494 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Nov., 1901. 
of flowers, whose ‘value is subordinated to a daily transaction by a sort of 
monopoly. Since about twenty years, the price of flowers has lessened alarm- 
ingly. For example, orange blossoms have fallen successively from 2 francs 
(1s. 8d.), and 2 fr. 50 (2s. 1d.) to 25 centimes and 50 centimes (23d. to 5d.) 
per kilogramme (22 lb.) ; roses from 60 cent. and 70 cent. (6d. and 7d.) to 85. 
cent. and 40 cent. (82d. and 4d.) per kilo. ; Jessamine from 3 fr. 25 (2s. 84d.). 
and 3 fr. (2s. 6d.) to 75 cent. and 1 fr. (73d. and 10d.) per kilo. 
Violets have fallen by 50 per cent. ina single year, 1898 to 1899. And. 
other blooms have suffered in the same degree. 
Under these conditions the profits, usually very small, often nil. to the 
growers, now no longer pay for the cost of growing, cultivating, and gathering 
the crops. 
ive our opinion, if this depreciation continues, the importance of the: 
flower-growing industry will soon rapidly diminish. 
In the interests of all concerned, we think it would be wise and prudent 
to form a sort of syndical chamber, composed of producers and scent-makers,,. 
to prevent the horticultural and industrial disaster which threatens the district - 
of Grasse and its environs. 
This association of persons interested in the trade would be able to appraise: 
and to limit the production of flowers required in the industry and in trade,. 
whilst maintaining an equitable price for the raw material, such as would! 
enable the growers to make a modest but sure livelihood. 
Let us point out another dark spot from an economic point of view. We:- 
allude to the competition which chemically-produced scents are already enter-. 
ing into with the natural perfumes. 
Since chemical analysis has discovered in certain natural essences com- 
pound ethers which they have been able to reproduce by synthesis, artificial 
preparations of new odoriferous products have developed both at home and 
abroad to an extent which endangers the future of French perfumery. 
These artificial essences, produced often by the combination of elements: 
infected with some odour—aldehydes, acetones, alcohols, ethers—are generally, 
it is true, of extreme strength, but also of great permanence. At the same 
time, they cannot equal the fineness, the softness, or the attractiveness of the 
natural perfumes, whose delicious emanations give the illusion of the presence 
of the flowers whence they have derived their aroma. 
For use, chemical perfumes require to be disguised and sweetened by 
means of the natural extracts. These compounds are products of inferior 
quality which cannot compete with the exquisite and delicate perfume extracted _ 
from flowers. The latter, we trust, will always retain its luxurious customers, 
whilst the mixed, or merely artificial scents, thanks to their price and more 
restricted sale, will, on the other hand, find their way amongst a less refined and 
less exacting class. 
AN AUTOMOBILE MOWER. : 
The automobile (says the Sedentific American) is destined to become a great 
power in agriculture. It is true that for many years we have had various 
machines propelled by steam, such as traction engines, steam threshers, &ec., but 
they can hardly be termed automobiles. Realising that the time was coming 
when, even in agriculture, horses would be dispensed with to some extent, the 
Deering Harvester Company, of Chicago, Illinois, began experimenting as far 
back as 194, in order to devise means of driving harvesting machines by 
motors. They suceeded so well in their experiments that an automobile mowing 
machine was placed on exhibition in the American agricultural annexe of the 
Paris Exhibition last year, where it formed one of the most interesting 
exhibits. The duplicate of this machine, so far as all Prarie purposes are 
concerned, was tested in France in competition with other machines, and was- 
found to work perfectly, running at any speed and turning corners more easily 
than a team of horses. 
