Am.  Jour.  Phar m.  i 
Dec,  1893.  J 
Rose  Cultivation. 
605 
reach  then  a  height  of  about  six  feet,  the  bushes  forming  thick  rows 
of  clustered  rose  trees  and  continuing  to  yield  rich  crops  of  flowers 
for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  and  in  some  localities,  twenty-five 
years,  after  the  lapse  of  which  time  they  become  old,  begin  to  die 
from  the  winter's  cold  and  frost,  and  yield  but  few  flowers.  Then 
the  old  rose  bushes  are  dug  out  and  the  garden  is  planted  anew. 
A  rose  garden  requires  constant  care.  During  the  year  it  is  hoed 
three  times.  In  autumn  the  roots  are  covered  up  with  earth  to 
guard  them  from  the  winter's  cold.  In  spring  that  earth  is  thrown 
off  and  the  bushes  are  pruned,  and  every  other  year  the  garden  is 
manured. 
The  roses  yield  only  one  crop  every  year.  The  rose  harvest 
begins  in  the  second  part  of  May,  and  as  the  weather  is  dry  and  hot 
or  cool  and  rainy  during  the  blossoming  season,  it  may  last  from 
eighteen  to  thirty  days.  During  the  whole  harvest  the  distillation 
of  the  crop  is  carried  on.  Morning  after  morning,  hours  before  sun- 
rise groups  of  young  maidens  and  boys,  all  dressed  in  their  beautiful 
bright-colored  native  costumes,  proceed  with  sweet  songs  to  the 
rose  gardens  to  gather  the  newly  opened  buds,  while  the  heavy 
morning  dew  is  still  on  the  blossoms.  Nothing  can  present  a  more 
captivating  scene  than  a  rose  garden  in  bloom,  with  its  gaily  attired 
peasant  girls  gathering  the  roses,  and  its  nightingales — those  romantic 
lovers  of  the  Regina  florum — trying  in  most  melodious  song  to  out  - 
sing  the  maidens. 
As  soon  as  the  roses  are  gathered  they  are  taken  to  the  distillery, 
spread  in  cool  and  shady  rooms  and  gradually  distilled  during  the 
day.  The  alembics  used  for  this  purpose  are  of  the  simplest  kind. 
They  consist  of  a  convex  tinned  copper  boiler,  narrowed  at  the  top 
to  a  neck  on  which  is  fixed  a  spherical  head-piece  with  a  tube  on  one 
side,  to  which  is  attached  the  condensing  tube,  sloping  down  and 
passing  through  the  condenser  or  refrigerator,  a  large  vessel  into 
which  cold  water  is  constantly  running.  The  capacity  of  the  boiler 
is  about  250  pounds  of  water.  In  distilling  the  roses  from  twenty 
to  twenty-five  pounds  of  flowers  are  put  in  it  and  from  five  to  six 
times  that  much  of  water,  thus  filling  nearly  three-fourths  of  the 
boiler.  This  done  the  headpiece  and  condensing  tube  are  tightly 
attached,  the  fire  started  and  the  distilling  of  its  contents  begun. 
This  is  carried  on  about  forty-five  minutes  until  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  pounds  of  rosewater  are  extracted  from  each  boiler.  The  boilers 
