 

 ■North, and about ten miles by rail behiad Cannes, so that 

 there is a full Southern aspect which tempers the atmo- 

 sphere, and renders possible a great cultivation of flowers. 

 Giving to the lieight, the wild flowers are a little later 

 Oiiin "those of I he true Riviera ; huf^ acres of violets 

 »re priv.Ttcly grown, with innumerable beds of hyaeinths, 

 jcin'uni"-. »»d narcissus ; while lung before it is necessary 

 M) l^iive, the May blooms upiMi th'- hedges, and the 

 ^jtider Mar of .Uethleht-m brightly gleams everywhere, 

 iii fleas'mt contrast to the green of spring. During 

 thU JteasoH the factories work to their full extent, 

 though IhP tren'ment is so slow, and in some instances 

 requires sncb <;<mstant repetition, that flowers are 

 only received ti^icP a week, If^ however, one should 

 happen to visit a fad'Jry on a receiving-day, one will 

 find the floors of the reception-rooms covered, per- 

 haps, with a mass of violets, upon which probably 

 recline two or three young ladies, enjoying the perfume 

 and delighting in the reality of an imaginative dream. 

 Every flower, before arriving at the perfumer3', is 

 removed from its stem, when, accordiug to its nature, 

 it undergoes one of the three processes,— distillation, 

 submersion in hot grease, or absorption by cold grease, all 

 jjiteneile wed n tU? taauufactur^ beipg made of cppj)er. 



second IS 

 disastrous, 

 good-sized 

 warm by 



The first is the costly but ordinary method of the 

 retort, placed over a small furnace, carrying the 

 vapour as it condenses into a receiver, with glass tubes 

 on the outside to cptch the essential oil. Verbina, 

 geranium, and lavender are treated in this way. The 

 very curious, and seemingly, ought to be 

 Flowers in certain proportions are flung into 

 kettles of hot pork and beef-grease, kept 

 placing the vessels in boiling water ; they 

 are well stirred together, and left still hot for twelve 

 hours, after which the mixture is heavily pressed. The 

 flowers are then thrown away, and the operation is 

 repeated with fresh ones, until the liquid grease is 

 sufficiently charged with odour, when it is placed iu a 

 cold receiver half-full of spirits of wine, which in a few 

 days becomes impregnated with the perfume, and is 

 drawn off for sale. If thi; grease is not subjected to 

 the spirits of wine on the premises, it is sold in its 

 congealed state to the London scent-makers, who treat 

 it at their leisure. Roses, orange-blossoms, and violets 

 are some of those requiring this method. The third, to 

 the eyes of a novice, does not appear so hopelessly 

 destructive or so wilfully barbarous ; yet the sacrifice of 

 beauty is the same. A layer of olive-oil or cold grease, 

 carefully prepared, is placed upon a frame, the flowers 

 being dotted over it face downward, and remaining for 

 twenty-four or thirty hours. The process is very tedious, 

 requiring to be repeated with the same grease many 

 times, after which the perfume is absorbed by spirits 

 of wine, as in the previous manner. The delicate 

 scents can only be caught in this way, — will only give 

 out, so to speak, their exact selves accordiug to Nature. 

 It is no extraction, but literal absorption, the catching 

 of sweetness freely imparted to the fresh air of native 

 hill-sides. Jessamine, tube-rose, jonquil, and others not 

 of tough formation, must be submitted to this treat- 

 ment. The industry is of great value ; there are up- 

 wards of fifty perfumeries ; and though the London 

 market is the best outlet, yet their products are being 

 gradually shipped to almost all parts of the world. 

 There is" no toil about the work, no grinding poverty 

 no din or rattle of machinery, no emaciated children 

 everything is quiet and peaceful ; in fact, if it would 

 not be a paradox, one might call life in these factories 

 the Nirvana of labour. The manufacture being a very 

 profitable one, the perfumers are naturally the men of 

 the place, and besides possessing good means, are large 

 owners of property at Cannes and Nice, aa well as 

 at Grasse. — Spectator. 



Queensland SuGAU-ciiiOWERS are by no means so 

 depressed as might have been supposed at the pros- 

 pect opening out before them. A splendid growing 

 season, with a slightly better price for their sugar than 

 was previously calculated upon, bas cheered them con- 

 siderably ; and, but for the fact that the labour difficulty 

 remains unremedied, and that operations on the plant- 

 ations are either brought to a standstill or reduced to 

 a minimum, there would be little in connection with 

 sugar to grumble about. Beet sugar growers have 

 more reason to feel concerned at their prospects than 

 have growers of the sugar-cane. Fruit-preserving and 

 jam-maid. ig are the stars of hope for the sugar mauu- 

 facUirer ; niid here it is that beet sugar is a miserable 

 failure. It is not generally known that beetroot sugar 

 decomposes fruit, while cane sugar preserves it. Those 

 who contemplate the making of preserves should take 

 this fact into account, for it will prove a false eco« 

 nomy to use beet sugar for that purpose. Out of this 

 fact arises the query: Can a sugar that decomposes 

 fruit be proueriy nourishing to the human frame? 

 Value is not by any means in proportion to price. 

 For sacchnrine and preserving properties, if cane sugar 

 stands at 100 per cent, beet sugar is no higher than 65 

 or 70, and if cane sugar is worth 3d. per pound, beet 

 sugar notwithstanding its bright and granular appear- 

 ance,' is not worth more than 'Jd. The fight between 

 these powerful rivals is resulting in favour of Nature's 

 best article— cane sugar; and a few years will probably 

 be sfiicient to establish the cane sugar industry on a 

 better and more satisfactory basis than it has eyer 

 before rested u^oa.-^Qv-senil'indtr . 



