THE  FLOWER  FARMS  OF  FRANCE. 
63 
rating  this  solution,  a  mass  of  arsenic  acid  containing  no  trace 
of  arsenious  is  procured.  As  it  is  difficult  to  keep  any  consider- 
able amount  of  arsenious  acid  in  suspension  in  water,  the  author 
finds  it  better  to  make  a  saturated  solution  of  that  acid  in 
hydrochloric,  and  pass  the  chlorine  into  such  solution  while  hot. 
The  stream  of  chlorine  is  stopped  when  a  little  of  the  fluid 
neutralized  with  potash  no  longer  gives  a  green  precipitate  with 
bichromate  of  potash,  thus  showing  that  all  the  arsenious  acid 
has  been  converted.  The  hydrochloric  acid  may  then  be  recov- 
ered by  distillation,  and  the  syrupy  solution  of  arsenic  acid  left 
in  the  retort  evaporated. — Lond.  Chem,  News,  Oct.  13,  1865. 
THE  FLOWER  FARMS  OF  FRANCE. 
The  growing  of  flowers  for  the  production  of  fine  essential 
oils  and  for  medicinal  purposes,  is  an  important  branch  of  horti- 
cultural industry  in  those  departments  of  France  bordering  upon 
the  Gulf  of  Lyons  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  especially  in 
the  southern  portion  of  the  Department  of  Var,  adjoining  the 
former  Italian,  but  now  French,  province  of  Nice.  There  are 
extensive  factories  in  Nismes,  Montpellier,  Morbihan,  Nice,  and 
some  lately  established  across  the  sea  in  Algeria.  Smaller  es- 
tablishments are  found  at  Mentone,  and  all  along  the  Genoese 
Riviera  ;  but  the  great  and  acknowledged  centre  of  this  branch  of 
industry  is  the  town  of  Grasse,  situated  about  seventy-five  miles 
E.N.E.  of  Marseilles,  a  few  miles  inland,  and  its  seaport  Cannes, 
well  known  as  the  winter  residence  of  Lord  Brougham.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  state,  with  any  degree  of  accuracy,  the  pro- 
duct of  the  flower-fields  of  this  interesting  region.  There  are 
over  sixty  factories  in  Grasse,  which  is  a  flourishing  place  of 
12,000  inhabitants,  giving  employment  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  field  and  in-door  labor,  to  fully  5,000  persons.  Many 
manufacturers  grow  their  own  flowers,  others  buy  them  daily  in 
the  market,  and  still  others  are  supplied  by  contract.  The  latter 
system  prevails  among  the  leading  houses.  Contracts  are  made, 
at  a  fixed  price  for  a  term  of  years,  for  the  total  product  of  a 
farm,  at  rates  varying  from  8  to  10  cents  per  kilogramme  (2jlb.) 
of  rose  leaves,  up  to  1  dollar  for  tuberose  leaves,  and  even 
