Valleys of Flowers

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 55, 12 July 1940, Page 8

Valleys of Flowers

HIS little old city of Grasse (on the French Riviera) is‘ where the world’s most famous perfumes are brewed, and all the country round grows and harvests the flowers for its making. It is not difficult to visualise the smooth fields of tulips in Holland. But Grasse is not like that. In winding valleys, sheltered from the wind, but facing the sun, among the rocky hills, this fragrant harvest is reaped. Just as they grow rice on the terraced paddy fields of Java, here the plentiful stones edge the little terraced plots. It is indeed intensely cultivated. Im-

agine, if you can, a whole valley filled with roses, planted like grape vines. in regular rows. Think of the scent of it on a summer evening, heavy on the still air. And the riot of colour, Another valley grows only jasmine, a sweet, cloying perfume, but very highly prized. Farms of violets, fields of carnations, not beds of blossoms, but acres of them; valleys of them. Here, too, are the orange trees, but not for fruit. They are robbed in full bloom as their petals yield an expensive essence. This essence is sold to the famous perfume firms, who break it down, blend it, and retail it under their own name and trademark, in fancy bottles at extravagant prices. But don’t forget that it takes five tons of petals to make a quart of perfume essence, but @

quart of essence fills many bottles of marketable size. The essence itself is much too over-powering to use alone.-(From " Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax," by Nelle Scanlan.)