Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1885 — The Trade in Perfumes. [ARTICLE]

The Trade in Perfumes.

“The perfumer’s art must be a very difficult one?” “Indeed it is,” answered the druggist. “The perfumer is unquestionably a man of scents (no pun intended), and, though he may have over a hundred different odors in his laboratory, he is able, by smelling any one, to give its name. He has to delicately combine the different scents until they become pleasing to the olfactory nerves. One who is not on the inside of the business cannot understand the delicacy of this operation. When a new perfume is introduced—of course it is a combination of other scents —it is necessary that their composition be of such small particles that no one odor overpowers the others. A general mixture of perfumes would not have a pleasing effect, and, of course, all this has to be studied. Only odors of a similar kind will agree with one another. Now, in the same way, different perfumes will not agree with different temperaments, and if the outside public was only educated properly, it would be easier to please them. For instance, a scent that pleases the blonde does not agree with the brunette, yet you cannot make them believe this, and when they have been recommended to get a certain odor, they cannot understand why it does not please them.”

“Are there many laboratories in this country?” “Yes; but it is comparatively a new business here, compared with what it is on the Riviera, where nearly all the inhabitants live on the products of sweet-scented flowers. I was reading, only a few days ago, about the perfumery business of Nice and Cannes. In one factory in Cannes they use 154,000 pounds of roses, a similar amount of orange blossoms, 13,200 pounds of acacia blossoms, 35,200 pounds of jasmine, 22,000 pounds of violets, nearly ten thousand pounds of tuberoses, and a large amount of other flowers, annually. Niqe alone raises 440,000 pounds of orange blossoms, while the neighboring villages raise more than double this amount. In the Riviera towns, 342,000 pounds of perfumery of different kinds is said to be produced yearly." “Is there much of a trade for perfumery in Chicago?” “Yes; I think it is larger than it has been for years. The majority of the odors sold, too,*are of the good grades. Cheap stuff, put up in -fancy bottles, does not sell well, and is Very poor stock. I have heard that the Chicago market is considered to be the best in the United States, outside of New York City.”— Chicago News.