January 14, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



15 



the Chick-weed and the Knot-grass are the well known plants 

 growing nearly everywhere in cultivated grounds. 



But the first and only true wild flower of the season that I 

 have seen as yet was a blossom of our little wild Strawberry 

 plant, which I found early in December (I have found a num- 

 ber of them since). This plant, being a perennial, never 

 wholly dies, and here it always renews its growth at the be- 

 ginning of the rainy season. Indeed, I have known the ripe 

 fruit to be gathered in November from plants growing wild in 

 the pastures. If the winter be a mild one it will flower spar- 

 ingly all the winter season ; but it does not usually come into 

 active blooming until about the middle of March, and April 

 is its most floriferous season. But by that time many 

 other species of plants, some of which are not as yet out of the 

 ground, will have strewn the ground — literally covered it in 

 many places — for a month or more with the prettiest wild 

 flowers. 



If the weather continues mild, in January we shall have the 

 little Buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis, var.?) which is so 

 abundant here in the spring. It loves the upland or moder- 

 ately dry ground, and in March and April large tracts of such 

 land will be yellow for a time with its bright flowers. Its 

 blooming period will culminate about the middle of April, or 

 perhaps a little earlier ; but it will continue to bloom more or 

 less until nearly midsummer. The pretty little Dentaria 

 tenella will also make its welcome appearance in January. By 

 February it will have become abundant. 



Crocidium multicaule, a very interesting little plant, because 

 of its blooming so abundantly and so early in the season, will 

 also be sure to be found. It has a little yellow blossom at the 

 top of the slender stem, which usually is only three to four or 

 five inches high. These little plants are gregarious, if such a 

 term may be applied to plants, and are nearly always found 

 occupying little patches of ground by themselves, which 

 they render yellow when in flower. The plant belongs 

 to the Composite family ; and so the little blossom is com- 

 posed of several very small individual flowers collected into a 

 capitulum or head, the whole surrounded by an involucre of 

 scales, which to persons not botanists gives it the appearance 

 of a single flower. These Crocidiums always occupy warm, 

 dry, sunny places. 



In moist places, those who are looking closely for wild 

 flowers will at this time be pretty sure to find our dainty Nemo- 

 phila (N. parviflora?) in bloom. This little plant is also very 

 frequently found in the timber where the ground is moist and 

 shady, for, as its name implies, it loves the woods. 



In or near the timber, where the ground is moist and shaded 

 throughout the year, may nearly always be found Synthyris 

 rotundifolia, whose cordate, crenately margined leaves are 

 an interesting feature of these woods the year round. Its 

 flowers are a light violet color, in clusters near the ground. 

 In all mild winters S. rotundifolia blooms abundantly in Janu- 

 ary and February ; I have even found it in flower before this 

 time of year. It continues to bloom, of course, until late in 

 the summer. 



Peucedanum utriculatum, a small umbilliferous plant with 

 yellow flowers, is also among our earliest plants to bloom. 

 These humble plants spring up soon after the rains begin ; and 

 they have been growing now for some weeks. A Luzula, or 

 Wood-rush, will probably complete the list of herbaceous 

 plants found in bloom here during the winter months. 



Among the trees, the Alder (Alnus rhombifolid) will be in 

 bloom early in February, or in January if the winter be mild. 

 The Hazels will follow closely after and then the Man- 

 zanitas and some of the early Willows. Nuttallia and the 

 Snowberry will by this time be leafing out ; and in early March 

 the Dodecatheons, the Erythroniums and other large and 

 handsome flowers will open in abundance, and our true sea- 

 son of flowers will begin. „ rrr rr , 



wimer, Ore. P-- <™. Hammond. 



Flowers and the Perfume Industry. 



M THOMAS GRIMM describes in the Petit Journal the 

 • method by which, in the districts of Cannes and Grasse, 

 enormous quantities of perfumes are annually made from the 

 flowers grown in those neighborhoods. He estimates that 

 something like 62,000 acres are given up to the growth of flow- 

 ers between the right bank of the Var and the chain of the 

 Esterel. At one of the largest perfume factories of Grasse, M. 

 Grimm found that the three principal operations in the mak- 

 ing of perfumes were the preservation of the odor of the 

 flowers by distillation, by enfleurage and by exhaustion. The 

 last named process, which is applied chiefly to Roses, is per- 

 haps the most important. It consists of submitting the petals 



of the flowers to the action of heat in broad deep pans heated 

 by steam and filled with a mixture of lard and beef-fat. 

