the blossoms to be gathered the same day.  They are delivered at the factories at once, where they are put on to the chassis immediately; the work on them continuing very often till long after midnight.  Later on in the year they are gathered in the early morning directly the dew is off.  The farmer is up betimes, and as soon as he sees the blossoms are dry he sounds a bugle (made from a sea shell) to announce the fact to those engaged to pick for him.

TUBEROSE.

The tuberose is planted in rows in a similar way to the jasmin.  The stems thrown up by the bulbs bear ten or twelve flowers.  Each flower as it blooms is picked off.  The harvesting for the factories takes place from about the first week in July to the middle of October.  There is an abundant yield, indeed, after this, but it is only of service to the florist, the valued scent not being present in sufficient quantity.  The flowers are worked up at the factory directly they arrive by the enfleurage process.

MIGNONETTE.

The reseda, or mignonette, is planted from seed, as here in England.  The flowering tops are used to produce the huile or pomade.

VIOLETS.

Last in order and least in size comes the violet.  For “the flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly,” and has taken a modest place in the paper.

Violets are planted out in October or April.  October is preferred, as it is the rainy season; nor are the young plants then exposed to the heat of the sun or to the drought, as they would be if starting life in April.

The best place for them is in olive or orange groves, where they are protected from the too powerful rays of the sun in summer and from the extreme cold in winter.  Specks of violets appear during November.  By December the green is quite overshadowed, and the whole plantation appears of one glorious hue.  For the leaves, having developed sufficiently for the maintenance of the plant, rest on their oars, and seem to take a silent pleasure in seeing the young buds they have protected shoot past them and blossom in the open.

The flowers are picked twice a week; they lose both color and flavor if they are allowed to remain too long upon the plant.  They are gathered in the morning, and delivered at the factories by the commissionnaires or agents in the afternoon, when they are taken in hand at once.

The products yielded by this flower are prized before all others in the realms of perfumery, and cannot be improved; for, as one great authority on all matters has said:  “To throw a perfume on the violet ... were wasteful and ridiculous excess.”

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HOW TO MAKE PHOTO.  PRINTING PLATES.