22 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[Februarj', 



be too near the bottom, and not too large 

 either; there should be a stick below the hole 

 for the birds to light on and look in. The 

 roof should extend out over the hole so as to 

 keep out the rain, &c. Don't be afraid that 

 you will have too many birds about the prem- 

 ises; they are the greatest :little bug and in- 

 sect catchers to be found, and it will pay to 

 encourage them to stay about the premises. 

 Better do without dogs and cats than without 

 birds. There are plenty of dogs and cats 

 kept that cost more in a year to feed them 

 than it would cost to have a few bird houses 

 and the Lancaster Farmer besides. Money 

 expended for either of these objects is not 

 lost; the birds will reward you for the trou- 

 ble and expense, so will the Farmer tell you 

 how to live better, and make more money. 

 It keeps you well posted in every improve- 

 ment pertaining to horticulture, agriculture, 

 the garden and farm, aud of general import- 

 ance to your prosperity or welfare. But I 

 have wandered off from my subject, and I 

 will refer to it again by saying : Be kind to 

 the birds.— Jo/ui B. Frh, Lime Valley. 



For The LancAsteb Fakmkr. 

 LICE ON CURRANT BUSHES. 



What shall I do with them ? I want to set 

 out a new lot, and I find most of the bushes 

 infested with the bark lice. I did not exam- 

 ine the roots, but I notice the lice or scales 

 along the stems and down close to the ground; 

 some stems have only a few, while others are 

 nearly covered with them. Could a liquor or lye 

 be made to dip the sprouts in before planting, 

 so as to kill the lice and yet not injure the 

 sprouts ? I mean to dig out a lot of the old 

 bushes, and part them aud only save the best 

 young sprouts that have a little root, for 

 planting. I cut the tops off about a foot 

 from the root, and if plants are scarce I use 

 the young canes without roots to make plants. 

 In setting out cuttings of any kind, I always 

 pack the "soil very tight for a few inches at 

 the bottom; setting them about six inches 

 deep; leaving one or two eyes above ground. 

 Last season my currant bushes looked miser- 

 able; the tops were nearly all half dead or 

 very "scrnnty," and not much fruit on them. 

 This was not caused by the lice, (they might 

 have been frozen in the wood;) other seasons 

 my bushes looked well and were full of fruit, 

 and even the lousy bushes were full, but not so 

 large. But I generally thin or cut out in the 

 spnng all the scrubby old wood, and all that 

 are vrormy or very lousy, and give them a 

 top dressing of manure scrapings, or compost 

 of hen dung. I intend, if I live to plant 

 fruit, to be more careful about planting bush- 

 es and trees or vines, so as to have them free 

 from vermin or mildew. I have seen a 

 great many pear and apple trees ruined with 

 lice. Last spring I cut the tops off several 

 young apple trees that were full of lice, and 

 grafted clean grafts on again, and rubbed 

 lard from the grafts down, to keep the lice 

 from getting on the new wood. Xow the tops 

 are as clean as they need be, and if I had 

 used the same care in years gone by, I 

 might have saved a good many trees to bear 

 good fruit.— 0;d Cultivator, Lime Valley. 



[Just as you treated your trees, so treat 

 your currant bushes, aud they will also be- 

 come "as clean as thev need be." Nothing 

 is better for these "Bark-hce" or "Scale-in- 

 sects" than lard-oil— applied in a liquid state, 

 and when the temperature is not low enough 

 to congeal it. It will not injure the plants, 

 and by the time it is washed off, the Ucewill 

 go with it. — Ed. 



OTTAR OF ROSES. 



Where the Most Delicate of all Perfumed Es- 

 sences is Obtained— When the Rose 

 Leaves are Gathered— The Yield. 



Among the many exhibits at the Centennial, 

 which, no doubt, attracted a large share of at- 

 tention and proved especially interesting to the 

 ladies, was the perfumery. Of course that 

 princeliest of perfumes, "Ottar of Roses," was 



much sought after. Everybody who could 

 afford it purchased a vial as a souvenir of the 

 great exhibition. This perfume was sold in 

 oblong vials containing about four drops of 

 the essence at SI. 2.5 per vial. The vial isnev- 

 er opened, but intended to be laid away in a 

 bureau drawer, where it will perfume the 

 whole room in a short time. 



Home Versus Foreign. 

 The most delicious of all perfumed essences 

 is obtained by the simple distillation of rose 

 leaves. In our chmate, roses are not sufficient- 

 ly highly scented to produce the properly odor- 

 iferous essence or oil; and all the druggists 

 can produce from rose leaves is rose water, 

 which in fact is water slightly impregnated 

 with the essence or oil, which is, to a small 

 degree, soluble in it. The most favorable 

 country for the production of the most high- 

 ly scented roses is the middle portion of Eu- 

 ropean Turkey, at the base of the southern 

 slope of the Balkan Mountains, where the 

 roses are protected against all winds except 

 those from the south, and the flowers thus at- 

 tain a luxuriance in perfume and in growth, 

 as well as in size, of which those who have 

 not visited these regions can hardly form any 

 idea. 



The Centre of the Trade. 

 The town of Kezenlik, situated in the pro- 

 vince of that name, is the centre of the field 

 of cultivation and distillation of the rose 

 leaves. The leaves are gathered all over the 

 province, which is 40 miles long, and is water- 

 ed by the river Thungha and the many moun- 

 tain streams which discharge into the same, 

 furnishing the water necessary for the distilla- 

 tion. To give an idea of the extent which 

 this industry has attained, we need only say 

 that there are in that province 128 different 

 villages of which the inhabitants are all em- 

 ployed in the culture of the beautiful flowers. 

