he handkerchief; it
is therefore necessary to add some fixing ingredient, and for this
purpose it is best to use one ounce of extract of orris, or half an
ounce of extract of vanilla, to every pint of tuberose.

VANILLA.--The pod or bean of the _Vanilla planifolia_ yields a
perfume of rare excellence. When good, and if kept for some time, it
becomes covered with an efflorescence of needle crystals possessing
properties similar to benzoic acid, but differing from it in
composition. Few objects are more beautiful to look upon than this, when
viewed by a microscope with the aid of polarized light.

[Illustration: Vanilla.]

EXTRACT OF VANILLA.

Vanilla pods, 1/2 lb.
Rectified spirit, 1 gallon.

Slit the pods from end to end, so as to lay open the interior, then cut
them up in lengths of about a quarter of an inch, macerate with
occasional agitation for about a month; the tincture thus formed will
only require straining through cotton to be ready for any use that is
required. In this state it is rarely sold for a perfume, but is consumed
in the manufacture of compound odors, bouquets, or nosegays, as they
are called.

Extract of Vanilla is also used largely in the manufacture of
hair-washes, which are readily made by mixing the extract of vanilla
with either rose, orange, elder, or rosemary water, and afterwards
filtering.

We need scarcely mention, that vanilla is greatly used by cooks and
confectioners for flavoring.

VERBENA, or VERVAINE.--The scented species of this
plant, the lemon verbena, _Aloysia citriodora_ (Hooker), gives one of
the finest perfumes with which we are acquainted; it is well known as
yielding a delightful fragrance by merely drawing the hand over the
plant; some of the little vessels or sacks containing the otto must be
crushed in this act, as there is little or no odor by merely smelling at
the plant.

The otto, which can be extracted from the leaves by distillation with
water, on account of its high price, is scarcely, if ever, used by the
manufacturing perfumer, but it is most successfully imitated by mixing
the otto of lemon grass, _Andropogon schoenanthus_, with rectified
spirit, the odor of which resembles the former to a nicety. The
following is a good form for making the

EXTRACT OF VERBENA.

Rectified spirit, 1 pint.
Otto of lemon grass, 3 drachms.
" lemon peel, 2 oz.
" orange peel, 1/2 oz.

After st