owe eet on previous occasions, has taken place under conditions similar to those 
~ obtaining in Bulgaria. The weather was favourable to start with and the yield of 
_ blossoms satisfactory but the yield of oil was greatly reduced by the abnormal heat. 
~ Nevertheless about 250000 meticals (i. e. about 1200 kilos) of rose oil are said to have 
_ been produced. From these facts it will be seen that the efforts made by interested 
_ parties in Turkey to further the rose oil industry in Anatolia have met with considerable 
_ success. It will require, however, a considerable amount of propaganda work among 
_ the rural population to give this young industry the firm foundation necessary for the 
_ satisfactory development in its competition with Bulgaria. It is to be hoped that when 
_ peace comes the Government will consider it its duty to superintend rose oil production 
_ by incorruptible experts and to put a stop, in time, to the importation of the long list 
of articles used for adulteration purposes. Only in this manner may this new source 
of production be assured of the success which the experts entrusted with this creation 
have a right to expect. 
The Bulgarian rose oil industry is dealt with exhaustively in an article written by 
_ munications on the subject’). Historically the beginnings of the rose oil industry 
as it exists to-day in Southern Bulgaria appear to date back to the times of Ottoman 
rule; the Turkish geographer Hadii Chalfa reports of extensive rose fields near 
Adrianople in the first half of the 17th. century and from him we learn too, that rose 
__ water was one of the principal articles of commerce of that city. The rose fields in 
the neighbourhood of Kazanlik appeared only towards the middle of the 18th. century. 
At the beginnings of the 19th. century we are told of rose fields in the districts of 
Kalofer, Karlovo, and Klissoura; by the middle of the 19th. century rose culivation had 
spread to Pechtera and into the district of the Southern Sredna Gora; about ten years 
and a few years ago certain districts on the Northern slopes of the Balkans and in 
_ the Struma country also took up rose cultivation. 
Besides the damascene and the white rose, the centifolia and the Stamboletz 
varieties are also met with in Bulgaria, though not to any very large extent. The 
Stamboletz resembles the damascene rose, and is used for budding the white rose. 
The rose selected for oil distillation requires a mild climate and a location pro- 
tected from north winds. The most suitable soil is clay which must be light and 
_ sandy, with a fair admixture of lime and, if possible, deficient in phosphoric acid. A 
_ sample of Kazanlik soil examined by Prof. Marker, of Halle, gave the following analysis: 
_ 0.10 per cent. nitrogen, 0.260 per cent. lime, 0.64 per cent. of potash and traces of phos- 
phoric acid. The rose grows best in altitudes from 300 to 500 m., but even in higher 
localities, very good results are met with, such as -for instance near Koprishtitza at 
1000 m. above sea level. The highest oil percentages are obtained from roses grown 
on sloping ground, which appear to contain 50 per cent. more oil than those grown 
in the plains; their price is very high in consequence. 
’ The Bulgarian rose fields have offen to suffer from parasites, unfortunately the 
Bulgarian farmers lack the experience necessary to cope with the evil. 
According to Prince Sayn-Wittgenstein who has published an exhaustive study on 
the Bulgarian rose oil industry*) the average yield of one hectare is reckoned to be 
1) Seifensieder Ztg. 43 (1916), 325, 343, 304. — 7) See Report April 1908, 86; April 1918, 89. — Gilde- 
__ where this study has been published. 
. P. Martell*) from which we cull a few particulars as a complement to earlier com- © 
ago the rose became acclimatized on the Northern slopes of the Rhodope mountains ~ 
meister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 294. ed., vol. Il, p.554. — #) It is not stated in the article as to ~ 
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