“Attar of roses, made in Cashmere, is considered superior to any other; a circumstance not surprising, as, according to Hugel, the flower is here produced of surpassing fragrance as well as beauty.  A large quantity of rose-water twice distilled is allowed to run off into an open vessel, placed over night in a cool running stream, and in the morning the oil is found floating on the surface in minute specks, which are taken off very carefully by means of a blade of sword-lily.  When cool it is of a dark green color, and as hard as resin, not becoming liquid at a temperature about that of boiling water.  Between 500 and 600 pounds’ weight of leaves is required to produce one ounce of the attar.”—­Indian Encyclopaedia.

Pure otto of roses, from its cloying sweetness, has not many admirers; when diluted, however, there is nothing to equal it in odor, especially if mixed in soap, to form rose soap, or in pure spirit, to form the esprit de rose.  The soap not allowing the perfume to evaporate very fast, we cannot be surfeited with the smell of the otto.

The finest preparation of rose as an odor is made at Grasse, in France.  Here the flowers are not treated for the otto, but are subjected to the process of maceration in fat, or in oil, as described under jasmine, heliotrope, &c.

The rose pomade thus made, if digested in alcohol, say 8 lbs. of No. 24 Pomade to one gallon of spirit, yields an esprit de rose of the first order, very superior to that which is made by the addition of otto to spirit.  It is difficult to account for this difference, but it is sufficiently characteristic to form a distinct odor.  See the article on fleur d’orange and neroli (pp. 77, 78), which have similar qualities, previously described.  The esprit de rose made from the French rose pomade is never sold retail by the perfumer; he reserves this to form part of his recherche bouquets.

Some wholesale druggists have, however, been selling it now for some time to country practitioners, for them to form extemporaneous rose-water, which it does to great perfection.  Roses are cultivated to a large extent in England, near Mitcham, in Surrey, for perfumers’ use, to make rose-water.  In the season when successive crops can be got, which is about the end of June, or the early part of July, they are gathered as soon as the dew is off, and sent to town in sacks.  When they arrive, they are immediately spread out upon a cool floor:  otherwise, if left in a heap, they heat to such an extent, in two or three hours, as to be quite spoiled.  There is no organic matter which so rapidly absorbs oxygen, and becomes heated spontaneously, as a mass of freshly gathered roses.