PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. 197 



gain additional fragrance in drying ; all the other varie- 

 ties losing in this process more or less of their perfume. 

 A French writer states, that apothecaries employ both 

 pale and red roses ; the pale give more perfume, while the 

 red keep the longer. 



Loudon states that " the petals of roses ought always 

 to be gathered as soon as the flower is fully expanded ; 

 and the oratherinor should never be deferred until it has 

 begun to fade, because, in the latter case, the petals ar^ 

 not only discolored, but weakened in their perfume and 

 their medical properties. They should be immediately 

 separated from the calyx, and the claws of the petals 

 pinched off; they are then dried in the shade, if the 

 weather is dry and warm, or by a stove in a room, if the 

 season is humid, care being taken, in either case, not to 

 spread them on the ground, but on a platform raised two 

 or three feet above it. The drying should be conducted 

 expeditiously, because it has been found that slowly dried 

 petals do not exhale near so much odor as those which 

 have been dried quickly, which is also the case with hay, 

 sweet herbs, and odoriferous vegetables generally. After 

 the petals are dried, they are freed from any sand, dust, or 

 eggs of insects which may adhere to them, by shaking 

 them and rubbing them gently in a fine sieve. After this, 

 the petals are put into close vessels, from which the air is 

 excluded, and which are kept in a dry, airy situation. 



" As it is extremely difficult to free the rose-petals en- 

 tirely from the eggs of insects, they are taken out of 

 these vessels two or three times a year, placed in sieves, 

 rubbed, cleaned, and replaced." 



I have been careful to give the details of the above 

 process, because it may be useful to those who embark ex- 

 tensively in the cultivation of roses for the exportation of 

 petals in a dried state. We should suppose that rose- 

 petals produced in this latitude, where the Rose has a 

 long period of hibernation, would produce more perfume. 



