The great point is to keep up a moderate fire in the furnace, such as will cause the vapour to rise without imparting a burnt smell to the rose water.

The operation is ended when the rose water, which falls drop by drop in the tube, ceases to be fragrant.  That which is first condensed has very little scent, that which is next obtained is the best, and the third and last portion is generally a little burnt in smell, and bitter in taste.  In a very small still, having no worm, the condensation must be produced by linen, wetted in cold water, applied round the capital.  A third method consists in plunging the boiler of the still into a larger vessel of boiling water placed over a fire, when the rose-water never acquires the burnt flavour to which we have alluded.  By another process, the still is placed in a boiler filled with sand instead of water, and heated to the necessary temperature.

But this requires alteration, or it is apt to communicate a baked flavour.

SYRUP OF ROSES—­May be obtained from Belgian or monthly roses, picked over, one by one, and the base of the petal removed.  In a China Jar prepared with a layer of powdered sugar, place a layer of rose-leaves about half an inch thick; then of sugar, then of leaves, till the vessel is full.

On the top, place a fresh wooden cover, pressed down with a weight.  By degrees, the rose-leaves produce a highly-coloured, highly-scented syrup; and the leaves form a colouring-matter for liqueurs.

PASTILLES DU SERAIL.—­Sold in France as Turkish, in rosaries and other ornaments, are made of the petals of the Belgian or Puteem Rose, ground to powder and formed into a paste by means of liquid gum.

Ivory-black is mixed with the gum to produce a black colour; and cinnabar or vermilion, to render the paste either brown or red.

It may be modelled by hand or in a mould, and when dried in the sun, or a moderate oven, attains sufficient hardness to be mounted in gold or silver.—­Mrs. Gore’s Rose Fancier’s Manual.

OF FORMING AND PRESERVING HERBARIUMS.—­The most exact descriptions, accompanied with the most perfect figures, leave still something to be desired by him who wishes to know completely a natural being.  This nothing can supply but the autopsy or view of the object itself.  Hence the advantage of being able to see plants at pleasure, by forming dried collections of them, in what are called herbariums.

A good practical botanist, Sir J.E.  Smith observes, must be educated among the wild scenes of nature, while a finished theoretical one requires the additional assistance of gardens and books, to which must be superadded the frequent use of a good herbarium.  When plants are well dried, the original forms and positions of even their minutest parts, though not their colours, may at any time be restored by immersion in hot water.  By this means the productions of the most distant and various countries, such as no garden could possibly supply, are brought together at once under our eyes, at any season of the year.  If these be assisted with drawings and descriptions, nothing less than an actual survey of the whole vegetable world in a state of nature, could excel such a store of information.