274 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
and in a condition to resume their functions immediately. The 
value of such treatment to exhausted plants can hardly be over- 
rated, and will often he found the turning-point between failure and 
success. Plants which are merely transplanted from one part of a 
garden to another are always benefited by the application of a few 
gallons of water at their removal. The best time to apply it is 
when sufficient soil has been thrown in to fairly cover the roots. If 
applied then the mould is well washed in among the fibres, and by 
filling in the remaining soil upon the wetted portion, evaporation is 
checked, and the moisture secured to be gradually appropriated by 
the plant. Mere surface watering is of little avail, unless very care- 
fully and liberally supplied. Newly-planted trees are, however, 
often much benefited by mulching, and if employed as an auxiliary 
to watering, a double advantage is afforded by it. 
{To be continued.) 
THE ODOURS OF PLANTS AND THE MODE OF 
OBTAINING THEM. 
E exquisite pleasure derived from smelling at fragrant 
flowers would almost instinctively induce man to 
attempt to separate the odoriferous principle from 
them, so as to have the perfume when the season 
denies the flowers ; and thus we find the alchemists 
of old torturing the plants in every way their invention could devise 
for this end. Their experiments were not wholly unsuccessful, and 
indeed upon their foundation the whole art of perfumery has been 
reared. Besides the uses in perfumery, the essential oils (the 
matters to which the odour of the plant is due) are used by drug- 
gists to cover the bad taste of medicines. Peppermint, coriander, 
and cassia are much used for this purpose, and as the sense of smell 
has much to do with taste, their utility is obvious ; by closing the 
nostrils, many very nasty physics maybe swallowed without tasting, 
particularly rhubarb. We here see the advantage of the domestic sub- 
terfuge of “ a little peppermint ” with a home “ dose of castor oil,” or a 
peppermint lozenge before the “cup of salts and senna.” Without 
recapitulating those facts, which may be found diffused through 
nearly all the old authors on medical botany, and works of this 
character, we may state at once the mode of operation adopted by 
the practical perfumer of the present day for preparing the 
various extracts of essences, waters, oils, etc., used in his calling. 
The processes are divided into four distinct operations. 
1. Expression, or the squeezing the odour-giving part of the 
plant between two metal plates, which arc generally made hot 
(though sometimes cold, and hence the term “ cold-drawn ”), and 
forced together by a powerful screw. This process is cnly adopted 
where the plant is very prolific in its oil, i.e., odour. 
2. Distillation. — The plant, or part required, is placed in a 
