The Rose Garden of Europe 
ONE summer's evening a party of three — two 
friends and myself — were seated in the courtyard 
of an orphanage in Sofia. At this juncture a 
carriage drove into the courtyard and pulled up before 
the entrance to the orphanage. To our surprise it 
came from the Royal Palace. A messenger alighted 
and in perfect English told us how King Ferdinand, 
having heard of the arrival of three plant collectors 
in Sofia, would like to see us on' the morrow. And 
so it came about that next day, after passing through 
some of the squalid streets of Sofia, we found our- 
selves in audience with the King at the Royal Palace. 
That he is a clever, interesting and cultured man, no 
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BULGARIAN GIRLS GATHERING ROSES NEAR SHIPKA. 
one will gainsay. He showed great 
interest in our projected tour, and 
gave us valuable assistance. But he 
is so unilke his people. The country 
is poor, and signs of poverty are 
seen on all sides. The King lives in 
luxury in palatial buildings with all 
the pomp and extravagance of Court 
life. 
We left the palace in the afternoon 
and proceeded on our way to the 
Rhodope Mountains. Darkness was 
setting in when we halted outside a 
peasant's hut about half way up 
Mount Vitosch. We approached the 
shepherd, who was clad in sheep- 
skins and wore sandals and a bear- 
skin cap. and asked him if we might 
spend the night in his hut or in one 
of his cattle shelters. On learning 
that we were English and Irish he 
took us to his hut and made us wel- 
come. Nothing could have been 
more crude and primitive than this 
dilapidated dwelling, and yet it was 
the typical home of the Bulgarian 
peasant. The walls were of mud 
plaster, and the thatched roof had a 
seive-like appearance. 
We journeyed eastward to Stara 
Zasrora, and thence to Kazanik. 
Never shall 1 forget the scene one early morning in 
June, when from a hilltop- we looked across a 
wide and fertile valley tilled with fragrant Roses. 
Bulgarian women, young and old — some of the young- 
er ones wearing Roses in their hair — were busy gath- 
ering Roses and taking their full baskets to the dis- 
tillery nearby, where, after a long and tedious process, 
attar of roses is prepared. The opened and half- 
opened buds are gathered when the early morning 
dew is on them. It is only on cloudy days that picking 
is continued after ten o'clock. Roses gathered when 
the sun is hot on them have a comparatively feeble 
odor, and yield much less attar. It is interesting to 
observe that the Rose grown is Rosa damascena, a 
variety not known in an uncultivated condition. The 
hedges of the plantations are usually defined by a white 
form of the Damask Rose, and the flowers are usually 
mixed indiscriminately with those of the red Rose 
when harvesting takes place. The flowers are picked 
with their sepals on; these are not separated, the 
whole flower being distilled. It takes about 100,000 
Roses to yield an ounce of attar. The Rose bushes 
are planted close together, forming compact hedges 
about 6 feet in height, extending as far as the eye 
could see. 
The fame of our small party of plant collectors, 
who had been so favorably received by King Fer- 
dinand, preceded us, and on our arrival at Stara- 
Zagora we were met by the Bishop and other dig- 
nitaries of that town and driven off in phaetons drawn 
by ill-fed ponies. Cleanliness and godliness are not 
inseparably associated by the priests of Bulgaria, an 
article in the popular creed being indeed the sinful- 
ness of washing and hair-cutting, conditions which 
detract somewhat from the heroic ideals with which 
Reproduced from The Garden (English). 
GATHERING ROSES NEAR KAZANLIK, BULGARIA. 
