February 25, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



87 



ers of southern France, who at present supply the world's 

 markets. This pomade is marketed in eleven and twenty- 

 two-pound tins, varying in price according to quality. It pays 

 fifty per cent, duty, and the present wholesale price is about 

 $2.50 per pound for violet, and $1.50 to $1.65 for the others. 



Like all manufactures, the making of pomade cannot 

 be taught by books, but a few hints may help the experimenter. 

 The process of extracting odors is known as enflenrage, and it 

 is carried on either with or without heat. Jasmine and Tuberose 

 flowers are exposed to lard spread thinly on sheets of glass in 

 suitable frames ; this soon absorbs the odor, and by renewing 

 the flowers the grease becomes saturated. The perfume of 

 the other flowers is extracted by hot enfleurage. In this case 

 an addition of beef fat is made to the lard (ensuring a higher 

 melting point) ; .this mixture is heated to the melting point, 

 when the flowers are thrown in and rapidly stirred through 

 the grease ; the semi-liquid mass is put under a strong press 

 with suitable filtering material until the flowers are separated. 

 The process is continued till the grease is practically saturated 

 with odor. These processes are simple, and with a supply of 

 flowers there is no reason why a good pomade cannot be 

 produced in this country. 



Judging from some inquiries, however, it does not seem 

 to be generally understood that the process depends primar- 

 ily on securing perfectly pure and inodorless lard, which is by 

 no means the same as the lard of commerce. No amount of 

 perfume will make impure grease fragrant, and the perfumer 

 will not buy an article of the kind at any price. In his laboratory 

 the perfumer is one of the most practical of men, and buys his 

 materials on their merits. It is just as important to have his 

 pomades free from false odors as that his spirits should have 

 no trace of fusel oil. 



The process of securing lard free from albumen, membrane 

 and blood, is as follows: Cut up the fat in small portions, separa- 

 ting the membranes as far as possible by hand, and wash till 

 the water runs clear. Melt with a gentle heat in an iron or 

 copper vessel over a water bath and continue till it becomes 

 anhydrous, or free from water, which may be known by its 

 becoming perfectly clear. Finish by filtering through a clean 

 cloth. This lard will retain an odor which may be removed 

 by remelting and adding a small portion of alum or common 

 salt, and keeping it over the fire till a scum rises, which should 

 be skimmed off. The salt must then be washed out and the 

 lard again rendered anhydrous. Such lard is kept in a mod- 

 erate temperature in tin, sealed from the air, and it will 

 remain sweet as long as is usually necessary. 



It will be well for one who intends to try the perfume 

 industry to secure a sample of the French pomade from 

 some perfumer, so that an idea may be had of the strength of 

 odor desired in the market. The prospect of success offered 

 by this industry can only be learned by experiment, but it is 

 certain that no careless methods will answer. As in other 

 things, there is room at the top, and high-class products are 

 certain of a market. 



New York. J. N. 



Our Trees in Ice-storms. 



IN the changing aspects of landscape which Nature, even in 

 our northern winters, constantly lays before us, there are 

 few which furnish more enchanting pictures than some of the 

 so-called ice-storms which occasionally, but fortunately rarely, 

 occur. When, owing to peculiar conditions of humidity and 

 temperature, every limb and branchlet of tree and shrub is 

 covered with a heavy coating of clear ice, the ground white 

 with snow and the sunlight is bright on the whole scene, we 

 are treated to an exhibition such as the most careless and un- 

 observant cannot fail to appreciate in some degree. Such a 

 storm prevailed over a large portion of New England during 

 the last week of January. While the storm, which results in 

 the formation of clear, transparent, solid ice on every exposed 

 object, produces perhaps the most beautiful effect, it is also 

 the most likely to be destructive to arborescent vegetation be- 

 cause of its greater weight and the tenacity with which it clings 

 during wind-storms and until dissolved by melting tempera- 

 tures. In the late storm the weight of the ice was often twelve 

 or fifteen times as great as that of the supporting branchlet it 

 enclosed. 



