LAVENDER. 39 
It is chiefly used for painting, but a considerable quantity 
finds its way every year to the second-class manufactories, 
where lavender-water and other perfumes, of which the base 
is the essential oil of lavender, are prepared, and this in its 
turn is sometimes adulterated with spirits of turpentine. 
The harvesting of the flowers takes place at the end of 
July or the beginning of August, according to the season, 
the proper moment for cutting the spikes being just as 
the flowers are opening, as they are then more powerfully 
aromatic, and consequently yield an oil of greater value 
than when fully expanded. The cutting is done with the 
sickle, and every care taken to immediately pack and tie 
up in mats, for when exposed to the rays of the sun for 
any length of time after cutting, the yield of oil is 
materially reduced in consequence. The flowers cannot, 
indeed, be sent to the distillery too quickly after their 
removal from the plants. Large quantities of lavender 
Howers are sent to Covent Garden annually, and from 
thence find their way to the shops and costers’ barrows, 
for there is still a demand for them for filling muslin bags 
to stow away in drawers and cupboards, notwithstanding 
the facilities which exist for obtaining the essential oil, 
and lavender-water, and other perfumes into which it enters. 
The flowers, it should be reme‘abered, are put into drawers 
and wardrobes to exclude moths, as well as for imparting 
an agreeable odour to the articles placed in these recep- 
tacles. A few drops of the oil will, however, serve the 
same purpose; and it has been ascertained by experiment 
that if a single drop is placed ina small box along with a 
living insect, the insect will be killed almost immediately. 
The distillation of the flowers is a business quite dis- 
tinct from that of their production, and both large and 
