property which pure oil, butter, grease, and fat, have of absorbing the fragrant principle from flowers in contact with them. Fats absorb odors, as a sponge absorbs water. If the fat, thus impregnated, be placed in pure alcohol, or any other spirit, the fragrant principle quits the fat, and we have then the scented spirit which perfumers sell. Such being the principle, let us now learn the process. The grease-beef suet or lard-is bought, and purified from all animal fibre and sanguineous matters by long boiling in water and nitre. When cold, it is again boiled in rosewater, to which a minute quantity of benzoin gum has been added. It is now allowed to cool and solidify, and is then fit for use. Large quantities of grease are thus prepared during the periods when the flowers are out of season. The grease is enflowered on a frame, very similar to a window-sash, the wood-work being two inches thick, with the glass in the centre; so that when two or more frames are laid together there is space sufficient for the flowers between the glasses. The glass has a layer of pure fat spread over it, each glass requiring about a pound of fat. On this the freshly-gathered flowers are sprinkled, and as there are several hundred frames at work for each kind, the quantity of perfumed grease prepared at once is enormous. When the flowers are spread on the grease, each frame is piled on another, till they amount to forty or fifty. There they remain from twentyfour to thirty-six hours; then the old or spent blossoms are removed and fresh flowers placed upon the grease; and this is repeated until the fat is sufficiently impregnated, when it is scraped off the glass, melted at a low heat, and strained to remove stray petals. It is finally poured into the canisters for preservation and exportation. ing matter of the pollen and the petals is dissolved; hence, violet grease is green, cassia is yellow, jasmine and tuberose white. Scented grease is now called pomade, though, strictly speaking, that term designates only apple grease. It is a comparatively modern name, and has replaced the old-fashioned "butter." A century ago we spoke of jasmine butter, rose butter, etc., and we find this entry in the Duchess of Grafton's account-book for the year 1765: "Orange butter, 6s." Who does not remember hearing of Lillie, whose "foreign butters" were patronized by fashion and the wits, and whose shop in the Strand was brightened by the presence of Pope and Steele, of Swift and Addison, of Arbuthnot and many others wise and gentle. Lillie is to be heard of in the Spectator (No. 358), in the Tatler (Nos. 92, 94, 96, 101, 103), and in the Guardian (No. 64). He may be still more circumstantially known by his recipe-book, published half a century ago, in which three pages are devoted to the information that "the best orange-flower butter and jasmine butter come from Florence." But how about distilled essences? we ask M. Mero, at the conclusion of his exposition. He leads us into the distillery, and there we learn that distilled perfumes are not obtained from flowers, but from leaves, seeds, roots, and barks of odor-bearing plants. These contain their odors stored up in minute sacs, whereas the flowers may truly be said to breathe their odors. The perfume is an exhalation, lasting only with the life of the flower. Orange, jasmine, rose, violet, tuberose: indeed nearly all flowers are incapable of yielding by distillation the odors natural to them in life. Orange-flower otto may indeed be distilled from orange blossoms, but who will say that this otto smells like orange flowers? It is the same with otto of roses. The odors procured by enflowering are the very breath of the living flowers condensed. odors procured by boiling or distillation are the perfumes of the dead. There is a seeming exception in the case of lavender, which, however, chemistry shows to be no exception at all. Distilled lavender yields a perfume which, when sufficiently old, does resemble that of the flower; but it is only by absorbing the oxygen of the air that the distilled lavender acquires this fra Fat may also be perfumed by maceration, i.e., the infusion of the flowers in melted fat, or in cold oil. Some flowers answer best on the enflowering process, others by maceration. Cassia oil is made by simply infusing the fresh-gathered buds in fine olive-oil, changing the flowers by straining till the desired strength be attained. Sometimes, as with the manufacture of violetscented grease, the enflowering process is first employed, and then the grease is liquefied and fresh blossoms are macerated therein. Whenever flowers are macerated in grease, the color-grance. The IN THE MEADOW. ERE is the rake where I left it, and yonder, down the road, Near half an hour 'twill take them: meantime I'll rest me a bit, I wish I knew. You rascal Wind! do you reckon it all fair play Ah, Rover! when two have lived together, fast friends, so many years, You know as well as I do, now, that something is going wrong:- My life, since I can remember, has passed between the three Cattle, and corn, and farm-house chores-what else has there been for me? Well, well; that troubled me little enough in all the years that are past! For now, when the air is all alive with battle's iron hum, Each drop of my blood stirs quick to meet and answer the booming drum. Three months since; and now there has been, as I thought there was likely to be, Why not take my part with the rest, and fight till the thing is done? What right have I to stand aside when the 