IRISH GARDENING 



I 



Otto of Roses. 



Till-! Oiii'cn ot I'"lo\vi*i-s is of lui upst.'irt orij^in, for 

 Lleop.ilra is said to have i-ovored the floor of 

 hiT tiiniiii^ Iiall with roses to tlie ilepth ofa I'ubit, 

 and Nero expendetl some tlunisaiuls ot" pouiuls on I'osos 

 for a sinjjle feast. 



Tlie Arabs introduced the distillation of the rose from 

 the East, where the art of distillinif roscwater was 

 practised lonij before it was in the 

 West, although the discov 

 separation of the Otto w 

 made in Europe forty jea 

 before the same discove 

 was accidentally made 

 in the East. 



The version of 

 discovery in Persi.i 

 related in a history 

 the Great Mosfuls 

 in a chapter en- 

 titled " Marriage 

 of I'rincess Nonr 

 Djihan." At the 

 marri.'ige ;i i^rcat 

 fete was prepai'cil, 

 and every extra- 

 vagance was in- 

 dulged in. The ' 

 princess had a 

 stream in the gar- 

 den through which 

 rosewater flowed. 

 The emperor and 

 princess, walking 

 along the banks cii' 

 the canal, noticed 

 an oily liquid float- 

 ing on the surface 

 was collected and recog' 

 nised by the whole cour 

 as the most tlelicate o 

 perfumes. The designa- 

 tion ".\ettr Gyl." litei 

 " fat of the flower," was given 

 to this essence from which 

 the English .\ttar or Otto of Roses 

 follows. 



The largest rose garden in the CiUijink.^ ci 



world is found in Bulgaria ; it covers GRiiiCNHci 



the northern portion of the old As <!/■/• 



Turkish province of Eastern Roumelia, and is bounded 

 on the north by the great Balkans ; there is ;i stretch o( 

 fifty miles or more of rose fields, the two principal rose 

 valleys being around Kasanlik and Karlovo. .Mthough 

 Germany. France, Persia, ttc, produce some Otto, ycc 

 the world's supply comes from Bulgaria. Plucking the 

 roses starts at daybreak, for they Kise their otlour ifa 

 strong sun shines upon them. .-\s soon as picked tlio}' 

 are taken direct to be distilled. The flowers are pickcii 

 with the caly.x, the whole being distilled. Roughly. 

 I, GOO roses weigh one kilogram, and a hectare (2^ acres) 

 vields about ^voor),o':)0 tV^wers, which \'ieKI in their turn 



Th 



about one kilo of the Otto, so it lakes about 100,000 

 ro.ses to yield an ounce of Otto. 



The rose trees are planted close together, rormiiif; 

 hedges of 50 to 100 yards long, with a distance of 6 feet 

 between the hedges; they reach, when mature, 6 feel 

 high. They are increased by dividing the stools, and 

 the usual time for planting is October or November; in 

 five years the plantations are in their prime, and with 

 good culture may last 15 to jo years. The sandy 

 slopes of the Southern sides of the B.ilkans arc well 

 watered and favourable to the 

 ese roses, and the soil 

 peculiar properly of 

 high yield of Olio 

 es grown upon it. In 

 er parls of the coun- 

 they h.-ire been tried 

 hout the same suc- 

 s. The rose culti- 

 ed forOtIo in Hulg.ari.'i 

 is ii form of K. 

 damascena, the 

 red damask rose ; 

 it is believed by 

 Baker to be a 

 v.iriation of R. 

 gallic'i which was 

 distributed from 

 l-'rance to Meso- 

 potamia. A white 

 rose (R. alba) 

 usually borders 

 the Bulgarian 

 plan'.ations. but its 

 perfume is not so 

 good as the red 

 rose. 



AlKK Ci.AKDIi.SS I.\ 

 TOWN-S. 

 VlLl..\ C, .\ RIM- N KRS 

 may. with a little trouble 

 .and ingenuity, get a good 

 ileal of pleasure by setting up 

 little artificial water gardens 

 bv the simple means of using tubs. 

 If the object is to cultivate bog or 

 Rl(is.\, .\ MU marsh plants the method is compara- 



SE Plant. lively easy. The tubs may be set on 



•ttl'iK'- the surface of the soil, or. what \vc 



find belter, sunk into the soil until the rim of the tub is 

 about an inch above the general level. The tub is then 

 partly filled with suitable soil, the specimens planted, and 

 then soft water gradually added until the vessel is full. 

 The after attention chiefly consists in adding water 

 occasionally to make up the loss by evaporation. If it 

 is required to grow such subjects as the smaller water- 

 lilies provision must be made to keep up at least a slight 

 movement of the body of water. This can be secured 

 by having a supply barrel at a higher level, and either 

 by direct tube or syphon arrangement pl.ace the con- 

 tents of each in communication with one another. 



