In her mother’s garden grew old-fashioned tangles of roses and patches of lavender, and the less the garden was cultivated the more beautiful it became.


She thought at first of having a rose-jar, and spoke to her mother about it, and then found there were some old recipes for Potpourri, Milk of Roses, and an Old-Fashioned Rose Cologne, of years and years ago, that had been the pride of her family. Her friends promised her so many rose-petals that she decided to do some of them for sale, made into sachet form. This is the recipe:

Old-time potpourri

To one gallon rose-leaves,
One gallon pink clover-blossoms,
One quart lavender-blossoms,
Dried in ye sun, add
One quart salt, layer by layer.

Ye dry spice
Two ounces ground nutmeg,
Two ounces ground cinnamon,
Two ounces allspice,
Two whole cloves, pounded up,
Six ounces sandalwood.
Mix together.

Ye oils
One ounce oil of geranium,
One ounce oil of lemon,
One-half ounce oil of roses,
One quart alcohol.

Stand for ten days to ripen. Then after thoroughly mixing, start a layer of leaves then a layer of spices, until ye crock is full; lastly drop in ye alcohol (into which all ye oils have been mixed). Cover, and let stand for one week.

Every day paper bags and boxes containing rose-petals were brought to her from her friends and gathered from her own garden. She spread them on newspapers and dried them on her table in front of the window, and the house was redolent with their sweet scent. When all the petals were dried, she had six four-gallon jars full of leaves and salt, and her bags held about half a pint of rose-leaves.

She put up half of this in one hundred and forty-five little bags of pink organdie, and the rest she kept for herself. When she figured her profit, the account stood thus:

Old-fashioned rose scent

Gather one bushel rose-leaves, take a four-gallon stone jar, and put into it a layer of absorbent cotton saturated with pure olive oil. Upon this put a layer of rose-leaves, quite thick. Repeat until the jar is full. each day adding cotton and rose-leaves as the contents sink. At the end of two weeks turn contents of the jar into a flat white-enameled pan, put the cover on it, and two heavy flat irons, express all the oil you can, which will be about one pint, as you will have used about one quart on the cotton. Divide the oil in half, keeping one half for the Milk of Roses. To the remaining half add two quarts of best-proof alcohol, cover tightly, let stand for ten days, stirring thoroughly once every day. Then strain through a fine cloth into bottles of desired size.

Milk of roses from the oil

Almonds, half a pound (after blanching),
One-half pint rose-oil,
One pint alcohol,
One quart distilled water,
One-half ounce oil soap.
One-half ounce white wax,
One-half ounce spermaceti.

Melt the oil of soap, adding three ounces of the distilled water and the white wax and the spermaceti in a double boiler, stirring occasionally. Then in another dish put the blanched almonds, pounded to a paste, and add balance of water, trickling it in by degrees until it is smooth. After thoroughly mixed, strain the almond mixture through a piece of washed muslin, with least possible pressure. After all is strained, add little more rose-water, so as not to lose any bulk.

Place the first mixture in a deep bowl, and blend both together. As the last of this emulsion goes into the bowl, the alcohol in which the oil of roses has been dissolved is also slowly added to the above, and must be added very slowly, as it may curdle. Strain again and bottle.

The results left her with a balance of seven dollars, besides the captured sweets of a summer of roses.