PERESKIA 



Bite, DC. Fig. 309, Vol. I. Stems stouter, more suc- 

 cuh'iit, less branching: Ivs. ofteu 5 in. long by half as 

 wide : spines at first commonly solitary in the axils, 

 later more numerous, all straight: lis. purple, \%-2 in. 

 broad: fr. 2 in. long, pear-shaped. New Granada, Brazil. 

 B.M. 3478. G.C. III. 20:427. 



subulita, JIuilil. Stem 2 ft. or less high, below half 

 wou'l, at'ove llfsliy ;iiiil l:)ranching: Ivs. persisting a few 

 years, dark ;;ri.'cii, sliiiiy, as thick as a pencil, about 3 

 in. long, half cylindrical and ending in a spine : areolae 

 felted, in the young plant with a few hair-bristles 

 later with 2-4 straight, pale yellow spines 3^ in. long. 

 Chile. — Can be used as stock for Epiphyllum. 



spathul&ta, Otto. Stem upright, with few horizontal, 

 spatulate, shiny green leaves: the diffuse areolae at 

 first somewhat woolly, later felted, above with a bunch 

 of short bristles, below with 1-2 yellowish white, straight 

 spines. Mex. Katharine Brandegee. 



PEKFUMEKT GARDENING. The perfumes of the 

 market are derived in part from animal secretions 

 (musk, civet), in part from artificial chemical com- 

 pounds, aud in part, and chietly, from the class of vege- 

 table products loosely called essential oils. ", Synthetic" 

 or chemical perfumery materials are the more or less 

 perfect artificial reproductions of organic compounds 

 used in perfumery. If it were possible in all cases and 

 with perfect success to compound these substances the 

 production of floral perfumes would soon be at an end, 

 as the chemical process would be sure to be cheaper 

 than the horticultural. But nature knows bow to add 

 some touches which the chemist's art cannot imitate, 

 and even where synthetic manufacture is possible, the 

 result is in general regarded as a cheaper substitute. 

 At the same time, sentimental reasons count consider- 

 ably in favor of the natural perfume, and considering, 

 further, that some perfumes cannot be imitated chemi- 

 oally, there is no present cause to apprehend the ex- 

 tinction, or, in view of increasing demand, even the 

 decline, of the industry of producing natural perfumery 

 oils. 



The essential oils used in perfumery are secreted in 

 different parts of the plant. The flowers are naturally 

 thought of first, being the seat of the fragrance of the 

 rose, violet, cassie, jasmine, tuberose, the orange in part, 

 and numberless other plants whose perfume is extracted 

 or only enjoyed as naturally exhaled. The oil of laven- 

 der is yielded more by the green parts of the flower-head 

 than by the corollas. In rose geranium, thyme, winter- 

 green and patchouli the foliage is the fragrant part. A 

 number of essences are derived from woods, as those 

 of sandalwood, red cedar and rhodium. The oil of sweet 

 birch comes partly from the wood, but mainly from the 

 inner bark, and the same is true of sassafras. In the 

 case of the latter, however, the roots only are used ; in 

 the case of the former the young tops. Several herba- 

 ceous roots also furnish oils, as orris root, Canada 

 snakeroot and sweet flag. The rinds of the orange and 

 other citrous fruits contain important perfumery oils, 

 and the oil of bitter almonds comes from the fermented 

 kernel of the nut. 



The standard methods of extracting essential oils are 

 four, namely, the use of mechanical means (chiefly ex- 

 pression), distillation, enfjeurage or inflowering, and 

 maceration. Expression appears to be applied only to 

 the rinds of the citrous fruits. These are placed under 

 pressure in a screw press, or sections turned wrong side 

 out are squeezed in the fingers, the oil being taken up 

 with a sponge, or the fruit is rubbed in a cup lined with 

 spikes {ecuelle d piquer), the oil collecting in a hollow 

 handle. An ecuelle on a larger scale in the shape of a 

 hollow drum has also been used. 



