Amb^'x87h7arm }        Medicinal  Plants  at  Hitchin.  603 
trees  they  become  starved  and  produce  scarcely  any  flowers.  The 
growth  of  other  plants  between  the  rows  also  injures  the  crop.  Weeds 
too  have  to  be  kept  down.  In  order  to  prevent  injury  to  the  roots  of 
the  lavender  plants  while  removing  the  weeds,  Mr.  Perks  uses  an  instru- 
ment of  sufficient  width  to  pass  easily  between  the  rows,  and  composed 
of  a  number  of  hoe-like  blades,  the  upper  portion  of  the  instrument 
■being  like  a  plough.  By  means  of  this  apparatus  he  is  enabled  to  cut 
ofF  the  weeds  just  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  avoid  injuring  the  tender  roots  of  the  lavender.  The  plants 
grow  best  and  produce  most  blossom  when  they  have  plenty  of  room 
and  sunshine.  If  too  crowded,  flowers  are  only  produced  from  the 
centre  of  the  tufts  and  not  from  the  sides  where  the  plants  come  in 
contact  with  each  other. 
The  weather  has  considerable  influence  upon  the  yield  of  essential 
oil.  If  the  days  are  bright  and  sunshiny  during  June  and  July  the 
yield  will  be  a  good  one,  but  if  wet  and  dull  very  often  not  half  the 
average  will  be  obtained.  Mr.  Perks  informs  me  that  a  200  gallon 
still  will  yield  about  1  Jib.  of  essential  oil  in  a  good  season,  but  in  a 
bad  one,  as  in  the  present  year,  barely  twelve  ounces. 
The  time  at  which  the  flowers  are  gathered  also  appears  to  modify 
the  yield,  Mr.  Ransom  giving  as  the  result  of  his  experience  that  the 
product  is  very  much  reduced  if  gathered  after  the  first  week  in  Sep- 
tember, the  largest  quantity  of  oil  being  obtained  about  the  middle  of 
August. 
In  collecting  the  harvest,  which  usually  begins  about  the  first  week 
in  August,  the  flowerstalks  of  one  plant  are  grasped  as  far  as  may  be 
with  one  hand  and  a  sickle  is  used  with  the  other.  They  are  (by  Mr. 
Ransom)  then  packed  in  eight-bushel  sacks,  and  carried  direct  to  the 
still,  about  fourteen  sacks  going  to  a  1,000  gallon  still  ;  or  they  are 
tied  up  in  bundles  weighing  about  twenty-two  pounds  (by  Mr.  Perks) 
and  as  much  as  possible  of  the  stalks  afterwards  cut  off  and  the  still 
then  filled  up  with  the  flowers.  The  distillation  is  commenced  at  four 
or  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  still  is  filled  four  times  a  day, 
the  men  leaving  work  at  10  P.M. 
The  distillation  of  each  quantity  takes  about  two  and  a  half  hours, 
the  largest  portion  of  oil  coming  over  during  the  first  hour  and  a  half. 
A  considerable  time  is  of  course  taken  up  in  filling  and  emptying  the 
still.    The  flowers  are  trodden  down  in  the  still  by  boys,  who  for  the 
