242 GARDEN HARVEST 



gently removed before they wither. It gives a 

 chance to young buds, which have more room 

 then to expand and greater strength when not 

 impeded by their elders. Whilst the sun shines 

 and draws all dew from their petals, a continuous 

 procession of those who have collected roses is 

 seen to approach the house. They are brought to 

 me, for my work is to sprinkle them carefully in 

 thin layers so that they may dry well in sunny 

 windows. 



The floor of the lecture-room is, for the time 

 being, transformed into a rose-petal carpet and as, 

 in summer, no lectures take place there, because 

 out-of-door demonstrations are so much the most 

 helpful, there is room for innumerable cardboard 

 boxes and sheets of paper upon which are thinly 

 strewn rose-petals of every shade. Very lovely 

 they look in all the different stages of their treat- 

 ment, and when the sun has dried them sufficiently 

 and left them pliable, neither scorched nor shrivelled 

 to hardness, they are thrown by handfuls into 

 brown earthenware bread-pans, kept for the pur- 

 pose. Some years we have enough to fill five or 

 six of these, if the harvest has been a plentiful 

 one. Each day fresh layers are added, until the 

 whole room is perfumed with their delicious scent. 

 One by one our great " Ali Baba jars," as we are 

 wont to call them, are filled, and then bay salt 

 is mixed very thoroughly with the dried petals, a 

 thick piece of brown paper being put over the top 

 of each jar and held in place by the lid, which 

 prevents air from penetrating. 



We preserve, as a carefully-guarded secret, the 



