June, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



251 



Home-Made Perfumery 



By George Ethelbert Walsh 



!jHE art of the perfumer is not so profound 

 a secret that the ordniary person who 

 owns land suitable for flower cultivation 

 cannot undertake to manufacture per- 

 fumery both for home and commercial 

 uses. Perfume making has never reached 

 great proportions in this country, although 

 years ago the Department of Agriculture attempted to en- 

 courage it, and even made an extensive collection of data 

 to show that equally as fine roses, tuberoses, and similar 

 flowers can be raised in this country as in the little town of 

 Grasse, the perfume center of France and of the world. 

 It was shown that in Florida, California, and many of the 

 South Atlantic States, flowers suitable for making per- 

 fumery could be raised on an extensive scale without much 

 difficulty, but as the result of this movement very little per- 

 fumery is made to-day for commercial purposes. 



Any of our highly-scented flowers are suitable for mak- 

 ing perfumery, and the process of extracting the odor from 

 them is simple. In the manufacture of different perfumes, 

 the question of extraction depends a good deal upon the 

 nature of the plants. The different processes are distilla- 

 tion, compression, and maceration. Such odors as lemon 

 and bergamot are obtained by distillation, and others by 

 hydraulic pressure. But the ordinary perfume of jasmine, 

 tuberose, and violets is obtained by maceration. This con- 

 sists of soaking the flowers in heated fat, and in time they 

 are taken oft and replaced by others. 



The more delicate flowers arc best handled by the en- 

 flenrage process. Pure sweet lard or tallow grease is 

 spread on a tray of glass, and when cool the surface is 

 covered with the freshly gathered petals of the flowers to 

 be treated. The tray is thickly covered with the blooms, 

 and then set away in a dry place. The flowers in time are 

 replaced by fresh ones, and the process repeated until the 

 grease has absorbed all of the odor. The whole process 

 of enfleiirage depends upon the power of lard or tallow 

 grease to absorb and retain the odors of the blooms, and 

 then upon the equally important virtue of pure alcohol to 

 extract the odors from the fat. When this fat, heavily 

 laden with the odors, is placed in a bottle of alcohol, it 

 parts with the fragrance and leaves it in the alcohol. By 

 straining off the liquid from the fat, a pure essence or odor 

 is obtained. 



The best flower to experiment with for home use is the 

 tuberose, because of its powerful fragrance. A square 

 wooden frame, with a pane of glass set in the lower part, 

 should be made. The frame should be at least two inches 

 deep, to hold the flower petals. The glass surface is cov- 

 ered with half an inch of pure, sweet lard or squares of 

 mutton fat. The flower blooms should be collected early 

 in the morning, when the dew is on them, and immediately 

 transferred to the tray. They should be piled several 

 layers deep, and pressed down firmly by laying another 

 pane of glass on top. A number of such trays should be 

 used, so that a considerable amount of perfume can be 

 made. On the following morning a fresh supply of 

 blooms should replace the old, and the operation continued 

 for a week. At the end of that time, the fat should be 

 so saturated with the odors that it is ready for the alcohol 

 bath. When placed in the alcohol, the bottle or jar should 

 be sealed up tight A few hours is sufficient for the alcohol 

 to extract most of the odors, but usually twenty-four hours 



are required for complete absorption. At the end of that 

 time the mixture is to be strained. To prevent evaporation 

 or loss of the odors, the straining should be done rapidly 

 and in a wide-necked bottle or jar. Suspend a double thick- 

 ness of fine cheese cloth in the mouth of the jar, and then 

 place the mouth of the bottle containing the alcohol close 

 to it. By pouring rapidly, and corking immediately after 

 straining, It Is possible to separate the odors from the fat 

 without much loss. Here Is the basis of modern perfume 

 corked up ready for use. Its strength, of course, depends 

 upon the amount of flowers used. The volatile alcohol 

 carries with It the perfumery which one extracts from the 

 flowers. 



In the maceration process the petals of the flowers are 

 bruised before they are immersed in heated grease. Orange 

 flowers and orange and lemon peel can be bruised and then 

 mixed with heated grease, either pure lard or olive oil, and 

 then mixed with alcohol to extract the odors from the 

 grease. Orange peel or lemon peel rubbed against some 

 sharp Instrument, which will break the small cells, parts 

 with most of Its odor when immersed in heated olive oil. 

 Many kinds of barks and fruits can be treated this way, 

 although peppermint, sassafras and the other standard per- 

 fumes of this class have their odors extracted chiefly by 

 distillation. 



Lavender Is Imported Into this country in great quanti- 

 ties from England for sachet and perfumery uses, but it 

 grows with little care in most parts of this country. Laven- 

 der leaves, when properly dried, retain their odor indefin- 

 itely, and the fragrance Is one that most people like. A 

 small garden of lavender would yield probably as much 

 satisfaction to the average woman who enjoys perfumery 

 as any other plant. Lavender odor can be extracted In the 

 same way as that of violets and tuberoses, but most of the 

 lavender used is In the dried form. The cultivation of 

 lavender for perfume should prove a most fascinating as 

 well as profitable work for one with a small flower garden. 

 The fragrance of the plants fills the kitchen garden during 

 the growing season, and when harvested In the fall the 

 whole place Is scented with It. 



The roses used for making the attar of roses in Europe 

 are the red damask of Bulgaria and the hundred-leaf or 

 cabbage rose of Provence, in Southern France. Until re- 

 cent years these roses were supposed to possess unusual 

 virtues which could not be duplicated elsewhere, and for 

 years it was not thought possible that attar of roses could 

 be made in this country. This, however, is a mistake. 

 While the climate of parts of Europe may develop the 

 roses to an unusual degree. It Is a known scientific fact that 

 roses raised in the Southern States of this country equal 

 any of those In Europe. The famous Gloire de France 

 rose, which Is so generally cultivated In this country, has 

 the true odor of attar of rose, and it could be made pro- 

 ductive of a commercial perfume farm. It is a perfect 

 bloomer In the Southern States, and very hardy. In our 

 Northern States it can be raised In sufficient quantity to 

 make home-made perfumery a delightful occupation. The 

 rose gardens of California have long produced abundant 

 bloomers suitable for perfumery manufacturing. A num- 

 ber of people make perfumery on the Pacific Coast for 

 local trade, and some of the Southern States ha\e entered 

 Into the business in a small way. 



Oil of geranium Is a common basis of many of our per- 