'listed companies pass? The bees would be thick in the honey of the blossomed plum in spring; It's nothing so hard to lie among the sights and sounds I know, What! are they through already? Smart work with that heavy load! It's leaving him that troubles me so; indeed it's easily guessed I'm out of my time, and, after all, no son of his, you know: If he were alive-my own, I mean-I needn't go alone; Hi, Rover! I feel like another man since setting my mind on that- AFTER PETROLEUM. for the means of transportation over the 50 or 60 miles of river that extended down to Oil [RVINE!" shouted the conductor on the City. My intention being to see the rocks and only resource. Nobody knew where a skiff could be bought. One mouth, however, that was emitting clouds of strong tobacco smoke, which rolled from underneath a broad slouched hat, that sat upon the top of a figure curled up and tilted back against the wall, uttered the information that a skiff could be had near the foundry. Taking the directions, I went out again into the darkness toward a distant object a little blacker than the night, which they told me was a bridge. There was a roar and rush of the current underneath, which could be seen gleaming, or rather glaring, between the loose floor planks, suggesting the idea that the waters of the Big Broken Straw, as they were preparing for their leap into the Alleghany, would have no objection to take a drowned passenger along. The bury and Erie Railroad on the evening of Friday the 9th of September. Very un-Septemberlike had been the weather-rainy and dingy and cold-and the traveler to whom Irvine was a destination rose from the dim light, gathered up his shawl and haversack and umbrella, and stepped out on a dark platform and looked about for the town. Not being able to distinguish the town, a form in the darkness was inquired of for the hotel, who, pointing to a distant light, said, "Follow down the track, cross over to that light, and there you'll find it." Going as directed, sinking in mire and stumbling over stones and ruts, the hotel was reached, and found as good as the country affords. It is not worth while to describe these "houses of entertainment." Some are better than others, and if my recollection serves me, some are considerably worse than oth-passenger, however, had his own objections, and ers. The best are not such as railroad travelers who halt in the large cities are accustomed to. Nobody seems to be aware of their condition, or at least nobody complains. The New York dandy, out prospecting for oil, reaches almost as far for the butter as the backwoodsman who has a "nice thing for sale." being wet enough already, managed to get safely over, and safely down between the unfathomed mud of the road and the steep bank which lined the right shore of the creek. Jackson was found, and Jackson had a skiff, the only skiff in town, which he was willing to sell for 8 dollars. I had been informed that the usual price was from 3 to 5 dollars; but gold had risen in this far-away wilderness as well as in the wilds of Wall Street. Moreover, Jackson knew I must have a skiff the next morning, and could get none but his; therefore reasons accumulated why he should ask 8 dollars, and he got it. Irvine is the first point on the above railroad, where, coming in from the West, one strikes the Alleghany River. If you wish to see the oil regions thoroughly, and especially if you would form any theory respecting their geological features, involving their probable origin and duration, the best way is to take the Alleghany Riv- In the morning the geological value of railer down to Oil City, and thence branch off up roads was manifest from the front porch of the the creek and its tributaries, until you have gone hotel. In order to shorten a curve, the Sunbury over the territory up and down from various and Erie had cut the bank perpendicularly at points. A geologist will find the rock only in the bluff point which divides the Alleghany from few places laid bare. What are locally called its tributary at the promising town of Irvine. "boulders"—which indeed are not boulders of The strata of the Vergent series, the Chemung the drift formation, but only large rock frag- of the New York geologists, were finely opened ments fallen from the high hill strata, and wash- for the depth of at least 100 feet. They coned by the waters which have cut the deep val- sisted of gray, blue, and red shales, some soft leys are found on the borders of all the streams and some hard, containing a few fossils having often beneath the soil. These fragments are the gentle southwest dip, with the almost imnot interesting except for their beautiful water-perceptible anticlinal lift northwest toward the marks, and the confirmatory evidence they give Big Broken Straw. of the otherwise perfectly obvious fact, that all the numerous valleys and gorges of the oil region are the result not of volcanic upheaval, but of watery erosion. Wherever the strata are exposed they lie almost horizontally, showing only the slow 15° dip S. W., which is hardly apparent to the eye. In some places, especially on the upper shores of the Alleghany and on the banks of the creeks that empty into it, there is possibly a slight anticlinal pitch, which, if real, would show that some little upheaval existed along the water-lines. A cause for this will be suggested further on, and a reason why the streams should follow these upheavals, and why oil is generally found near their banks. The civil hotel-keeper at Irvine having