The complete servant / Being a practical guide to the peculiar duties and business of all descriptions of servants, from the housekeeper to the servant of all-work, and from the land steward to the foot-boy. With useful receipts and tables

by servant Samuel Adams; Sarah Adams

Take thirty gallons of spirit of wine; put to it, in a large still, six large bunches of fine green rosemary, when the flowers are white, and in full bloom; one pound of lavender-flowers, and four ounces of true English oil of rosemary. The rosemary-leaves and flowers must be stripped from all their wood and green twigs.

When the whole has been in a state of digestion for twenty-four hours, distil as before, drawing off about twenty-five or twenty-six gallons, but no more. When distilled, stop it closely in a copper vessel, and keep it undisturbed for about a month.

365. LAVENDER SPIRIT.

Take 14 pounds of lavender flowers, 10½ gallons of rectified spirit of wine, and one gallon of water; draw off 10 gallons by a gentle fire; or, which is much better, by a sand bath heat.

366. LAVENDER WATER.

Take 30 gallons of the best wine spirit; pour it into a copper still, placed in a hot-water bath, over a clear but steady fire; put to it 6 pounds of the largest and freshest lavender flowers, after having separated them from all stalks and green leaves, which give the lavender-water a woody and faint smell. Put no water into the still, close all the junctures well, and let the spirits and flowers stand in a state of digestion for 24 hours; and then, with a gentle fire, draw off 25, or, at most, 26 gallons only, which, as soon as distilled, are to be poured into a copper vessel, for keeping. Wooden vessels and cans are to be avoided, as the best parts of the oil, and of the spirits, will be absorbed by them and consequently lost.

When the distillation is over, draw out, or quench the fire, and let the remaining spirits and flowers continue in the still until the next day.

When the above quantity of 25 or 26 gallons has stood for 4 or 5 days, put it to ten ounces of true English oil of lavender. Mix the whole well in the jar, by drawing out one or two gallons, and then returning them. Repeat this ten or twelve times, then stop the vessel up close, and do not disturb it for a month, at least.

367. Lavender Water, of the second order.

To the four or five gallons of the spirits, and the lavender flowers left in the still, after the distillation mentioned in the last article, add 15 gallons of common proof spirit, 9 or 10 gallons of spring water, 3 pounds of lavender flowers, and 4 ounces of oil of lavender, intimately mixed with loaf-sugar, by powdering it in a glass mortar.