LAVENDER. 65 



taken off in the spring months. The lower leaves being stripped 

 off, the slips should be planted in a shady border, four inches apart. 

 In autumn they may be transplanted, and if intended for a crop, 

 they should be set in rows two or three feet asunder. The 

 flowers are cut in July, in a dry day, and tied up in bundles 

 for use. 



Qualities and general Uses. — Lavender-flowers are much es- 

 teemed for their delicate fragrance, which is more permanent than that 

 of many plants ; hence, it is often placed among linen,* and it has the 

 reputation of preventing the depredations of moths and other insects. 

 The distilled water is a well-known cosmetic ; and the oil obtained from 

 the flowers, designated in commerce oil of spike (huile d'aspic, Fr.), 

 is employed in the Arts as a varnish, also for preserving stuffs, hooks, &c, 

 and for destroying insects. This oil is not unfrequently adulterated with 

 alcohol and oil of turpentine. The former may be detected by pouring 

 a portion of the oil into water, which combines with the alcohol and 

 leaves the volatile oil at the surface ; if turpentine be present, it may be 

 known by the peculiar smell and thick dark fumes which arise when a 

 little of the suspected oil is burnt in a spoon. " In point of fragrance, 

 none of the foreign oil of Lavender comes into competition with that 

 distilled in England. The oil which passes first over has the highest and 

 most perfect scent, and is frequently kept separate, and sold at a propor- 

 tionate price. When the stalks and leaves are distilled with the flowers, 

 the odour of the oil is considerably deteriorated."f 



The leaves and flowers, but especially the latter, have a strong-, 

 sweet, fragrant odour, and a warm, bitterish, pungent taste. 

 Alcohol extracts their virtues by infusion more completely than 

 water, but distilled in the latter fluid, the whole of the volatile oilj 

 on which their virtues depend passes over. It affords a considera- 

 ble portion of camphor. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Lavender is stimulating, 

 carminative, and tonic. Like other aromatic substances, it ex- 



* " And lavender, whose spikes of azure bloom 

 Shall be erewhile in arid bundles bound, 

 To lurk amidst her labours of the loom, 

 And crown her kerchiefs clean with mickle rare perfume." 



Shenstone's School-mistress, 

 t Brande's Manual of Pharmacy, 1833, p. 135. 



t This oil resides chiefly in the calyces, and is contained in small 

 receptacles or pores with an open orifice. It appears to be most abun- 

 dant when the flowers are beginning to fade, at which time, according to 

 Lewis, one ounce may be obtained from sixty ounces of the flowers. 



VOL. II. f 



