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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



June, 19 10 



fumes, and this can be extracted from three of our most 

 common and productive geraniums found in most gardens. 

 They are the rose geranium, the nutmeg and the skeleton- 

 leaved geraniums. Their culture is so easy that amateurs 

 raise them without difficulty. A garden filled with these 

 geraniums would yield a co.isiderable quantity of oil of 

 geranium. Most of the oil of geranium used by perfume 

 manufacturers comes from Algiers, Italy, Corsica and 

 Spain. The oil is extracted from the plants by distillation 

 or maceration. Sometimes the oil is obtained by simple 

 expression from such substances as orange and lemon peel, 

 but this would hardly prove satisfactory for geraniums. 



Tuberoses, violets and jasmines have always proved the 

 most generally popular of perfumes for the multitudes, and 

 they have been extracted from flowers raised in this coun- 

 try in the most satisfactory way. Some of these perfumes 

 made on a Florida flower farm sold for one dollar an 

 ounce in New York a few years ago. Near Jacksonville a 

 flower farm was established for the purpose of demonstrat- 

 ing the value of American-grown flowers for perfume mak- 

 ing, and dealers in perfumery offered to take all the 

 product. But for some reason the experiment was never 

 carried on for a great while. It showed, however, a pos- 

 sible opening for those who enjoy flower gardening and 

 perfumery making. 



The manufacture of oils from sassafras and winter- 

 green has been developed in this country, and a consider- 

 able trade built up. But few other plants and flowers 

 which yield delicate and strong odors have been properly 

 exploited here. We let dozens of our valuable plants 

 grow wild in our gardens and woods, without thought of 

 their value, while our perfume manufacturers spend thou- 

 sands of dollars to import the oils and extracts derived 

 from them. Thus our perfume of "new-mown hay" has 

 as its basis the "deer tongue" which flourishes so generally 

 in Virginia, Florida, and Carolina. The sweet bay and 

 swamp laurel possess virtues which make them of value to 

 the perfume maker. The common snake root of Canada 

 and the northern part of our own country has an aromatic 



oil that is used by perfumers for strengthening their extracts. 



Synthetic chemistry has imitated many of our natural 

 perfumes, and it is the boast of the chemist that he can 

 make any odor or scent that Is used in the trade, using as 

 his basis some such common articles as the coal-tar prod- 

 ucts, potato peels, or sugar beets. But while perfumery is 

 affected more or less by the development of synthetic chem- 

 istry, the true odors of the flowers and plants must continue 

 to form the basis of the trade. They are not in danger of 

 being supplanted by any means. So long as we enjoy the 

 odors of sweet roses, jasmine, and violets, these flowers 

 will be grown for commercial purposes. In the little town 

 of Grasse, France, upward of ten billion pounds of flowers 

 are annually converted into perfumery. We pay some two 

 million dollars a year to Europeans for raising and ex- 

 tracting perfumes which could be made right at home. 



It was common in old New England days for every 

 housewife to have her sweet herb garden, where she raised 

 her thyme, sage, fennel, and lavender. These were gath- 

 ered and dried for winter use. Old bureaus were heavily 

 scented with the fragrance of their dried leaves. The 

 abandonment of this practice is to be regretted. It is 

 partly due to the modern ease of obtaining all such products 

 at the druggists. One does not have to raise medicinal 

 herbs or sweet-scented herbs for household use. But a 

 return to the old custom would prove far more satisfactory. 

 The flowers and herbs gathered fresh and put away in 

 the home retain far more of their fragrance than those 

 bought at the drug store. They add to the home a deli- 

 cate, grateful fragrance which seems to pervade every nook 

 and corner. 



Fortunately, a revival of the old custom is being agi- 

 tated, and many herb and flower gardens are found to-day 

 whose odors are destined to be preserved for winter use. 

 Either the dried leaves and flower petals are gathered 

 fresh and kept In air-tight jars, or serious attempts are 

 made to extract the fragrance in the regular commercial 

 way of maceration or enfleurage. With ample practice in 

 doing the latter, a sufficient amount of skill will in time be attained. 



Garden Pests 



By E. P. Powell 



HAVE met in my life a long list of rivals 

 — every horticulturist has had the same 

 experience. Every one of these claimed 

 what I claimed, and I could not see 

 but what they had as good a right as my- 

 self, if they could beat me. Among the 

 most persistent were English sparrows, 

 and hawks, out of the air; mice, rats, turtles, moles, 

 gophers, out of the ground, and no end of beetles and bugs 

 and flies and bees. Remember, however, that nearly every 

 one of these creatures it is possible to utilize. Moles are 

 very rarely a pest, and then only by upsetting the plants 

 which we have set in their tracks. Their mission is a 

 good one, that of devouring grubs. I never kill them if 

 I can. When the May beetle emerges (every third year), 

 you will find that the moles have in some way found out 

 that they are to appear, and have multiplied accordingly. 

 The presence of lice on our plants in some way calls for 

 an enormous development of bees and hornets, to either 

 feed on the lice, or on the honeydew that they make. 



When we have eliminated from our list creatures of this 

 sort, that can frequently be utilized, we have left the Eng- 

 lish sparrow and the blackbird and the crow. I should like 

 to say a kind word for all three of these fellows, and I be- 

 lieve the crow does do some good. The blackbird becomes 



a scavenger sometimes, and changes his wild habits to clean- 

 ing up cities. I have seen this change of character more 

 frequently in the Western towns, and it seems to come 

 about from a change of environment, the crowding of other 

 creatures into the usual field habitat of the blackbird. The 

 English sparrow probably changed his habits for the same 

 reason, but is an unmitigated nuisance. Now let me tell 

 you how to get rid of him. In the first place, make it a 

 regular business to break up their nests if they come to 

 your buildings or trees ; then let them understand that they 

 will be shot if they come over your lines; finally let all the 

 song birds and valuable birds find that your homestead is 

 a safe retreat. You will be surprised to find how soon 

 they will join in the battle, and make it nearly impossible 

 for a sparrow to show himself within their demesnes. At 

 my Clinton home the sparrows are to be found, jabbering 

 and quarreling all over the homesteads adjacent to mine, 

 but while we do occasionally hear one inside the lines, they 

 never venture to undertake anything like an aggressive 

 footing. 



If our country homes would unite on this basis, we 

 should get two grand results : we would rid ourselves 

 of the sparrow, and would secure the presence of catbirds, 

 bluebirds, indigo birds, song birds, grossbeaks, cardinal 

 birds and robins. 



