ROSE-ATTAR, the Atr of Asiatics and Otto of the English. In India, the perfumed oils or attar are obtained in the following manner. The layers of the jasmine or other flowers, four inches thick and two inches square, are laid on the ground and covered with a layer of sesamum or any other oil-yielding seed. These are laid about the same thickness as the flowers, over which a second layer of flowers like the first is placed. The seed is wetted with water, and the whole mass covered with a sheet held down at the ends and sides by weights, and allowed to remain for 18 hours in this form. It is now fit for the mill, unless the per futne is desired to be very strong, when the faded flowers are removed and fresh ones put in their place. The seed thus impregnated is ground in the usual way in the mill, the oil expressed baying the scent of the flower. At Ghazipur the jasmine and bela are chiefly employed ; the oil is kept in bottles of hide, called dubbers, and sold for about four shillings a seer. The newest oils afford the finest perfume. In Europe a fixed oil, usually that of the bean or morunga nut,is employed. Cotton is soaked in this, and laid over layers of flowers, the oil being squeezed out so soon as impregnated with perfume. Dr. jackson thus describes the culture of the rose iu India, and manufacture of rose-attar or rose-water. Around the station of Ghazipur, there are about 300 bighas (or about 150 acres) of ground laid out in small detached fields as rose gardens, most carefully protected on all sides by high mud walls and prickly-pear fences, to keep out the cattle. These lands, which belong to zammdars, aro phuited with rose trees, and are annually let out at so much per bigha for the ground, and so tnuch additional for the rose plants,—generally 5 rupees per bigha, and 25 rupees for the rose trees, of which there are 1000 in each bigha. The additional expense for cultivation would bo about 8 rupees 8 annals ; so that for 38 rupees 8 annas you have for the season 1 bigha of 1000 rose trees. If the season be good, this bigha of 1000 rose trees should yield 1 lakh of roses. Purchases for roses are always made at so much per lakh. The price, of course, varies according to the year, and will average from 40 to 70 rupees. The rose trees come into flower at the beginning of March, and continue so through April.
Early in the morning tho flowers are plucked by numbers of men, women, and children, and are conveyed in large bags to the several contracting • parties for distillation into rose-water. The culti vators themselves very rarely manufacture. The native appamtus for distilling the rose-water con sists of a large copper or iron boiler well tinned, capable of holding from 8 to 12 gallons, having a large body with a rather narrow neck, and a mouth about 8 inches in diameter ; on the top of this is fixed an old pot or 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 tut 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 flowers 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 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 t,o keep in all vapour. The boiler is let into an earthen furnace, and the whole is ready for operation. There is a great variety of rose-water manufactured in the bazar, and much that bears the name is nothing more than a mixture of sandal oil. The best rose-water, however, procurable in tho bazar may be computed as bearing the proportion of 1000 roses to a seer of water ; from 1000 roses most generally a seer and a half of rose-water is distilled, and perhaps from thin 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 be come puckah or ripe ; 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. This is the best that can be procured, and the price will bo from Re. 12 to 16.