NEW METHOD OF MAKING PERFUMES.

According to the Baltimore Patriot, a discovery has recently been made in France which bids fair to revolutionize the perfumery business. Already arrangements have been made to carry it out on an extensive scale in Algeria. It had its origin in the analytical examination of wheat by a French chemist, M. Millon. That gentleman found that, by means of ether, he could dissolve out of the grains or flour of wheat a peculiar substance, which retained for years the odor of the grain in a concentrated for n.

This fact gave him a hint, which he has acted on, until he has finally projected a process that cannot fail to be of great consequence to his native country. A nation that exports six millions of dollars in perfumery, besides consuming a large amount of it at home, ought to be grateful for any improvement in so important a branch of industry. The attention of perfumers has long been turned to this subject, and many substances have been employed by them, which are not especial favorites with those who use the extracts and eau des millefleurs. Indeed, we would not advise our lady friends to enter too minutely into the study of the origin of those balmy odors which they so much admire. In such matters as these, Pope's line is most emphatically true

"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."

It is not merely the cost of the distillation of the aromatic principle from flowers which has caused the manufacturer to look to other sources for his supply. The great difficulty of preserving these delicate odors during the process of distillation has had its influence. Rose water, for example, as everybody knows, does not preserve the delicious fragrance of the fresh flower damp with the dews of morning. It results only from the odor of the dead and withered petals, the same change in the aromatic principle having taken place during process of distillation which occurs when the flower is allowed to wither in a drawer. The extreme delicacy of the aromatic principle cannot resist the application of the necessary amount of heat. Indeed, so sensitive to external influences are those odoriferous essences, that when separated by the new process they are destroyed, even by the small amount of foreign matter which exists in well and river water, while perfectly pure distilled water retains them for an indefinite length of time. The new process recommends itself as well by its simplicity as by its greater excellence. It consists in exhausting the fresh flowers by some solvent, such as ether or sulphuret of carbon. If the action is complete, the flowers are completely deprived of their odorous principle, which is found in the ether. This being distilled off, leaves a residue either solid or semi-fluid, which contains the aromatic principle, mixed with some coloring matter, wax, oil, and other constituents of the flower. If these are allowed to remain in contact with the odoriferous matter, they will eventually destroy it. The separation of them is the difficult part of the new process. It is usually effected by means of pure alcohol, which dissolves the perfume with a very small amount of the other substances, leaving the great bulk of these last behind.

So perfectly does this process isolate the perfume, that the slightest alteration in the flowers can be detected in the result. The fresh odor can only be obtained from fresh flowers. If those which have been withered ever so little have been employed, the exact amount of injury to flower will be repeated in the perfume.

Even the time of day at which the flowers have been gathered will have an influence upon the result, so that it becomes necessary to study the habits of different plants in reference to their odor. Some must be gathered before the dew has had time to dry upon them; others require the heat of the sun to develop their fragrance.

Thus prepared, M. Millon has found the perfume remarkably unchangeable. It is not readily dissipated like the essence, but remains without perceptible alteration even after having been long exposed to the air in open vessels. So little is lost by this process that the final result represents precisely the amount of perfume possessed by the original quantity of flowers operated upon, so that it will give to the same weight of fat or oil the full strength of odor which the flower itself possessed.

THE INDUSTRY OF MASSACHUSETTS IN 1845 AND 1855.

In the Merchants' Magazine for August, 1856, we gave a tabular statement of the aggregate value of the several articles of commerce and consumption produced in the commomwealth of Massachusetts for the year 1855, as derived from the official returns made to the Secretary of State. The following table, derived from the address of Governor Gardner, delivered January 9th, 1857, shows the results of the returns for 1855, contrasted with those of 1845, giving the value of the product and the number of persons employed, classified under several natural divisions:

This table exhibits an increase in the annual productions of the industry of the State, since 1845, of $171,085,417, or 138 per cent; while the increase of population, during the same period, has been but 34 per cent. Such results are the highest evidences of universal, intelligent, and well-remunerated labor, of social progress, happiness, and thrift.

PRINTING COLORED DESIGNS ON GLASS.