 These all live in peace together, Turks and 

 Christians, and they prosper, having become 

 wise by experience, finding that it is better to 

 work than to waste tkne in religious and po- 

 litical quarrels. 



Plantations of Roses. 

 Almost all the country is occupied in rose 

 plantation and only a comparatively small 

 portions is devoted to raising rye and barley, 

 for the subsistence of the inhabitants and their 

 cattle. The rose grows best on those parts of 

 the slopes where the sun shines most, and 

 which is the least northern in exposure. A 

 litrht soil is best, and the planting is done 

 during the spring and summer, in parallel 

 ditches three inches deep and five feet apart. 

 In these ditches shoots from old rose trees 

 are laid ; they must, however, not be cut from 

 the tree, but torn off, so that each shoot has 

 some portion of the root or bark of the root 

 adherent. They are then covered with earth 

 mixed with a little manure. 



How They are Cultivated. 

 If the laud is horizontal, and a mountain 

 stream can be diverted so as to inundate it, 

 this is done to hasten the growth ; at the end 

 of six months shoots are seen coming up all 

 along the furrows, and at the end of a year 

 these shoots are three or four feet high, form- 

 ing regular hedges ; at the end of the second 

 year, "roses appear, but not in suflicient 

 abundance for them to be gathered. The 

 gathering is commenced in the third year, 

 after wh'rch they produce largely, the hedges 

 being, at the end of five years, six feet high. 

 The bushes produce flowers until fifteen years 

 old when the field is worn out, and must be 

 plowed up. They do not prune the rose 

 bushes at all, as we do ; but they cut off every 

 year in the late fall or winter the dead 

 branches. 



The Great Harvest Time. 

 The great harvest commences about May 

 1.5th, and lasts until June 2d or 10th; the 

 gathering is done daily in the morning before 

 sunrise, and the distillation is done before 12 

 noon, so as to have the benefit of all the fresh- 

 ness of the flowers, which is at once driven off 

 by the heat of the day. In hot seasons the 



roses open more rapidly, and the crop may 

 last but for ten days; but in wet, cooler sea- 

 sons, the progress is slower and the crop may 

 last for twenty-five days; but then the daily 

 harvest is smaller in proportion, so that the 

 final result is about the same. However, cool, 

 slow weather is preferred, as it eases the daily 



labor. 



About the Distillation. 



The stills used are of the roughest kind, 

 and small ; they hold from 200 to 240 

 pints of water, and are carried to the rose 

 bushes to be filled. To twenty pounds rose 

 leaves, 200 pints of water are added, and the 

 whole is distilled at a gentle heat until twen- 

 ty pints of water are distilled off. This quan- 

 tity contains nearly all the perfume of the 

 leaves, which are then thiwvn away with tlie 

 remaining water, and the still is again filled 

 with 20 pounds leaves and 1(50 pints of water. 

 This operation is repeated until all the leaves 

 have been used. The water thus distilled off 

 is a strong rose water; and the result of eight 

 or ten distillations is put into a still and sub- 

 mitted to a second distillation, when a strong- 

 rose water is obtained; so strong, indeed, that 

 it is unable to contain the essence in solution, 

 and the latter floats on the top of the water. 

 Experieuce has shown that, for every ounce 

 of ottar of roses, 3,000 pounds of rose leaves 



are required. 



The Annual Production. 



The total yearly production of eight districts 

 into which the IGO villages of the province of 

 Kezeulik are divided, is on an average of 3,500 

 pounds of ottar of roses, of which the district 

 in which the Capital is situated produces 

 half. Some years ago, however, the bushes 

 were exceptionally prolific. Thus, in 1806 

 6,000 pounds were produced, but in 1872 only 

 1 700 pounds could be obtained. We ought 

 to add that every rose farmer has his own 

 stills for producing ottar of roses immediately 

 after picking the flowers; and thousands of 

 industrious workers are thus occupied, earn- 

 incr in a single short period of twenty days 

 the products of a year's labor in preparing the 

 soil, planting, and taking care of the grow- 

 ing plants. 



Ready for the Market. 



When the distillation is over the farmers 

 come from all parts of the province to the 

 Capital to sell their products, those who have 

 larse quantities selling directly in the great 

 commercial centers, such as Constantinople 

 and Adrianople. At present, however, an 

 enterprising firm in Kezenlik, considering the 

 delay to which the trade with the last named 

 cities is subject, and the chances of adultera- 

 tion, have established a depot in Paris, France, 

 from which this delicate and expensive per- 

 fume is now distributed over Europe and all 



the world. 



^ 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 FARMERS VS. SPORTSMEN. 

 The lack of harmony between fiirmers and 

 sportsmen is so well known to every one, and 

 the points of difference that have sprung up 

 between them so wide, that it would seem 

 almost like a piece of impertinence either to 

 state them or offer any plan of conciliation. 

 There was a time when this was not so, nor is 

 that period such a very distant one, but latterly 

 this antagonism— for such it may be correctly 

 termed— has grown with much rapidity, and 

 has now reached a stage of open and undis- 

 guised hostility. 



Although not personally a sportsman, I had 

 frequent opportunity of witnessing the dis- 

 atrreements between these two classes of the 

 community during the past season ; they were 

 neither pleasant nor agreeable to either party, 

 and will continue to become more so with each 

 succeeding season, unless an attempt is made 

 to arrive at some mutual understanding. 



It will hardly be denied that nearly every 

 farmer upon whose plantation game is to be 

 found has been more or less annoyed by the 

 intrusion of so-called sportsmen. Fences have 

 been throwm down, rails broken, gates left 

 open cattle scared, and, what is worse, some- 

 times shot, through carelessness. This is no 