removed my impedimenta, the first inquiry was Returning from the rocks a sturdy "son of the soil" applied for passage down the river. I engaged him at once, thinking that in the sixty miles of rowing he might prove a valuable companion. He was well acquainted with all the region, and gave me what information he possessed, none of which was of more than momentary advantage. He and all his class were totally unobservant of those points which are necessary to supply a geologist with facts out of which to form a scientific opinion. He knew where to find the swiftest water in going down stream. He had been a raftsman. He knew where the taverns and stopping-places were. He pointed out the locality of noted wells; but he knew nothing about the positions of the best, whether under bluffs or on the flats, what rocks they had bored to find them, and how much oil they sev-| ber, fastened the farther end firmly, and let the erally produced. I was surprised and vexed at spring of the wood raise the drill. getting so little information on the points I was chiefly inquiring into. My vexation proved me a novice; for now I have seen the whole oil region of Northwest Pennsylvania, I should not be willing to stand a critical examination upon those points myself. As my fellow-passenger said nothing of bearing his share of the cost of the skiff I handed him the oars, and politely kept him at them through the twenty miles that accomplished his journey. He was a little puzzled by my courteous way of taking for granted that he was exclusive oarsman; but he was good-humored and keen in his way. After mentioning the cost of stage fare to his destination, inquiring how much I gave for the skiff, and otherwise attempting in vain to discover my financial intentions respecting himself, he finally settled to his work with good will, and rowed steadily under the comforting self-assurance that muscle, not greenbacks, would this time pay his way. Immediately upon leaving Irvine the banks of the river began to show the decaying monuments of many small fortunes ruined. Four years ago, when the first oil excitement arose, labor attempted to emancipate itself from capi tal. The world-wide struggle burst forth in this then untracked wilderness. Poor men with a few dollars in hand, and a few more borrowed, banded in small parties, resolved to sink oilwells on their own account, and reap for themselves the splendid gains that generally fall to the rich man's share. These laborers took leases on small fragments of river front, agreeing to pay an eighth, a sixth, a quarter, or even a half of all the oil found, to the land proprietors, as "royalty;" and proceeded without order, system, or forethought to sink their wells. With appliances of the rudest kind they set to work. Cutting down four slim poles of 40 feet in length, they fastened them 10 feet apart at bottom, and 3 at top, raising them in the course of crection to an upright position, and staying them in all directions. This finished was called a derrick, and served for a guide and holder to the heavy drills with which the wells were bored, and as a convenient structure for a "fall and tackle.” A strong post 10 feet outside the derrick, heavy and deeply driven into ground, supported the middle of a large timber weighted at the shorter and farthest end, so as to overbalance the drill which was attached to the end projecting to the central point under the derrick. This drill, with a steel-cutting face of about 2 inches, was made of heavy iron, connecting above with a stiff rod, on two sides of which were small projections, called, I think, "stirrups," just large enough to take a man's foot. Two drillers stood each with a foot on the "stirrup," and together "kicked down" the drill, turning it by hand as they did so, and then lifting their feet while the weighted end threw up the tool preparatory to another "kick" downward. Sometimes instead of weighting they selected an elastic tim Had the oil been found in great abundance near the surface, shallow wells would have been sufficient-such wells as were practicable under the system of the "kicking drill." But good wells lie from 100 to 600 feet deep-both too great for the rude appliances described. Consequently these banded laborers soon expended all their means, and were compelled to give up their works. The general law was again vindicated. To capital belong the enterprises involving risks. Therefore capital must obtain the great gains, as it bears also the great losses. The low price of oil four years ago when, indeed, it was worth less than the barrels that contained it-helped the other causes of failure. Now, through the whole oil region abandoned derricks stand rotting slowly down, warning many and attracting more. They warn labor to keep to its own sphere. They attract capital, with the erroneous suggestion that some indications of oil must have existed where so much work was done-indications that can doubtless be followed out successfully by perseverance and sufficient means. In some places this view may be proved correct. But, without other signs, they alone are not enough, because the drillers of those early wells were even more distinguished than present "prospectors" in "going it blind." Tidionte is the first point in the upper Alleghany where oil is profitably pumped. Neither a geologist nor a "practical" man would express an opinion against the oil-productiveness of other neighboring regions. They may yet develop finely; but hitherto success has not followed