In distillation, the oil-bearing material is heated with 

 water or subjected to hot steam, and the oil, being vola- 

 tile, passes off with the steam. The oil would be lost 

 if the vapor were not condensed, and this is accomplished 

 by passing it through a coil or equivalent arrangement 

 of pipe kept cool by a flow of water. The condensed 

 steam and oil fall into a "Florentine recipient," a vessel 

 with a spout coming out at the base but rising to the 

 l^^vel of the top, so that the heavier liquid, sometimes 

 oil, sometimes water, alone will enter it and can be 



PERFUiUERY GARDENING 



127.5 



poured oft' separately. After the water and oil have 

 mainly separated, the water will still contain enough 

 oil to make it highly fragrant, and in this state it goes 

 to market as rosewater, orange-flower water, etc., or is 

 returned to the still to be redistilled with the next 

 charge. 



The remaining two methods depend on the fact that 

 grease has the power of absorbing essential oils. In 

 enfleurnge the grease, without healing, is spread over 

 both surfaces of panes of glass which are set in frames 

 {chassis}, so that they can be piled one over another 

 with spaces between. In these spaces are placed the flow- 

 ers, the charge being renewed daily until the grease is 

 sufficiently impregnated, win u it c.jnstitutfs a"pomade." 

 "Extracts "are made by diijcstinf,' tin- pomade in alcohol, 

 which has a still strongrr ;ittTa<-ti<iM for the perfume 

 than has the grease. The ak-ohul njust first be deodor- 

 ized to save perverting the floral perfume, and is then 

 known as "Cologne spirit." The grease used in this 

 and the next process, moreover, must be freed from all 

 corruptible matter by a special process. Tallow and 

 lard, commonly mixed, and sometimes the fat of the 

 deer and other animals, are employed. 



In maceration the pomade is prociuced by immersing 

 repeated charges of the flowers in melted grease or fine 

 olive oil. 



In recent times various chemical processes for ex- 

 tracting perfumery have been tried, apparently with 

 some practical success; but they have not yet sup- 

 planted the old methods. Carbon bisulfid and pe- 

 troleum ether are among the solvents employed. These 

 methods would be less easily practiced by beginners 

 and amateurs than the ordinary ones. 



The art of distilling is not only not difficult to learn, 

 but is already in practice in this cojuntry in the case of 

 peppermint, sweet birch, sassafras, eucalyptus, etc. 

 More care and better apparatus would be required for 

 distilling roses and other flowers, but the process is 

 essentially the same. Nor do the grease processes in- 

 volve any difliculties which may not be overcome by 

 the application of a little American ingenuity and 

 capital. In fact, the production of the raw materials 

 of perfumery might proceed almost at once, so far as 

 the difficulty of the processes is concerned. But can 

 we grow the requisite plants? 



That many of the standard perfumery plants will 

 grow in this country needs no proof, and there is no 

 reason to doubt that their fragrance in properly chosen 

 localities will equal that of the same plants in the 

 European centers. In general, success in this line 

 must be looked for only southward, even in dealing 

 with hardy plants, though there may be exceptions to 

 this rule. Cool trade-winds and fogs at flowering time 

 are to be shunned. The natural conditions in Florida 

 seem not very different from those of the south of 

 France, the great center of perfumery farming in 

 Europe, and in fact the feasibility of successful per- 

 fumery farming in Florida has been demonstrated by 

 actual trial. California has also been the scene of ex- 

 periments, some of them seeming to promise success 

 as soon as economic conditions admit. A large terri- 

 tory between these two points is available for some 

 lines of the industry. 



Among the particular plants to be noticed, the citrous 

 fruits deserve a leading place. Nearly or quite all of 

 the trees of this group, inchuling the sweet, the bitter or 

 Seville, and the bergamot oranges, the sweet and sour 

 limes, the lemon, the citron, and the shaddock, contain 

 valuable perfumes either in the peel of their fruit, or in 

 their flowers, or in their leaves, or in more than one 

 of these. Of the fruit oils, that of lemon is imported 

 into this country in largest quantity, followed by oil of 

 bergamot, oil of orange bitter and sweet, oil of limes 

 and"cedrat" or citron oil, the last two in very small 

 quantities, but the cedrat at a very high price. These 

 oils are extracted by expression, the distilled being 

 inferior, though it is asserted that when the "rag," or 

 inner soft layer, is removed, the distilled oil equals 

 the other. The oil of the bitter orange is superior to 

 that of the sweet; the oil of bergamot is far more val- 

 uable than either, but can rarely be had in an unadul- 

 terated state. The flowers of the orange treated by 

 distillation yield "neroli." The scent of neroli, however, 



