The history of the discovery of the essence in India, is the subject of an interesting and learned pamphlet by Langlès,[1014] published in 1804. He tells us on the authority of oriental writers, how on the occasion of the marriage of the Mogul emperor Jehan Ghir with Nur-jehan, a.d. 1612, a canal in the garden of the palace was filled with rose water, and that the princess observing a certain scum on the surface, caused it to be collected and found it of admirable fragrance, on which account it received the name of Atar-jehanghiri, i.e. perfume of Jehan Ghir. In later times, Polier[1015] has shown that rose oil is prepared in India by simple distillation of the flowers with water. But this Indian oil has never been imported into Europe as an article of trade.
As already stated, the supplies at present come from European Turkey; but at what period the cultivation of the rose and manufacture of its oil were then introduced, is a question on which we are quite in the dark. There is no mention of attar in the account given by Savary[1016] in 1750 of the trade of Constantinople and Smyrna, but in the first years of the present century some rose oil was obtained in the Island of Chios as well as in Persia.[1017]
In English commerce, attar of rose was scarcely known until the commencement of the present century. It was first included in the British tariff in 1809, when the duty levied on it was 10s. per ounce. In 1813 the duty was raised to 11s. 10½d.; in 1819 it was 6s., and in 1828, 2s. per ounce. In 1832 it was lowered to 1s. 4d. per lb., in 1842 to 1s. and in 1860 it was altogether removed.[1018]
On searching a file of the London Price Current, the first mention of “Otto of Rose” is in 1813, from which year it is regularly quoted. The price (in bond) from 1813 to 1815, varied from £3 to £5 5s. per ounce. The earliest notice of an importation is under date 1-8 July, 1813, when duty was paid on 232 ounces, shipped from Smyrna.
Production—The chief locality for attar of rose, and that by which European commerce is almost exclusively supplied, is a small tract of country on the southern side of the Balkan mountains, the “Tekne” of Kazanlik or Kisanlik, an undulated plain famous for its beauty, as picturesquely sketched by Kanitz[1019] and many other travellers. The principal seat of the trade is the town of Kizanlik, in the valley of the Tunja. The other important districts are those of Philippopli, Eski Zaghra, Yeni Zaghra, Tchirpan, Giopca, Karadsuh-Dagh, Kojun-Tepe, Pazandsik. North of the Balkans, there is only Travina to be mentioned as likewise producing attar. All these places with Kizanlik were estimated in 1859 to include 140 villages, having 2,500 stills.
The rose is cultivated by peasants in gardens and open fields, in which it is planted in rows as hedges, 3 to 4 feet high. The best localities are those occupying southern or south-eastern slopes. Plantations in high mountainous situations generally yield less, and the oil is of a quality that easily congeals. The flowers attain perfection in April and May, and are gathered before sunrise; those not wanted for immediate use are spread out in cellars, but are always used for distilling the same day. The apparatus is a copper still of the simplest description, connected with a straight tin tube, cooled by being passed through a tub fed by a stream of water. The largest establishment, “Fabrika,” at Kizanlik has 14 such stills. The charge for a still is 25 to 50 lb. of roses, from which the calyces are not removed. The first runnings are returned to the still; the second portion, which is received in glass flasks, is kept at a temperature not lower than 15° C. for a day or two, by which time most of the oil, bright and fluid, will have risen to the surface. From this, it is skimmed off by means of a small tin funnel having a fine orifice, and provided with a long handle. There are usually several stills together.
The produce is extremely variable. According to Baur,[1020] whose interesting account of attar of rose is that of an eye-witness, it may be said to average 0·04 per cent. Another authority estimates the average yield as 0·037 per cent.
The harvest during the five years 1867-71 was reckoned to average somewhat below 400,000 meticals,[1021] or 4226 lb. avoirdupois; that of 1873, which was good, was estimated at 500,000 meticals, value about £70,000.[1022]
Roses are cultivated to a considerable extent about Grasse, Cannes and Nice in the south of France; and besides much rose water, which is largely exported to England, a little oil is produced. The latter, which commands a high price, fuses less easily than the Turkish.
There is a large cultivation of the rose for the purpose of making rose water and attar, at Ghazipur on the Ganges, Lahore, Amritsar and other places in India, but the produce is wholly consumed in the country. The species thus cultivated is stated by Brandis[1023] to be R. damascena. Medinet Fayum, south-west of Cairo, supplies the great demand of Egypt for rose vinegar and rose water.