THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
41 
the fragrant essence of the flower, is packed in tins and forwarded 
to London. The more strongly scented flowers, such as the rose, 
violet and orange, are treated in hot melted grease, and allowed to 
cool with it, but in the case of the more delicate blossoms, jasmine, 
jonquil and tube rose, their petals are laid upon cold fat, spread in 
glass frames. The scented fat is treated with alcohol 60 per cent, 
overproof, and kept in a constant state of rotation for three or 
four days till all the perfume is extracted by the spirit. The spirit 
is then refrigerated to get rid of the last trace of fat, and elab- 
orately filtered. The perfumes can stand the intensest cold, and 
are only improved by it, but heat destroys them. Some few es- 
sential oils, such as those from roses, orange flowers and the like, 
are extracted by the aid of heat — distilled in point of fact, but the 
more delicate and volatile perfumes are fixed by the absorbent 
powers of fat or grease. The roses of Bulgaria, the lotus flowers 
of Japan, the violets and jasmines of Southern France come with 
the lavender of England to attend the chemist's call. Nor is it 
only from the far famed gardens of the distant East that they 
come. From the slopes of the Himalayas ; from the wave washed 
strand of the far Pacific come other essences instinct wdth the life 
of things. — Indian Gardening and Planting. 
PLANT NAMES. 
An occasional change of language is as exhilarating as a 
change of air or diet, and herein is one of the charms of rambles 
off the beaten ways. Sometimes one hears in the current speech 
of country districts words that in the city are the recognized coin 
of poets only. Such is the noun "blow" popularly used for a 
flower in New York State. 'Tosy," is also an everyday word in 
parts of Pennsylvania. ''What for a posy is that?" is a common 
question in some sections — a question that preserves a quaint 
Teutonic idiom in English words, as an insect in amber. In the 
Adirondacks a marshy meadow is called a ''fly," much to your 
bewilderment if you have never before heard this bit of degenerate 
Dutch, while in South Jersey a similar place is flatly denominated 
a "mash." Names of plants are a constant source of interest. In 
