90 Report of Schimmel $ Co. April 1913. 



sun causes the oil to evaporate readily from the cells. The output also depends 

 upon the species of roses grown. The white rose, called gill in Bulgarian, is a variety 

 of Rosa moschata, Mill. It produces about half as much oil as does the red rose 

 (tcherwen gul in Bulgarian) of Rosa damascena, Mill., and the oil of the last-named is 

 poorer in stearoptene than that of the white rose. But the white rose has the 

 advantage of growing in places where the red rose does not flourish so that, in 

 spite of its poor oil-yield, it is still largely cultivated. For distilling, a mixture of 

 white and red roses is generally taken. A certain constancy is observable in the oil 

 produced in each different district. After being freed from the oil the distillate con- 

 stitutes a special article of commerce in the form of concentrated rose-water, which 

 is used for cosmetic as well as for culinary purposes and also in preparing rose-liqueur. 



At the present time the chief rose growing centre is Rahmanlari (Rasmanlaro). 

 At harvest-time the whole neighbourhood of this place resembles a flowering garden. 

 From 600000 to 700 000 kilos of roses are distilled here every year, and here it is 

 that the cultivation of the roses can best be studied. 



There are various methods of propagation. When a garden has grown too old the 

 bushes are cut down in the autumn, the roots* are divided up, planted in furrows 

 which are drawn from i 1 /" to 2 yards apart, and covered with earth and manure. 

 Every cutting, of course, must have eyes. Another method of propagation is by 

 layering. The first flowers appear in the second year and thence onward the yield 

 of the plantations increases until the tenth year, when the bushes are cut down and 

 begin to sprout again. It is necessary to remove the dry wood carefully every year 

 and burn it, so that the new shoots may have air and the spores of the fungi in the 

 dry wood may be killed off. Shortly before the flowering the beds are cleaned with 

 a wooden plough or with a hoe, and the plants trenched, with the result that ulti- 

 mately the rose-bushes occupy the high side of the bed. The older the plantation, 

 the less, in the end, grows the output, but when carefully tended a plantation may 

 reach a great age. The Bulgarian rose has the virtue of being a remarkably free- 

 flowering plant, and the regularity of its flowering is very interesting, the buds on a 

 stalk always numbering 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 14, 21, or 28. Intermediate numbers, it is said, 

 do not occur. 



When the flowers are gathered they are broken off immediately below the calyx, 

 which is easily done in the case of the Bulgarian rose. They are then taken as quickly 

 as possible to the place of distillation in baskets or wooden tubs, in order to obviate 

 loss by fermentation. During the gathering a little flower-wax accumulates at the 

 fingers of the women who collect the flowers. This is scraped off and is used in the 

 preparation of an eye-ointment, for scenting tobacco, and for coating the metal neck- 

 laces of the girls. 



The chemical constitution of the oil depends upon the species of the flower and 

 the district where it is grown. The oil produced in the elevated Balkan-villages con- 

 tains the greatest proportion of stearoptene, about 15 p. c. 1 ), while that of the plains 

 contains only about 10 p. c. The aroma of the oils of different districts also varies 

 to a not inconsiderable extent. The villages in the extreme East of the district of 

 Nova-Zagora produce an oil of which the density is sometimes as low as 0,840, while 

 the solidifying-point 2 ) goes up to +21°. The oils of the district of Karlovo have a 

 solidifying-point of 17,5 to 20° and a sp. gr. of 0,853 to 0,858. But as the dealers 



l ) We have found good commercial oils to contain up to 20,6 p. c. stearoptene. — ") Siedler very 

 aptly, in the case of rose oil, refers to the solidifying-point as "crystallisation-point." 



