CHAPTER V AT A ROSE DISTILLERY

Tobacco growing in Bulgaria—The otto-of-rose industry—About adulteration—Difficulties of obtaining the pure extract—Corrupting the peasant—What Monsieur Shipkoff told me—Some tests to discover adulteration—Interesting facts about roses.

NO description of the present condition of Bulgaria would be complete without mention of the two principal industrial plants cultivated in the country—tobacco and roses.

Tobacco, I noticed, was particularly plentiful in the south and in the departments of Silistra and Kustendil. The department of Haskovo, it appears, produces 800,000 kilos of first quality tobacco, followed by Philippopoli with 300,000 kilos, Kustendil with 270,000 kilos, and Silistra with 210,000. Three-quarters of all this tobacco is consumed in the country, for Bulgarians are inveterate cigarette-smokers, and the remaining quarter exported. Tobacco in leaf is sold at an average price of 80 centimes to 1 fr. 50 c. per kilogramme. The Government give the peasants, in order to encourage tobacco cultivation, quantities of seed gratis.

As regards the cultivation of roses, the special species grown are the red rose (Rosa damascena) and various species of white rose, of which the Rosa moscata is the most used, the best and most extensive plantations being at Kazanlik, Karlovo, Klissoura, and Stara-Sagora.

I was afforded an opportunity of visiting one of the otto-of-rose distilleries, and the sweet, penetrating perfume of it clings still to the nostrils. Bulgarian otto-of-rose is famous the world over, and its production is carried on in 175 communes in the departments of Philippopoli and Stara-Sagora.

The chief manufacturers and exporters of otto-of-rose are Messrs. Shipkoff & Co. of Kazanlik, who export about two-thirds of the whole rose produce. This firm, as well as the others, make advances to the peasantry upon their growing crops of roses, and the peasant pays these advances in otto-of-rose already distilled. The firms make it a part of the contract that the extract must be pure, and can refuse to accept it if adulterated. As a check, all the exporters make it a point to themselves distil in the various rose-growing districts for the purpose of obtaining the proper standard of purity.

I had an opportunity of visiting Mr. Theodore Shipkoff, Deputy for Kazanlik, of the great firm of Shipkoff & Co. He showed me over the factory, and gave me a number of extremely interesting details regarding this unique industry.

It appears that nowadays it is not an easy matter to obtain pure otto-of-rose. Some forty years ago the entire rose industry was an ideal one. No farmers, small or big, adulterated their otto. They knew nothing about adulteration. In their primitive simplicity and honesty, it would have been altogether against their nature to falsify in any way their produce. The jobbers and dealers who used to come from Adrianople and Constantinople to buy it, and who at that time controlled the whole exportation, while buying it from the growers in its pure state, soon began to adulterate it with the Turkish geranium oil (Idris Yaghi). They found this way of adulterating the otto-of-rose so profitable that, in order to use a larger percentage of geranium oil and at the same time to render it less easily detected, they began to import from Constantinople the crude geranium oil, and in the presence of the growers to redistil and refine it in rose-flowers and rose-water, thus taking away its pungent and heavy vegetable odour. Some of the growers soon learned to do this themselves, and the peddling traders started regular factories for the express purpose of refining geranium oil and selling it afterwards to the peasants for purposes of adulteration. In this way many villages were gradually corrupted, and the otto-of-rose they produced was more or less adulterated with geranium oil; but most of the adulteration has always been done by the exporting jobbers and dealers. This, of course, brought much discredit to the rose industry, and the Government, some fifteen years ago, was compelled to prohibit the importation of geranium oil into the country. This measure was a most wholesome one, and checked, to some extent, the free and open importation of geranium, and saved many of the rose villages from further corruption. However, a great deal of geranium oil is still imported sub rosâ into Bulgaria by unscrupulous jobbers and exporters, and much of the otto-of-rose sold is largely adulterated with it.

Mr. Shipkoff, in course of his conversation with me when he showed me over his distillery at Kazanlik, said, “As our principle is to export only the genuine otto-of-rose, and sell only what we can guarantee as absolutely pure, our task has been, and is, a most difficult one. With the primitive system of distillation still in use in our country, it is actually impossible for us to distil all the otto-of-rose we export, and we still have to depend on our growers for the greater part of our stock. When the means of transportation and communication improve, it will then be possible to centralise the whole distillation in a few places, and establish large steam distilleries, such as those in Grasse, Cannes, and Leipzig. At present most of the rose-flowers are distilled in the villages where they are grown, and by the growers themselves, this method being by far the cheapest. Still, to guard ourselves from all possible adulteration on the part of our suppliers, and at the same time to be able to get as much otto-of-rose as possible of our own distillation, we ourselves have to distil in all the principal places in the eight rose counties of the rose district, and each year we increase our own distillations.

“It is by virtue of this extensive distillation that we are able to obtain pure otto. Besides this practical means, we have continually experimented to discover various tests, whereby we can readily distinguish the pure from the adulterated rose. It is quite impossible simply from the sense of smell to always recognise an adulteration from two to five per cent., and the following are the tests, which we possess and use in conducting our business: the freezing-point test, the specific gravity test, the density test, the spectrum test, the iodine test, and the nitric acid test.

