on distillation.

THE UMBELLIFERS.

Whereas the flowers of the labiate family are treated by the
distillers as favorites are by the gods, and are cut off in their
youth, those of the Umbelliferae are allowed to mature and develop into
the oil-yielding fruits. Its representatives, the fennel and parsley,
grow wild round about the town, and are laid under contribution by the
manufacturers.

The Composites are represented by the wormwood and tarragon
(_Estragon_).

THE GERANIUM.

Oil of geranium is produced from the rose or oak-leaved geranium,
cuttings of which are planted in well sheltered beds in October.
During the winter they are covered over with straw matting. In April
they are taken up, and planted in rows in fields or upon easily
irrigated terraces. Of water they require _quantum sufficit_; of
nature's other gift, which cheers and not inebriates--the glorious
sunshine--they cannot have too much. They soon grow into bushes three
or four feet high. At Nice they generally flower at the end of August.
At Grasse and cooler places they flower about the end of October. The
whole flowering plant is put into the still.

THE ROSE.

Allied to the oil of geranium in odor are the products of the rose.
The Rose de Provence is the variety cultivated. It is grown on gentle
slopes facing the southeast. Young shoots are taken from a
five-year-old tree, and are planted in ground which has been well
broken up to a depth of three or four feet, in rows like vines. When
the young plant begins to branch out, the top of it is cut off about a
foot from the ground. During the first year the farmer picks off the
buds that appear, in order that the whole attention of the plant may
be taken up in developing its system. In the fourth or fifth year the
tree is in its full yielding condition. The flowering begins about
mid-April, and lasts through May to early June. On some days as many
as 150 tons of roses are gathered in the province of the Alpes
Maritimes.

The buds on the point of opening are picked in the early morning.
Scott says they are "sweetest washed with morning dew." The purchaser
may think otherwise where the dew has to be paid for.

The flowering season over, the trees are allowed to run wild. In
January they are pruned, and the branches left are entwined from tree
to tree all along the line, and form impenetrable fences.

A rose tree will live to a good age, but does not yield much after its
seventh year. At