$34 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1888. 
should bring in a still more handsome profit than 
the more local sale. — I »tn, &c, (Signed) H. W. 
GrEEN. 
{Copy of Report Referred to.) 
Sir, — With reference to your letter No. 132 of 31st 
of January, I have the honor to afford the following 
information : — (1). As to the nature of the soil where 
you (sic) have succeeded with arrowroot : — I have 
grown arrowroot on a piece of land where the upper 
layer of the soil is dpen, sandy, and light and not 
moist at all, but I have observed that on a moist land 
arrowroot grows better, but the tubers yield a less 
quantity of flour than on dry ground. (2) Method 
of Cultivation. — There is not much to be said, the 
cultivation being so very simple.- The great thiug is 
to select rather light, open soil, and to break it up 
thoroughly before planting, so that the tubers may 
have room to grow easily. Then the earth is made into 
beds, and the shoots of arrowroot, two in each hole, 
are planted at a distance of 12 to 18 inches apart, 
and are covered with leaves to prevent the earth being 
dried up, and the leaves when they are decayed serve 
as manure, and also hinder the growth of weeds. 
Unless in a great scarcity of rain it is not necessary 
to water the plantation. Care should be taken to 
plant them in a rainy season, say in April, May, June, 
October or November. The deeper the ground is dug, 
and the more the soil is stirred, the larger the tubers 
become and healthier the plants look. Nothing more 
is required beside frequent weeding and keeping the 
land clean and sweet. I do not think the erop needs 
much manuring, but a dressing of rotten old dung 
and leaf mould will do good. The soil is not disturbed 
after planting till the tubers are dug up, which is 
done 8 to 10 months after planting. (3) Rainfall, if 
ascertainable. — The Surveyor-General gives the average 
rainfall at Gikiyanakanda forl4| years at 139"36 inches. 
(4) Method of converting the Arrovjroot into Fine 
Flour. — First the tubers should be cleaned of all the 
scaly leaves by washing them in water, and then 
reduced to powder by pounding in a mortar. Then 
pour a sufficient quantity of water to make it a liquid, 
and, after stirring well, filter through a very 
rough cloth, in which the threads are set apart 
into another vessel, and keep that vessel un- 
shaken for a time till the powder settles at the bottom ; 
then remove the water and stir the powder again 
with fresh water and filter this time with a finer cloth 
to another vessel, and keep as before- Repeat this 
process of washing once more, and, when the powder 
is settled, remove the water and dry the powder in the 
sun on clean white paper. Whilst being dried the 
powder, which will be in lumps, should be continually 
reduced to bring them to a fine state. — I am, &c, 
(Signed) J. A. G. Rodrigo. 
(Copy of further report.) 
Sir, — With reference to the additional information 
you required on my letter, P. S., of 10th of February, 
I beg to state that arrowroots will grow wither they 
are sent with the shoots or tubers alone. In the 
latter case it will be advisable to plant them in a 
separate patch of ground till the shoots come out, 
before they are planted in the required ground at 
the usual distances. Oare should also be taken to water 
the tubers till the shoots come out, and to protect 
them from exposing too much to the heat of 
the sun. 
I am, &c, (Signed) J. A. G. Rodrigo. 
Local " Times. " 
THE FLOWER INDUSTRY OF GRASSE. 
A Paper on this subject was read before the 
GhemistB' Assistants' Association on March 8 by Mr. 
F. W. Warrick, and was listened to with much 
interest. 
The population of Grasse is about 12,000, and the 
flora of its environs represents almost all the botany 
of Europe. Among the splendid pasture lands, 7,000 
feet above the sea, are fields of lavender, thyme, &c. 
From 7,000 to 6,000 feet there are forests of pine 
and other gymnosperms. From 6,000 to 4,000 feet 
firs and the beech are the most prominent trees. 
i 11 "" 
Between 4,000 and 2,000 feet we find our familiar 
friends the oak, the chestnut, cereals, maize, pota- 
toes. Below this is the Mediterranean region. Here 
orange, lemon, fig, and olive trees, the vine, mulberry, 
&c, flourish in the open, as well as any number of 
exotics, palms, aloes, cactuses, castor-oil plants, &c. 
It is in this region that nature with lavish hand 
bestows her flowers, which, unlike their compeers 
in other lands, are not born to waste their frag- 
rance on the desert air or to die " like the bubble 
on the fountain," but rather (to paraphrase George 
Eliot's lofty words) to die, and live again in fats 
and oils, made nobler by their presence. 
The followiug are the plants put under contribution 
by the perfume factories of the district, viz., the 
orange-tree, bitter and sweet, the lemou, eucalyptus 
myrtle, bay-laurel cherry-laurel, elder ; the labiates, 
lavender, spike, thyme, &c. ; the umbelliferous fennel, 
and parsley, the composite wormwood and tarragon, 
and, more delicate than these, the rose, geranium, 
cassie, jasmin, jonquil, mignonette, and violet. 
The Perfume Factory.— In the perfume factory 
everything is done by steam. Starting from the engine- 
room at the bottom, the visitor next enters the 
receiving-room, where early in the morning the chat- 
tering patois-speaking natives come to deliver the 
flowers for the supply of which they have contracted. 
The next room is occupied with a number of steam- 
jacketed pans, a mill, and hydraulic presses. Next comes 
the still-room, the stills in which are all heated by 
steam. In the "extract" department, which is next 
reached, are large tinned copper drums, fitted with 
stirrers, revolving in opposite directions on vertical 
axes. Descending to the cellar — the coolest part of 
the building — we find the simple apparatus used in 
the process of eufleurage. The apparatus is of two 
kinds. The smaller is a frame fitted with a sheet of 
stout glass. A number of these, all of the same size, 
when placed one on the top of the other, form a 
tolerably air-tight box. The larger is a frame fitted 
with wire netting, over which a piece of molleton is 
placed. The other rooms are used for bottling, labell- 
ing, &c. 
The following are some of the details of the culti- 
vation and extraction of perfumes as given in Mr. 
Warrick's paper : — 
Orange Perfumes. — The orange tree is produced 
from the pip, which is sown in a sheltered uncovered 
bed. When the young plaut is about 4 feet high 
it is transplanted, and allowed a year to gain 
strength in its new surroundings. It is then grafted 
with shoots from the Portugal or Bigaradier. It 
requires much care in the first few years, must be 
well manured, and during the summer well watered, 
and if at all exposed must have its stem covered 
up with straw in winter. It is not expected to yield 
a crop of flowers before the fourth year after trans- 
plantation. The flowering begins towards the end 
of April and lasts through May to the middle of 
June. The bade are picked when on the point of 
opening by women, boys, and girls, who make use 
of a tripod ladder to reach them. These villagers 
carry the fruits (or, rather, flowers) of their day's 
labour to a flower agent or commissionare, who 
weighs them, spreads them out in a cool plase (the 
flowers, not the villagers), where they remain uutil 
1 or 2 a m- ; he then puts them into sacks, and de- 
livers them at the factory before the sun has risen. 
They are here taken in hand at once ; on except- 
ional days as many as 1G0 tons being so treated in 
the whole province. After the following season, say 
end of June, the farmers prune their trees ; these 
prunings are carted to the factory, where the leaves 
are separated and made use of. 
During the autumn the ground round about^Wae trees 
is well weeded, dug about, and manured. The old prac- 
tice of planting violets under the orange trees is being 
abandoned. Later on in the year those blossoms which 
escaped extermination have developed into fruits. 
These, when destined for the production of the oil, 
are picked while green. 
The orange trees produce a second crop of flowers 
iu autumn, sometimes of sufficient importance to 