“Otto-of-rose, when analysed, is found to consist of two ingredients: the oleoptene, which is the liquid and odoriferous part of the otto-of-rose, and the stereoptene, which is the solid and odourless part, and causes the crystallisation of the otto-of-rose. The proportion in which these two ingredients are combined in the pure otto-of-rose is more or less fixed, varying only from 10 to 15 per cent. according to the elevation of the localities in which the otto is produced. The highest proportion—15 per cent.—is found in otto-of-rose distilled in villages situated highest in the Balkans; while the villages down in the plains produce otto-of-rose containing only 10 to 11 per cent. of stereoptene. We have lately made experiments to distil these two ingredients separately, but they can best be separated from each other by a very simple physical process. The average proportion of these two ingredients in our stocks during the last five years has been about 12½ per cent. of stereoptene and 87½ per cent. of oleoptene.

“The oil usually employed for the adulteration of otto-of-rose is the geranium oil (Palagonium Radula Palagonium Radula ) known to the trade as Turkish geranium oil. This oil is made in India and is sold in Constantinople. Formerly they used this oil as adulterant in its crude state, but now it is generally refined in rose-water or rose-flower before it is used. No matter how well refined, it is impossible to put 5 per cent. of it in otto-of-rose without changing the freezing point of the otto, its specific gravity, and the proportion in which the stereoptene and oleoptene are combined. Geranium oil contains no stereoptene, and in consequence does not crystallise. In the best refined geranium oil the specific gravity is fully ·880—a difference in weight of about eighteen points. All this helps to detect its presence in otto-of-rose. It can also be detected by means of the iodine as well as the nitric acid tests. The presence of geranium oil in otto-of-rose lowers its freezing point, renders its specific gravity heavier, and changes the proportion in which the oleoptene and stereoptene are combined.

The Rose-fields near Kazanlik.

“In order to rectify these defects, the use of spermaceti, paraffin, and alcohol have often been resorted to, but the presence of all these three substances can be discovered without any difficulty. The crystals of both spermaceti and paraffin are entirely different from the crystals of the stereoptene of otto-of-rose, and otto-of-rose containing any proportion of either will lose, when congealed, its sharp-pointed, needle-like crystals. Besides, paraffin and spermaceti being fatty oils, are much heavier, and in time will settle at the bottom. Furthermore, they are not volatile as stereoptene. The presence of alcohol is detected either by the use of double distilled water or of pure glycerine.”

By resorting to these various tests in the selection of supplies from growers, as well as by extensive distillation in all the principal localities, respectable firms are always able to procure the finest otto-of-rose and to export it in its absolute purity.

The whole rose district comprises in all 173 villages, devoted to rose culture, with about 15,500 acres of rose plantations. These yield annually from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 pounds of rose-flowers, for the distillation of which some 13,000 native stills are used. The total yield of otto annually varies according to the year—from 90,000 to 150,000 ounces; the average crop being about 120,000 ounces of pure otto-of-rose. It generally takes from 160 to 250 pounds rose-flowers to make one ounce of otto—and there are about 300 roses to the pound.

Nearly all the otto produced in Bulgaria is exported for consumption abroad, and chiefly to New York, Paris, and London, its three largest markets, and from there it is distributed all over the world. Formerly the perfumers used to be supplied through the intermediary of Constantinople, Leipzig, and London, but now all large consumers buy their supply direct. The house of Shipkoff was the first to inaugurate this system of direct relations. It saves many extra charges, and in case of the goods delivered turning out badly, the guilty party is at once detected.

Shipkoffs do not believe in all sorts of grades, their motto being, “Only one quality—the best.”

The culture of roses in Bulgaria is not only the oldest and most attractive industry of the country, but also quite exclusively its own. While roses are found all over the world and are grown everywhere in garden-beds, in Bulgaria they are grown in extensive fields, as we grow the potato or corn. This industry, however, is confined only to one special district in Bulgaria, which is comprised in the eight counties above mentioned, with Kazanlik as their central town, called, in consequence, the capital of the rose district. The rose district extends along that portion of the southern slopes of the Balkan mountains, comprising in itself the branch range of the Little Balkans, which shoots out of the main Balkans and forms one of its chief arms. The average length of the rose district is about eighty miles, and its average width is about thirty miles. Its average elevation is about 1300 feet above the level of the sea. The average height of the Balkans along the rose district is about 5600 feet, while that of the Little Balkans is about 3700 feet.

