RESTORING PERFUME TO FLOWERS.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 June 1924, Page 4

RESTORING PERFUME TO FLOWERS.

Because lloWcr.s tire losing their scent hoiintiustx, gardeners, and even scien-ti-ls are vying "ilh one another lo lie the first to discover tlie cause and correct the fault. The florist lias in the past been routed! mainly with the inctease in the size and colour of flowers. 'I lii.s h.vhriiiisiitii.n or interbreeding was oiten made at the expense of the perfume of the bloom, for the energy of the I lower was taken to make up the extra substance. By means of mi interchange of gialtmg.s an American botanist lias now succeeded ill restoring to Mowers tlit*l r original peiliiine and also in intensifying it. The Mowers to he treated are first divided into groups of the same species. In grafting wormwood on chrysanthemums, for example, both plants develop remarkably well and their Mowers give off a perfume much more powerful than that of the original plant. When the seeds of the graded flowers are gathered and sown sumo unusually lino plants ate obtained. Perfumed (lowers are also glutted on plants that had no scent, and the result is the production of a pialted perlume like tlie original. Outside the trade low teople have any i niucj t inn of the extent of Mowers ami their relative perfumes. Of the 1,300 species of llu"cis cultivated in Europe only 120 pil.--C-- an agreeable smell. As a rule, those with cream-coloured petals are more liighIv s’ filled tl,i:in ilmse of yellow, blue or red. In cataloguing tile smell of tinners it is found that jest in o' 3.800 possess an olfcnsive odour. Of the 3f‘S varieties of vio'vts, only 13 git o oil' a pleasant smell. By tlie •'.rafting process the intensity of pel fume is increased, the scent lasts longer, and new scents are p. rod need, while non-smelling Mowers are given nil agreeable perlume. With these findings in view, it is possible that in future our range of perfumes will he extended considerably.