1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



89 



notes on America, makes the sensible sugges- 

 tion that we introduce the skylark, that beauti- 

 ful songster, and discard the poor little chirping 

 house sparrows. Who will first initiate the 

 plan ? Money for it on application. 



Country Places Advertised. — There was, not 

 man}' years ago, an auctioneer named Bobbins, 

 in London, famous for the ornate mode of his 

 fidvortising of mansions and country seats. A 

 wag got up an imitation in which a great advan- 

 tage was introduced in a N. B. : " The telegraph 

 passes the door day and night." A more recent 

 flourish is the following : " A quaint mansion and 

 appurtenances, draped in the foliage of its stately 

 pines, its ornate lakes abounding with trout and 

 •decoying the wild duck to the fowling-piece, 

 wrapped in the amplitude of its lawns and finely- 

 timbered parks, presenting a tout ensemble of a 

 country seat, rich in the elite of winged game, 

 intersected by never-failing streams of pm-e 

 water, hydraulics might here neutralize the 

 aridity of periodical draughts." Who does not 

 want to purchase such an elysium ? But it is 

 feared the mania for locomotion gives preference 

 to Pullman cars over the delights of home. 



PERFUMES. 



BY EMMA B. DUNHAM. 



The use of perfumes dates back to the most re- 

 mote ages. From those ancient times to the 

 present they have been a delight and almost a 

 necessity. The Egyptians burned them as offer- 

 ings to their gods, and used them in embalming 

 their dead. Their physicians prescribed them 

 as medicines, especially for diseases of a nervous 

 kiiid. That they ward off contagion is an ac- 

 knowledged fact. It is affirmed, that "after the 

 destruction of the clove trees by the Dutch in 

 the Island of Teruate, the colony suffered from 

 epidemics unknown before ; and in times when 

 the cholera has prevailed in London and Paris, 

 those employed in the perfumery factories have 

 escaped its ravages." 



The Orientals used sweet odors profusely, per- 

 fuming their wines and their baths. Musk in 

 large quantities was mixed with the mortar used 

 in the construction of their mosques, and the 

 odor was retained for years. It was particularly 

 perceptable when heated by the sun. This im- 

 ponderable fragrance embodied in various sub- 

 stances in nature, is sometimes called the " life" 

 or '' breath," because of its preservative quali- 

 ties. Odorous blossoms remain fresh much 

 longer than inodorous ; perfumed woods last as 



long as their perfume remains. Chemists find 

 some odors are easily and quickly extracted, 

 while others require months of patient effort. 

 Some are extremely volatile, while others are 

 retained for centuries. 



One of the rarest odors in nature, is the violet. 

 A perfume resembling the true violet has been 

 obtained from the root of Iris of Florence, and 

 perfumers have sold it for the attar of violets. 

 Until within a few years comparativeh", the real 

 odor of the violet has never been separated 

 from the flower ; it refused to separate its odor 

 from itself; it was to be met nowhere but 

 in its own coral la. But at last the true smell- 

 ing of otto of violets has been isolated by M. 

 March, of Nice. The alchemist by skillfully 

 combining certain odors obtains a semblance of 

 the perfume of almost every flower. The jas- 

 mine alone is unapproachable. The odor of 

 this flower is delicate and sweet, and so pecu- 

 liar that it is without comparison, and as such 

 cannot be imitated. For this reason the odor is 

 very costly, — fifty dollars per fluid ounce. The 

 late Charles Dickens, alluding to the assertion 

 that the fragrance of the jasmine has never 

 been imitated, says in Household Words: "Is 

 jasmine, then the mystical meru — the centre, 

 the Delphi, the Omphalos of the floral world? 

 Is it the point of departure, — the one unap- 

 proachable and indivisible unit of fragrance? 

 Is jasmine the Isis of flowers, with veiled face 

 and covered feet, to be loved of all, yet discov- 

 ered by none ? Beautiful jasmine I If it be so, 

 the rose ought to be dethroned, and the inimit- 

 able enthroned queen in her stead. Revolutions 

 and abdications are exciting sports; suppose we 

 create a civil war among the gardens, and crown 

 the jasmine empress and queen of all." 



Perfumes are obtained more or less from 

 every part of the known world ; but perhaps 

 from those countries bordering on the Mediter- 

 ranean in the greatest abundance. At Adrian- 

 ople the rose gardens extend over from twelve 

 to fourteen thousand acres, and are called the 

 Rose Farms of the World. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Editorial Letter. — Standing in the ob- 

 servatory at the top of the Lucy Linder- 

 man Library, on the south side of the Le- 

 high river, one has a beautiful view of the 

 town of Bethlehem, on the north bank of 

 which the chief part of the city stands. It is 



