COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS TREES i6i 



One ton of roses extracts 22 lbs. of mineral 

 matter from the soil. 



Tlie petals of Rosa damascena yield tlie oU or otto 

 of rose. Since the earliest periods of the world's 

 history the charm and fragrance of the rose has led 

 to its appreciation and use. In Chinese and Sanskrit 

 writings the perfume of the rose is much praised, 

 and fats and oUs saturated with it have been used 

 since the earliest antiquity ; but the perfumes of the 

 rose and of other flowers were not by any means 

 provided for the sole enjoyment of mankind. 

 There were flowers, and very beautiful flowers, too, 

 in the world long before there were any men ; 

 and the fact was that scent and colour were simply 

 held out by flowers as an attraction to insects, to 

 induce a Adsit from them, and thus make them 

 unwittingly the carriers of pollen to neighbouring 

 flowers (cross-fertilisation).'' Flowers, it may be 

 stated, came into the world long after non-flowering 



' See Darwin's The Effects of Gross and Setf-FertiLisaUon in the 

 Vegetable Kingdom. 



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