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Preserved Flowers and Herbs

Flowers, herbs, and other like vegetable substances, are now generally preserved, for distillation, by means of common salt. The process simply consists in intimately mixing the flowers, &c., with about 1/4 their weight of quantity of snuff to be scented, and the mass well stirred up and turned over. It is lastly passed or rubbed through a sieve, to ensure the perfect diffusion of the scent through the whole mass. 1354. Το Restore the Odor of Musk.

Genuine musk frequently becomes nearly inodorous by keeping, but its perfume is restored by exposing it to the fumes of ammonia, or by moistening it with ammonia water. 1355. Peau d'Espagne, or Spanish Skin, is merely highly-perfumed leather.

Take of oil of rose, neroli, and santal, each 1/2 good dry salt, and ramming down the mixture ounce; oil of lavender, verbena, bergamot, as tightly as possible, in strong casks or jars. each ounce; oil of cloves and cinnamon, The casks or jars are then placed in the cellar, each 2 drachms; in this dissolve 2 ounces or other cold place, and covered with boards, gum benzoin. In this steep good pieces of on which heavy weights are put, to keep the waste leather for a day or two, and dry it mass tight and close. In this state they may over a line. Prepare a paste by rubbing in be preserved from season to season, or even a mortar, 1 drachm of civet with 1 drachm of for two or three years. The flowers, &c., grain musk, and enough gum-tragacanth should be recently gathered, and free from mucilage to give a proper consistence. The dew or moisture; and the salt should be quite leather is cut up into pieces about 4 inches dry, to ensure which it may be exposed for 2 square; two of these are pasted together with or 3 hours in an oven. The above is the the above paste, placed between 2 pieces of method now generally followed, by our man- paper, weighted or pressed until dry. It may ufacturing perfumers and wholesale druggists, then be inclosed in silk or satin. It gives off for preserving fresh aromatic vegetable sub- its odor for years; is much used for perfuming stances for subsequent distillation. It is paper, envelopes, &c.; for which purpose 1 or found that the odor of distilled waters, oils, 2 pieces of the perfumed leather, kept in the &c., obtained from flowers, &c., thus pre- drawer or desk containing the paper, will served, is superior to that of those from either impart to it a fine and durable perfume. Syrups.

SYRUPS.

Syrups are solutions of ter or thin aqueous fluid. These proportions sugar more or less strong according to the object for which they are used. In the preparation of syrups, if care be taken to employ the best refined sugar, and either distilled water or filtered rain water, they will be allow for the water that is lost by evaporation during the process, and are those best calculated to produce a syrup of the proper consistthe proper consistence, and possessing good keeping qualities. They closely correspond to those recommendrendered much less liable to spontaneous ed by Guibourt for the production of a perfect decomposition, and will be perfectly trans- syrup, which, he says, consists of 30 parts parent, without the trouble of clarification. sugar to 16 parts water. To make highly 1357. Clarification of Sugar for transparent syrups the sugar should be in a Syrups. When inferior sugar is employed, single lump, and by preference taken from the bottom or broad end of the loaf; as, when lump, and by preference taken from the This is bottom or broad end of the loaf; as, when clarification is always necessary. best done by dissolving the sugar in the water taken from the smaller end, or if it be powdered or bruised, the syrup will be more or or fruit juices cold, and then beating up a little of the cold syrup with some white of less cloudy. 1361.

Amount of Heat to be Emegg, and 1 or 2 ounces of cold water, until the mixture froths well; this must be added to ployed in Making Syrups. In the prepto ployed in Making Syrups. In the prepthe syrup in the boiler, and the whole whisked aration of syrups it is of great importance to up to a good froth; heat should now be ap- employ as little heat as possible, as a solution plied, and the scum which forms removed of sugar, even when kept at the temperature from time to time with a clean skimmer. As of boiling water, undergoes slow decomposiskimmer. As of boiling water, undergoes slow decomposisoon as the syrup begins to slightly simmer tion. The best plan is to pour the water it must be removed from the fire, and allowed (cold) over the sugar, and to allow the two to stand until it has cooled a little, when it to lie together for a few hours, in a covered should be again skimmed, if necessary, and vessel, occasionally stirring, and then to ap- , and vessel, occasionally stirring, and then to apthen passed through a clean flannel. When ply a gentle heat, preferably that of steam or vegetable infusions or solutions enter into the a water-bath, to finish the solution. Some composition of syrups, they should be ren- persons (falsely) deem a syrup ill prepared dered perfectly transparent, by filtration or this method be adopted, the ebullition should clarification, before being added to the sugar. be only of the gentlest kind (simmering), and