 When the Rose has yielded up the whole of its essence, the 

 contents of the vessel are placed in horse-hair sieves, and the 

 so-called pomade which runs out under pressure is again placed 

 in the receptacle with fresh Rose-petals. This operation is 

 three or four times repeated, in order that the fat may be thor- 

 oughly saturated with perfume. The product is not sold in 

 this condition as perfume, since it is far too strong smelling. 

 It is treated as a kind of " stock," from which most of the per- 

 fume is afterward extracted by means of alcohol, and the 

 residuum is used as a basis for pomade or toilet soaps, accord- 

 ing to the degree of aroma that may remain. 



The distillation of flowers is still conducted by aid of the 

 time-honored machine called the "Florentine Receptacle." 

 This apparatus collects not only the water distilled from the 

 flowers, double, triple or quadruple, according to the number 

 of distillations, but also the essential oil, which is the very 

 quintessence of the perfume. Ten thousand pounds of fresh 

 Rose-leaves will provide only one pound of this essence ; but 

 only half that quantity of Orange-flower leaves is required to 

 make a pound of essence. There are some flowers which 

 will not yield up their essence to what is called the hot method 

 of manipulation. Among them are the Violet, Mignonette, 

 Jessamine and Heliotrope, and these have to be treated by a 

 very delicate process ; the petals are brought into contact with 

 wool saturated with Olive oil, and then the perfumed oil is 

 very carefully expressed. Nearly every operation connected 

 with the making of perfumes requires to be performed very 

 rapidly, since the value of the product depends in great meas- 

 ure upon the perfect freshness of the materials. The flowers 

 are picked by women shortly before dawn, are immediately 

 cleansed, and piled up in great heaps in the workrooms, which 

 themselves need to be very carefully chosen, since they must 

 be spacious, well aired and shielded from direct sunlight. 

 That which M. Grimm visited satisfied these conditions ad- 

 mirahly, being the crypt of an ancient Capuchin monastery. 



Such is the rapidity with which the work has to be done, 

 that if all the flowers used in the making of perfumes came 

 to perfection at the same time it would be impossible to ac- 

 complish it. Happily, that is not the case. The season begins 

 with the Violets, on January 15th, and they are gathered until 

 April 15th. In the Commune of Grasse alone from 290,000 to 

 300,000 pounds of Violets are manipulated during these two 

 months. iThe Jonquils flower in February and March, and 

 furnish 30,000 pounds to the perfume factories of Grasse. The 

 crops of Orange-flowers and Roses are the most important of 

 all ; this harvest begins on April 20th and ends on May 31st. 

 The neighborhood of Grasse produces annually 3,800,000 

 pounds of Orange-flowers and 2,000,000 pounds of roses. 

 Mignonette, which is gathered from May 15th to the end of 

 June, yields a crop of 50,000 pounds. The Jasmine, which 

 yields 300,000 pounds, and the Tuberose, which gives 150,000 

 pounds, are gathered from July 20th to October 10th. Then 

 comes the Cassia, with its concentrated, penetrating and almost 

 violent perfume, which begins to flower in October and finishes 

 at the moment when the Roses begin. No mention has been 

 made of Lavender and Rosemary, because, although they are 

 cultivated to perhaps a greater extent than any other flowers, they 

 are chiefly treated throughout the south of France by nomadic 

 distilleries which move about from canton to canton. 



Notes on North American Trees. — XXII. 



42. Reynosia latifolia, Griseb. This small Florida tree 

 has been referred (Gray, Bot. Gazelle, iv., 208) to the 

 Rhatnnus Icevigatus, Vahl (" Symb," iii., 41), the Ceanothus 

 laevigatas , DC ("Prodr.,"ii.,3o), and if the correctness of this 

 reference could be satisfactorily established the proper 

 name of the plant would be Reynosia Icevigata. The iden- 

 tity of these two plants, although possible, is certainly 

 doubtful. Vahl's description is short and unsatisfactory. 

 The leaves of Rhamnidium are usually opposite, while 

 those of his plant are described as alternate without any 

 reference to their being emarginate at the apex, a pretty 

 constant character in nearly all the species of Rhamnidium. 

 Professor Trelease, who has examined Vahl's herbarium 

 at Copenhagen (Proc. Si. Louis Acad., v., 364), was unable 

 to find the type of Rhatnnus Icevigatus ; so that as long as 

 this uncertainty remains it will be safe to retain Grise- 

 bach's name as he wrote it. 



