216 THE ELOIIAL WORLD AND GAKDEN GUIDE. 



Barbary, in Syria, in Persia, in India, and in various parts of the 

 east. In England it is usually called otto of roses, a corruption of 

 the word " attar," which, in Arabic, signifies perfume. This essence 

 has the consistence of butter, and only becomes liquid in the warmest 

 weather: it is preserved in small flasks, and is so powerful, that 

 touching it with the point of a pin will bring away enough to scent 

 a pockethandkercbief for two or three days. The essence is still 

 procured almost in the same manner by which it was first discovered 

 by the mother-in-law of the great Mogul, in the year 1G12, viz., 

 by collecting the drops of oil, which float on the surface of vessels 

 filled with rose water, when exposed to a strong heat, and then con- 

 gealing it by cold. Honey of Moses is made by beating up fresh rose 

 leaves with a small quantity of boiling water; and after filtering the 

 mass, boiling the pure liquid with honey. This was formerly much 

 in use for ulcers in the mouth, and for soi'e throats. Oil of Hoses is 

 obtained by bruising fresh rose petals, mixing with them four times 

 their weight of olive oil, and leaving them in a sand heat for two 

 days. If the red Rose de Provins be used, the oil is said to imbibe 

 no odour ; but if the petals of pale roses be employed, it becomes 

 perfumed. The oil is chiefly used for the hair, and is generally sold 

 in perfumer's shops, both in France and England, under the name of 

 Xi'huile antique de rose. 



THE CULTURE OF THE GENUS KALOSA.NTHES. 



OME of the species of this genus are amongst the most 

 showy and fragrant of summer-flowering plants, and 

 they deserve to be more generally cultivated than they 

 have hitherto been. The magnificent specimens annu- 

 ally produced at the great Metropolitan exhibitions in 

 July indicate the capabilities of the genus ; and good plants are 

 frequently produced far from the sceue of these meetings. I doubt, 

 however, whether any genus equally deserving attention is so com- 

 monly neglected or mismanaged as this. With a little care the 

 flowers remain in perfection for some six or eight weeks, and the 

 plants will ba found exceedingly useful in the show-house, to take 

 the place of the azalea, when the beauty of the latter is over. 

 Young plants intended for specimens should be dwarf and bushy, 

 with strong, well-ripened wood ; those that may have been wintered 

 in a soft, half-growing state, should be rejected, as it is difficult to 

 get them to break freely, or grow vigorously. Place them early in 

 March in a mild growing temperature of about 45° at night to 60° 

 with sunshine. The shoots must be stopped, or cut back, as may 

 be necessary to insure a compact bushy growth, and young branches 

 will be produced much more freely, if two or three pairs of leaves 

 are removed from the points of the shoots ; and this should always 

 accompany stopping. 



If the roots are abundant and active, shift into pots two sizes 

 larger than those the plants are in ; but first see that the soil is 



