xlii 



FLORA ODORATA 



thus we sauntered and rambled in the sweet and balmy air, 

 amid a blaze of butterflies, and the ceaseless hum of bees.' 

 — Lothair. 



' Flowers distilled, though they with winter meet, 

 Lose but their odour, their substance still lives sweet.' 



— Shakespeare. 



The cultivation of plants and flowers in large areas forms a 

 great industry, wherever the climate gives them a sufficient 

 intensity of odoin* for a profitable extraction ; and the art of 

 manufacturing these pleasing tributes of Xature has now 

 attained to a considerable degree of perfection. 



In the neighbourhood of Grasse the very air is permeated 

 by an overwhelming perfume, and large factories are busy 

 night and day in extracting the delicious nectar. 



There are several ways of doing this. The first and coarsest 

 method, which is used for Lavender, Thyme, Peppermint and 

 Geranium, is by boiling down the flowers. The second, which 

 is used for the Rose, Heliotrope, Lilac, and ordinary Yiolet, is 

 the old plan of distillation. And the third, which is reserved 

 for Parma Yiolet, Jasmine, Tuberose, and such expensive 

 essences, is the so-called cold method ; the slowest, and there- 

 fore the dearest, but the most efiective of all. For this last, 

 the flowers, which are first carefully weighed, are heaped 

 upon a table, round which are seated about twenty girls, each 

 with a frame before her, like a good -sized window-pane. 

 The glass of this frame is, so to speak, buttered on both sides 

 with a mixture of veal fat and a little oil. On the glass the 

 girls strew as many flowers as will lightly hide it, and 

 covers them with another glass similarly treated. Then 

 comes another layer of flowers and another glass till there are 

 ten glasses in a heap. The next day the flowers, which are 

 by that time quite faded, and have given out all their scent into 



