The rose trees come into flower at the beginning of March, and continue so through April. In the morning early the flowers are plucked by numbers of men, women, and children, and are conveyed in large bags to the several contracting parties for distillation. The cultivators themselves very rarely manufacture. The native apparatus for distilling the rose-water is of . the simplest construction ; it consists of a large copper or iron boiler well tinned, capable of holding from 8 to 12 gallons (shaped like the earthen hundi pots in which the gomastahs send in their opium), having a large body with a rather narrow neck, and a mouth about 8 inches in diameter ; on the to of this is fixed the head of the still, which is nothing more than an old deghchi, or cooking vessel, with a hole in the centre to receive the tube or worm. This tube is composed of two pieces of bamboo, fastened at an acute angle, and it is covered the whole length with a strong binding of corded string, over which is a luting of earth to prevent the vapour from escaping. The small end, about two feet long, is fixed into the hole in the centre of the head, where it is well luted with flour and water. The lower arm or end of the tube is carried down into a long -necked vessel or receiver, called a bhubka. This is placed in a hundi,' or pot of water, which as it gets hot is changed. The head of the still is luted on to the body, and the long arm of the tube in the bhubka is also well provided with a cushion of cloth, so as to keep in all vapour. The boiler is let into an earthen furnace, and the whole is ready for operation.
The best rose-water in the bazar may be com puted as bearing the proportion of 1000 roses to a seer of rose-water; this perhaps may be considered as the best procurable. From 1000 roses most generally a seer and a half of rose-water is dis tilled, and perhaps from this even the attar has been removed. The boiler of the still will hold from 8000 to 12,000 or 16,000 roses. On 8000 roses from 10 to 11 seers of water will be placed, and 8 seers of rose-water will be distilled. This, after distillation, is placed in a carboy of glass, and is exposed to the sun for several days to become puckah or ripen ; it is then stopped with cotton, and has a covering of moist clay put over it ; this becoming hard, effectually prevents the scent from escaping. The price of this will be from 12 to 16 rupees. This is the best that can be procured.
To procure the pure attar or alto, the roses are put into the still, and the water passes over gradually as in the rose-water process ; after the whole has come over, the rose-water is placed in a large metal basin, which is covered with wetted muslin tied over to prevent insects or dust getting into it ; this vessel is let into the ground about two feet, which has been previously wetted with water, and it is allowed to remain quiet during the whole night. The attar is always made at the beginning of the season, when the nights are cool. In the morning early the little film of attar which is formed upon the surface of the rose water during the night is removed by means of a feather, and it is then carefully placed iu a small phial; and day after day, as the collection is made, it is placed for a short period in the sun, and, after a sufficient quantity has been procured, it is poured off clear, and of the colour of amber, into small phials. Another account of it is that
in the manufacture of the .purest attar of roses, a gallon or half a gallon of the best rose-water is kept in a large copper vessel in the cool night air, with a thin cotton covering over it. Before daybreak the extract floating over the surface of the water is carefully collected with a pigeon's feather, and placed in a phial. The next day fresh flowers are added to the same water, and it is again distilled ; and the same process is con tinued for several days successively, till as much pure attar of roses is collected as is required. The whole quantity thus collected is kept in a phial and exposed to the sun for a few days ; and as soon as the watery particles have evaporated, pure oil or attar of roses is left in the phial, which sells by weight at 125 to 130 rupees per tola. This sort of attar being costly, is generally made only to order, and the ordinary quantity purchased each year rarely exceeds five or six tolas. The rose -water left after the eighth or ninth distillation again comes into use, and is sold in the market as the best of its kind. It is, in fact, clear profit to the manufacturer, who is already amply repaid by the attar itself. The prime cost of a tola of attar is fairly estimated at Rs. 72, viz. cost of labour, Rs. 12 ; value of 50,000 rose - flowers at Rs. 120 per lakh, Rs. 60,—making the total Rs. 72. The margin left to the manufacturer, after covering the cost of interest on outlay, does. not fall far short of Rs. 40 or Rs. 50.
The ordinary rose-water is sold in huge spherical glass receptacles, called karabas, each containing 14 quart bottles. The average selling price of ordinary rose-water varies from 2 to 12 rupees per karaba, and in English quart bottles from 8 rupees to 8 annas each. The usual cost of labour for each distillation yielding 24 bottles is 1 rupee. During the season, numerous temporary rose stills are worked by traders from different parts of India. Consequently it is very difficult to make even an approximate estimate of the actual quantity produced, but it is supposed to be some where between 200 and 300 maunds.
Pure attar, when it has been removed only three or four days, has a pale greenish hue ; by keeping it loses this, and in a few weeks' time it becomes of a pale yellow. The first few days' distillation does not produce such fine attar as comes off afterwards, in consequence of the dust or little particles of dirt in the still and the tube being mixed with it. This is readily separated, from its sinking to the bottom of the attar, which melts at a temperature of 84°. From one lakh (100,000) of roses, it is generally calculated that 180 grains, or one tola, of attar can be procured; more than this can be obtained if the roses are full-sized, and the nights cold to allow of the congelation. The attar purchased in the bazar is generally adulterated, mixed with sandal oil or sweet oil ; not even the richest native will give the price at which the purest attar alone can lie obtained, and the purest attar that is made is sold only to Europeans. Attars sell at from 50 to 90 rupees the tola of 180 grains.