When the limbs become covered with soft snow there is 

 usually not so much danger to trees because the weight is less 

 in proportion to the bulk and the masses are more easily 

 shaken off in a wind-storm. Such snow-storms, however, are 

 sometimes hurtful to many kinds of evergreens. The beauti- 

 ful glistening spiculas, often produced on every object in foggy 

 weather, are rarely sufficiently abundant and heavy to do much 



damage. In Europe, however, somewhat similar ice forma- 

 tions have been recorded as doing much damage to trees ; 

 and in English journals, under the name of " rime," there are 

 frequent notices of injuries caused by this hoar-frost. In this 

 case the greatest accumulation of icy particles usually takes 

 place on the under side of the branches or on the side opposite 

 to the direction of any slight wind which may prevail at the 

 time of formation. It takes the form of delicate spiculas or of 

 flat sheets of ice as thin as paper, and sometimes two inches 

 wide. The accumulation of this has been so great at times 

 that large limbs of such sturdy trees as Oaks and Elms have 

 been broken down by the weight. In some parts of Europe, 

 where the peasants are allowed the use of all fallen wood, the 

 poor people are very apt to look upon such occurrences as 

 providential dispensations. 



The beauty of ice-coated trees depends largely on the man- 

 ner in which the different species branch or form spray, and 

 the injury these storms inflict is very different upon different 

 trees. Fortunately these storms are rare, for if they were of 

 frequent occurrence it would be almost impossible to grow 

 some of our most valued shade-trees, or at least to preserve 

 their symmetry and normal appearance. The frequent loss of 

 branches and leading shoots would give most kinds of trees 

 a ragged and misshapen aspect, which would make them un- 

 sightly. But, besides the direct injury to the trees resulting 

 from the loss of limbs, there is the increased liability to attacks 

 by insects and destructive fungi which rhay gain their first en- 

 trance into the wood of the tree through the exposed stump of 

 some broken limb or stem. The danger of further injury from 

 these causes is not so generally understood as could be de- 

 sired. Wherever lacerated wounds occur on choice or valued 

 specimens of trees they should be cut or pared smooth and 

 carefully covered with a protecting coat of coal tar or some 

 similar substance calculated to prevent the entrance of boring 

 insects or of wood-destroying fungi. * 



Of all our trees few are liable to suffer so severely in the ice- 

 storm as the native White Pine. The wood of its branches is 

 more brittle than in the majority of trees, and as every one of 

 the long leaves or cluster of leaves becomes incased in a 

 heavy icy covering, or supports its proportion of snow, the 

 weight on the limbs becomes out of proportion to that which 

 most other trees have to bear, and the slightest movement by 

 wind or the suddenly added weight of a bird is often sufficient 

 to cause the branches to snap off. As the weighted branches 

 usually rest upon and partially support each other, the break- 

 ing of an upper limb often causes much greater destruction 

 in its fall. Such species as the Scotch and Pitch Pines, which 

 possess shorter, stouter branches, are apparently not nearly so 

 liable to suffer injury. The Spruces may become covered 

 with heavy sheets of ice or snow, but, as the branches are 

 tough and elastic as well as comparatively short, they rarely 

 break ; and the terminal shoot, being stout, and bearing few 

 branches or leaves, hardly ever bends or is moved from its 

 erect position. The common Savin, or Red Cedar {J. Virgini- 

 ana), usually assumes a slender and pyramidal form in our 

 northern latitudes, and in these ice-storms the narrow spire- 

 like tops undergo an astonishing amount of bending before 

 they will break. But if the leading shaft does break under 

 the strain, the beauty of the form of the tree is forever ruined. 



While the evergreens appear most beautiful in a snow-storm, 

 they lack the charm of deciduous trees when ice-laden and 

 ice-bound. In all the variety of leafless limbs and branches 

 the beauty of our native American Elms is seldom equaled 

 under these trying circumstances. The long slender branches 

 present an unusually pendulous appearance when ice-bound. 

 As the branchlets are numerous and each bears its proportion 

 of ice, the branches become more heavily burdened than 

 most of the coarser-branched trees of other genera. Breaking 

 of the limbs may occur at any point, but it is noticeably more 

 apt to take place where a smaller branch diverges at a sharp 

 angle from a larger one ; and limbs, which from any cause 

 have become defective or weakened, are very likely to be ex- 

 posed by ruptures or breaks. Twistings and partial splittings 

 of sound branches sometimes occur which are not readily 

 detected at the time. 



Among deciduous trees, the much-planted White or Silver 

 Maple is one of the most subject to serious injury under simi- 

 lar conditions. The wood does not bear a great strain, and 

 the break is usually rough and jagged. The loss of buds or 

 small tips of branches in these storms is usually unimportant, 

 and if what is sometimes carelessly called " nature's prun- 

 ing " was never more serious, little harm would be done. 



Some of the larger shrubs are liable to be much broken, 

 while others bend until the strain is relieved by their ice-cov- 

 ered tips resting upon the ground. The elasticity and supple- 



