144. : QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Fex., 1898. 
Horticulture. 
PERFUME-MAKING AS AN ADJUNCT TO HORTICULTURE. 
WE have already given directions in this Journal for the capturing and retaining 
of the scents of flowers. We now again revert to the subject, as we desire to 
see the perfume-making industry one of the regular minor operations of the 
farm and garden. As there is no heavy manual labour attached to the opera- 
tion of scent-producing, and as women and children, and we are glad to state 
many men also, are naturally fond of flowers and flower gardening, we feel 
satisfied that once undertaken in a proper manner the business will be con- 
tinued as a pleasurable occupation for a few short morning hours. There are 
several processes by which scents are obtained, such as the cold process, the 
hot process, and distillation. We cannot do better than give the explanation 
‘of these processes, as written by an expert to the San Francisco Weekly 
Examiner :— 
THE COLD PROCESS. 
Procure trays with glass bottoms (such as were described in the Queens- 
land Agricultural Journal, 1st Dec., Part 6). Spread clarified fat a quarter 
of an inch thick upon each side of the glass ; gather the flowers early in the 
morning, and spread thin upon the fat. Close the glass-sided box. Every 
second day replace the old flowers by fresh ones, and renew them twelve or 
fifteen times. Then scrape the fat from the trays, break it up into 
very small pieces and digest it in spirits of wine G0 over-proof—say 2 lb. 
of fat to 23 lb. of spirit. Stir every day for a month, keeping it covered. 
Then bottle and label it “Extract No. 1.” Now add fresh alcohol to the fat 
(1 Ib. is sufficient), and stir daily for a month. Pour it off then, and label 
the bottle “ Extract No. 2.’ Do the same thing a third time, and so obtain 
Extract No. 3. Now you have three bottles, all containing different strengths 
of extract, and all of value according to their strength. The fat is now melted 
in a bain marie, is poured off, and kept for next year. (In Queensland scent 
production can go on all the year round.—Ed.) 
THE HOT PROCESS. 
Take, say, 2 1b. of flowers, being careful that there are no stems; put 
them in around tin. Melt 4 Ib. of clarified fat, with only just sufficient heat 
to melt it. Pour it over the flowers, and leave them covered till next day. 
Now get a larger dish with hot water to melt the fat, on the same principle as 
the glue-pot. ‘This is called by the French a bain marie. Now take another 
round tin containing 2 1b. weight of the same kind of flowers. Place two 
strips of wood on top of this to hold a sieve. Then pour in the melted fat 
from the first pan, thus straining the leaves and allowing the fat to fall on the 
_fresh lot of leaves in the second tin underneath. Cover up, and again leave 
till next day. Clean the first tin ready for the morrow, so as to repeat the 
operation each day for fourteen days, when the fat will be fully charged and 
is ready to be digested in spirits of wine, as described above. Only sufficient 
heat is required to cause the fat to melt and flow, as the extracts are very 
volatile at a high temperature, and a great loss may be occasioned by over- 
heating the fat. 
If more rose leaves are gathered than can be used on the same day, sprinkle 
them with salt, when they will hold their scent for a few days. This is called 
salting the leaves. For oils of the same plants, coarse cotton cloths are 
imbued with the finest olive oil and laid upon a frame containing wire gauze in 