Attempts have often been made to grow roses all over Bulgaria, but they have all proved a failure. It is true that roses have been grown, and are grown to this day, in Persia, India, Egypt, and China for this purpose, but they hardly produce any otto-of-rose. They produce almost exclusively rose-water, and it is chiefly used for local consumption. In the Maritime Alps of Southern France, and especially in Cannes and Grasse, they grow quite extensively the “Provence rose,” and they extract from it a peculiar otto-of-rose, but the quantity is very limited, and they chiefly use their flowers to make pomades and rose-water. In Leipzig they also grow roses, but with very little success. Almost in all the other places where the roses are grown, they lack the peculiar advantages of climate that Bulgaria possesses, and have in consequence to use twice and even thrice the quantity of flowers to make the same amount of otto. The hottest weather ever experienced in summer in this part of Bulgaria is 88° Fahr. and the coldest of winter is rarely under 15° Fahr. above zero. Then, during the harvest and distillation season, which is in the latter part of May and the first part of June, there we have regular showers of rain and in the mornings heavy falls of dew—both absolutely necessary for the otto-of-rose distillation.

After the Russo-Turkish War in 1877-78, when Bulgaria was separated from Turkey and constituted into an independent Principality, the Turkish Government spent thousands of pounds in trying to replant the Kazanlik rose in Asia Minor, and many scores of rose-gardens were planted around Broussa, but to no purpose. The gardens grew, thrived, and yielded plenty of flowers, but when distilled they got only rose-water and very little otto, so the work, in consequence, could not pay. It is the peculiarity of the soil, and chiefly that of the atmosphere of this special district in Bulgaria, caused by the peculiar formation of the mountain ranges surrounding it, which makes the roses thrive and yield sufficient otto-of-rose to pay for the very laborious work that the culture entails.

The red rose grown is a semi-double light red rose like the French rose du roi, having from thirty to thirty-six petals and possessing an extremely rich and fragrant odour. The growing of the rose is very much like the growth of the vine, and the planting of a rose-garden is similar to that of a vineyard. After the ground has been prepared by tilling and manuring, ditches are made in rows, about a foot and a half in depth and width, and a yard and a half apart. At the bottom of these ditches soft earth mixed with manure is spread, on which the roots forming the bushes of the new rose-garden and taken from old bushes are firmly stuck vertically, and then well covered up with the earth and manure. This is generally done in the spring, when the rain showers abound. The roses thus planted soon take root, and in less than two months send up soft, glossy green shoots, which in a year become about a foot high. In the second year they are over two feet high, and yield a few rose-flowers. The first crop worth gathering is in the third year, and in the fifth year they attain their full growth. They reach then a height of about six feet, the bushes forming thick rows of clustered rose-trees and continuing to yield rich crops of flowers for a period of twenty years, and in some localities twenty-five years, after the lapse of which time they become old, begin to die from the winter’s cold and frost, and yield but few flowers. Then the old rose-bushes are dug out and the garden is planted anew.

A rose-garden requires constant care. During the year it is hoed three times. In autumn the roots are covered up with earth to guard them from the winter’s cold. In spring that earth is thrown off and the bushes are pruned, and every other year the garden is manured.

The roses yield only one crop every year. The rose-harvest begins in the latter part of May, and as the weather is dry and hot or cool and rainy during the blossoming season, it may last from eighteen to thirty days. During the whole harvest the distillation of the crop is carried on. Morning after morning, hours before sunrise, groups of young maidens and boys, all dressed in their beautiful bright-coloured native costumes, proceed with songs to the rose-gardens to gather the newly opened buds while the heavy morning dew is still on the blossoms. Nothing can present a more captivating scene than a rose-garden in bloom, with its gaily attired peasant-girls gathering the roses, and its nightingales—those romantic lovers of the Regina florum—trying in most melodious songs to out-sing the maidens.

As soon as the roses are gathered they are taken to the distillery, spread in cool and shady rooms, and gradually distilled during the day. The alembics used for this purpose are of the simplest kind. They consist of a convex tinned copper boiler, narrowed at the top to a neck on which is fixed a spherical head-piece with a tube on one side, to which is attached the condensing tube, sloping down and passing through the condenser or refrigerator, a large vessel into which cold water is constantly running. The capacity of the boiler is about 250 pounds of water. In distilling the roses from twenty to twenty-five pounds of flowers are put in it, and from five to six times that much of water, thus nearly filling three-fourths of the boiler.

Gathering Roses at Kazanlik.

Testing Otto of Rose at Kazanlik.

This done, the head-piece and condensing tube are tightly attached, the fire started, and the distilling of its contents begun. This is carried on about forty-five minutes, until thirty to thirty-five pounds of rose-water are extracted from each boiler. The boilers are then emptied, cleansed with clear water, and the same process is repeated until all the morning-gathered flowers are distilled. The rose-water extracted from the first distillation is redistilled in the same way, only in this second distillation from 100 to 120 pounds of rose-water are used, and out of it they extract some thirty to thirty-five pounds of second rose-water. This double-distilled rose-water is very strong in odour and quite turbid in appearance; it is full of tiny yellow-white oily globules floating in it, and as the bottle is filled they rise up and gather on the top of the long-necked bottles in which the rose-water runs. These globules are the otto-of-rose, and when all the oil has settled on the tops of the bottles, it is skimmed and put in separate bottles by little conical spoons, with a little hole in the bottom, large enough to let the water run out but not the oil.

Thus collected, the otto is sent to London, Paris, and New York, where it is used in the manufacture of high-class perfumes and soaps, etc.