234 The Red Camomile. 



rum roscum commences in June, and continues more than a month. 

 The Adwci'S arc gathered in dry weather. In one day a good har- 

 vester can collect from thirty to eighty pounds of these wild flow- 

 ers. Tliey gencrall}'^ dry them in the sun ; but it is remarked that 

 those dried in the ahade have more virtue. The bed of flowers is 

 stirred from time to time to help the drying. Three or four days 

 is sufiicient to drive ofl' every trace of moisture. To obtain one 

 pound of dried flowers it requires about one hundred pounds of 

 fresh ones ! They are then reduced to a coarse powder with the 

 liand, and by means of a little millstone, or a little brass mill, a 

 very fine po^vder, fit for use, is obtained. We see by this that the 

 process is very simple ; the most difficult question is how to oper- 

 ate upon a sufficiently large number of flowering plants. To give 

 an idea of the importance of the manufacture of this powder, we 

 must state, that in Transcaucasia alone there are made each year 

 for consumption in the Russian Empire, more than 40,000 kilo- 

 grammes. Baron Folkersahn has recentl}' published a valuable 

 paper on the cultivation of the red camomile. His memoir termi- 

 nates with the following remarks : — That this powder preserves 

 you from fleas and bugs ; it kills flies, gnats, maggots, lice, and 

 even the worms which are produced in the wounds of our domes- 

 tic animals. To kill insects provided with wings, they mix a lit- 

 tle of this with a substance that will attract them ; for instance, 

 to destroy flies, it is mixed witli sugar. M. Folkei'sahn desires 

 that the eflects of this powder should be tried on other insects and 

 worms hurtful to man or to his horticultural plantations. He adds, 

 that if experiments demonstrate the efficacy of this powder, each 

 person could cultivate in the corner of his garden a certain num- 

 ber of plants of red camomile, to kill the insects, caterpillars, &c., 

 which ravage his field. From an approximative calculation, it is 

 found that a space of eighteen square versts furnishes a qinntal 

 of powder. Mr. B. Roezl, who lived a long time in Russia, states 

 that the Inseden pjilver (powder of the Pyrethrum) is imported ev- 

 ery year from Persia and the Caucasian provinces, into all parts 

 of the Russian Empire ; and tliat, used fresh, sprinkled over the 

 window-sills, it makes all tlie flies fall instantly, asphyxiating 

 them ; but that at the end of a year it loses its energy. He also 

 states that it is the Pyretlirum carneiun and roseum which produce 

 this powder. — Journal d' Horticulture dc Belgujice. 