A previous number of Newton's London Journal contains an abstract of a novel and ingenious process for printing colors on glass, for which a patent has been secured by Henry Page, of London. The surface of calico, paper, or other suitable material, is coated with size, gum, or starch, and when dry the design is printed on it with colors made up in varnish or oil. The size prevents the printed colors from entering the surface on which the design is printed, and when the whole is dry, may be kept rolled up until wanted to be fixed on the glass. The glass is now prepared by taking off its polished surface with emery, or other

suitable material, and made quite rough. It is then ready to receive a coat of hard white varnish, japan, copal, or other suitable body varnish, and when that is done, and before it dries, the surface of the printed design is turned down upon it, and pressed down evenly. When quite flat the back is wetted with water, which softens the size, and allows the fabric on which the design was printed to come away, leaving only the printed design on the glass. The whole is dried off together, and then washed well in water, to remove any size that may have passed in the transfer. The design or ornament now only requires hardening, and this is effected by placing the glass in a drying stove, oven, or other suitable apparatus. Care must be taken that the heat is applied slowly, and not carried high. The heat must never be carried beyond the degree the nature of the colors will allow without injury.

STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE, &c.

FACTS ABOUT THE CULTURE OF SILK.

In an article upon the failure of the silk crop, the London Daily News furnishes some facts which explain the high cost of silks, and the cause of their deterioration. The deficient yield of silk in France has been caused by changes made in the food and treatment of the silkworm. Until the early part of the present century the rearing of silkworms was carried on by a class of operators whose establishments consisted chiefly of themselves and their families, conducting their operations in their own houses. The quantity of eggs on which they operated rarely exceeded two or three ounces, and the yield of the cocoons was usually one hundred and forty pounds to the ounce of eggs. The caterpillars were fed on the leaves of mulberry trees, growing almost in a wild state, which yielded a limited crop of leaves of a smaller size and lighter color than those of the cultivated mulberry, but much more nutritious. The result of this was a silk of very superior quality, but somewhat high in price. These leaves were usually supplied to the silkworm feeders by agricultural proprietors, who made it a business. The breeders chiefly depended on their own moths for the supply of eggs for the next year's brood, rarely purchasing eggs, and selecting, for continuing the race, the largest and finest cocoons, and when the moths were produced, preserving only those which experience taught them were best fitted to insure a healthy and hardy race of caterpillars.

The first change made in this system was by the proprietors of the mulberry trees, who directed their attention to producing a larger crop of leaves. This they accomplished by planting the trees in a richer soil, liberally manuring, and topping the trees. A dense mass of foliage was soon produced, but the leaves, although larger and thicker, contained more fluid, and a much less amount of nutritive matter. The result was, the silkworm grew less healthy, the crop of cocoons less certain, and the quality of the silk deteriorated. The yield of cocoons fell off from 140 pounds to 100 pounds, then to 80 pounds, and even lower, and finally the small breeders abandoned the business as unproductive. Next the system of uniting the two occupations of breeder and mulberry-grower was adopted, and large numbers of eggs from twenty to fifty ounces—were

operated on, and the eggs became a regular article of merchandise, the smaller breeders finding it more economical to wind off all their cocoons than to reserve them as the nucleus of future broods. The ratio of caterpillars to the number of eggs, in the meantime, steadily diminished, as did also the yield of cocoons, the silkworm having become more liable to epidemic diseases. Various precautionary measures were resorted to for counteracting these disabilities, but still the evil increased, and the yield of cocoons continued to diminish until this year, when, if it has not utterly failed, it has rarely exceeded 14 pounds. Disease has become so common among the silkworms, and the eggs brought to market are of so doubtful a character, that the small breeders fear to purchase, and are preparing to relinquish the business.

The evil is attributed to the over-culture of the mulberry tree, and the remedy proposed is that the present method of stimulating the mulberry tree should be abandoned, and the utmost care taken to select moths in the most perfect conditions of health and physical conformation. Unfortunately, however, the evil is universal-the value of agricultural property employed in the culture of mulberry trees under the present system has been fixed, on the supposition that it would be a permanent branch of industry, and a return to the old system would, it is feared, seriously enhance the price of silks, and therefore diminish its consumption.

The great industrial as well as commercial interests involved in the silk culture and manufacture in France and Southern Europe, render a solution of the problem of the best remedy for the present serious difficulties a matter of great importance, and the subject is being thoroughly investigated.

THE WINE DISTRICTS OF PORTUGAL.

