^ Introduction ^ 



even faintly resembles this ? In the essential oil of the 

 rose there are at least eight substances, the ' dominant 

 note ' being geraniol. These eight substances are so 

 exquisitely balanced and ' in tune ' with each other that 

 the preliminary sensation is of a single scent, whereas it is, 

 in fact, a perfect chord of scent. There are many differ- 

 ences between flower and leaf scents. All flower scents 

 give themselves, but leaves must be bruised before they 

 yield their scents. The containers of flower scents lie 

 almost on the surface of the petals, but the containers of 

 leaf scents are deeper and hence the leaf must be bruised 

 before we can appreciate its scent. Most leaf scents, too, 

 are simpler in their composition than flower scents, and 

 they contain substances which rarely occur in flowers, and 

 which give leaf scents the pungent qualities we so much 

 enjoy, in, for instance, the aromatic herbs. 



The melodies of the flowers — the music of fairyland — 

 cannot be heard by mortal ears. Yet throughout the year 

 this lovely music is being played. When the snowdrops 

 appear, do we not feel we are listening to fairy bells, the 

 ' horns of elfland faintly blowing,' telling us of the coming 

 spring, when the golden trumpets of the daffodils will 

 take up the refrain ? I think to most of us the scents of 

 the different seasons are as characteristic as their colours. 

 The purest scents are those of spring, for no summer 

 scents have the fresh ethereal purity of primroses, cow- 

 slips or white violets. These scents are suggestive of 

 worlds fairer even than our own. Unlike many of the 

 richer perfumes we can never have enough of these 

 scents, and their elusive charm haunts us throughout the 

 year. The scent of apple blossom has, I think, this 

 quality more than any other of the early flowers. Were 