A beautiful river, flowing through a country planted with vines, and bearing along its current boats of eccentric construction, laden with "the blood of the grape "—such is the Douro, in Portugal, celebrated for the famous military man. euver of the Duke of Wellington. A tinge of natural romance gives color to all objects associated with the vinyard and the wine press. We think, at once, of the purple and gushing clusters, the arches of luxuriant leaves and tendrils, the ruddy stain on the hands of the pickers, and the delicious fragrance that rises from the rich bruised fruit. Some of the wine provinces of France are eminently unpicturesque, the plants being cut low and trailed against yellow banks of earth scorched by the sun, or twined upon stunted pollards, producing a starved and miserable appearance. Even there, however, at harvest time, when the piled baskets pass from hand to hand, and the merry people labor at the most exhilarating task of the year, a bright tableau is formed out of the most unpromising materials. The Portuguese vinyards have a more imposing effect, though not such as might be imagined by persons whose ideal of a vinyard has been derived from a theatrical scene. It is difficult to combine poetry with commerce-to preserve the lyrical aspects of a plantation, when the leaves must be stripped off, that the grapes may hang uncovered in the mellowing sun.

The celebrated wine country of the Douro commences about twenty miles east of Oporto that city, with its white houses, terraced gardens, and noble public edifices, consisting of cathedrals, palaces, convents, halls, galleries, and factories, being commandingly situated on the slope of a hill, rising from the river, which 47

VOL. XXXVI.-NO. VI.

at that point is two hundred and fifty yards wide. It is navigable for one hundred miles above the city, to a place where the wine, which is the produce of its banks, is shipped. In addition to its vast export trade in wine, Oporto possesses manufactories in silks, woolens, cottons, linens, shawls, tobacco, soap, leather, iron, and the "snuff, marbles, and minerals," which represented Portuguese commerce at the Great Exhibition of 1851; but brandy and wine are the most important produce of the country, not less than 38,661 pipes of the latter having been exported in the year 1850, chiefly to England. A duty of £34 per pipe on port-wine is levied by Great Britain, not a little to the hurt of the industrial interests of Portugal. Within forty years the consumption of sherry has been doubled, and the use of French and German wines greatly increased. Yet the average use of wine in general has not materially varied since 1826, though a diminution has taken place equal to 48 per cent since 1801; but it has been made up by exactly the same amount of increase in the use of ardent spirits. Detrimental to Portugal, also, is the fraudulent introduction of Masden, Benecarlo, and red Sicilian wines, for genuine port, chargeable in England with the same import duty, but not with the additional £6 export duty, as levied in Portugal on wines of superior quality to those of Masden and Benecarlo. An act of wise and liberal policy. on the part of the Portuguese government, has recently equalized the export duty on wines to all parts of the world, and the trade has benefited accordingly.

Four methods are employed by the Portuguese for the cultivation of their most important possession-the vine. The old Roman plan of trailing it on oaks and poplars is followed. It is formed into terraces, or clustered over arcades and bowers. After the grapes are cut, they are carried in large open baskets to the stone troughs, in which they are trodden.

About twenty-one baskets usually yield a pipe of wine. If a rich wine is required, the fermentation is checked and brandy added; if a dry and pure wine, the fermentation is allowed to take its natural course, and a very small quantity of brandy will suffice to keep the wine in a sound and improving state.

Brandy is sometimes floated on the surface of the wine to keep it from the action of the air; olive oil, also, is occasionally used for the same purpose, but is not found so effectual. Fifteen kinds of grapes are among the growths of the Alto Douro, and thirty-one descriptions for red wine. So lightly esteemed by the Portuguese are the fruits with which their country is so lavishly endowed, that sometimes a pipe of sound wine is given in exchange for a pipe of vinegar, or for a quince-tree walking-stick! The fact of three cows bartered for a shepherd's dog illustrates forcibly the agricultural condition of the country, of which an intelligent writer has remarked, "that the one-half of it is half cultivated, and the rest is not cultivated at all."

Portugal abounds, nevertheless, in the resources of material prosperity. The mountainous provinces are prolific in metals, though only one lead mine, and not a single copper mine, be in operation. The minerals are worthy of all attention, while the marbles are fine and richly variegated-yet they are shipped to the value of only £240 a year. It is encouraging to consider, that the innovations that are taking place will cause the past ruinous apathy of their social policy to yield to increased activity. An important evidence of this is the fact, that though, in old times, commerce was considered beneath the dignity of the upper ranks, the modern aristocracy of Portugal almost universally participate in the profits of the