enterprise; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that enterprise has not pursued success. Nearly opposite Tidionte are the socalled Economite Wells. Driving the skiff on land and making my way along greasy tracks, through rows of barrels marked "E. O. C.," I saw on the upper bank an untanned, benevolent face, under a broad-brimmed hat, over a figure clothed in blue. Accosting the gentleman, I soon found both intelligence and politeness in operation. In a few moments' conversation he gave me valuable knowledge. The sect in which he held the dignity of Presiding Brother, Patriarch, or some ruling office of another name, were "Economites" only because they had settled a town called Economy. In Germany they were known as Brethren of Harmony. They had separated themselves from the body of Protestants, with "harmony" as the one chief doctrine of their creed. The name indicates most commendable intentions in their founders. Having all things in common, they have doubtless found some little difficulty, within their close and secret precincts, in keeping down the unharmonious elements which the world, the flesh, and the devil are apt to intrude among manand-womankind. A strong hand undoubtedly rules within, and when strong wills show themselves in the younger members they are proba bly crushed, expelled, or placed in power. Thus the Harmonites continue a sect, helped in their isolation by German temperament and their foreign tongue; marrying, though preferring celibacy; and all working industriously for the common enrichment. flows have been found. On Oil Creek the strata At Tidionte, however, down in the rock. said to have been found are shale of different colors and different degrees of hardness, with three distinct layers of sand-rock. The sandrocks there are about 20 feet thick, and lie at the several depths of about 200, 350, and 500 A very valuable oil-property is owned by this feet. Though oil and gas are found in or unsect opposite Tidionte. A large oil-spring, i. e., der every sand-rock, all the Oil Creek wells are a spring of water in which thick oil rose to the driven down to, or partly, and sometimes wholsurface, was found near, and doubtless determ-ly, through the third, where alone the great ined the purchase. One well, 120 feet deep, yields 30 barrels a day. The oil is heavier than that of 'Oil Creek, and brings several dollars more per barrel. Four other wells produce about the same quantity, making 60 barrels a day. This, at even $10 the barrel, which, for heavy oil, is lower than it is now or may perhaps ever again be, would make them a daily income of $600. Their property has scarcely yet begun to be developed, and they are now sinking new wells. It is remarkable that the wells of this company are situated at the foot, or rather in the very side, of a steep bluff near the water's edge, a place not generally successfal; while the flats opposite, usually most prolific, have not as yet remunerated the proprietors. The Economite wells are none over 120 feet deep, while a well on the flat opposite is now down 600 feet. in the deep well referred to, Opposite on the right bank of the river, in Lower Tidionte, where Gordon Creek comes in round the upper point of the bluff, are several small wells of lubricating oil producing five or six barrels a day, all of the shallow depth of about 120 feet. In this and all the oil region what is called the "surface water" is shut off at the first A very curious and simple contrivance is re- sand-rock at a depth varying from less than 100 sorted to at these wells, one which alone would to about 200 feet. The surface water is the fresh stamp the owners as true economists. The oil water that forms the springs of the country. Its of many wells rises in a yellow or riley condi- volume is sometimes very large; and were it tion, and does not then separate readily from left to run into the wells it would press the oil the water. Even the best oils have some affin- away so that the pumps would not be able to ity for the salt-water, with which they have been draw it. Therefore every well is tubed gensleeping for ages far down in the depths of the erally with 2-inch gas-pipe. The drill-hole beearth. To facilitate their separation the dis- ing about four inches, enough room remains becharge-pipe from the pump of the largest well is tween the walls and the tubing for the insercarried into the middle of an upright wooden tion and pressure down to any depth of the cylinder, heavily hooped and very stout. The "seed-bag," by which the surface water is excylinder is about 6 feet high by 2 feet in diam- cluded. The seed-bag is a simple leather bag eter. Into the top a pipe that carries the ex- containing dry flax-seed, which, fastened to the haust steam from the engine is inserted, which tube at the point desired, slides easily down in connects with a copper drum in the interior. its dry state, and when in position rapidly swells This of course heats the contents, and facilitates so as to shut the whole orifice and leave the well the separation of the oil and salt-water. The of oil undisturbed by superincumbent water. oil flows into a tank from an orifice 18 inches below the top of the cylinder; and the water flows off below, through a tube that adjusts the level. The space above the oil-vent gathers the gas, which is more or less pumped out of every well; and this gas is led by another tube to the fire-room, where it is burned for raising steam. Every thing is thus utilized. And as they draw their oil from the top of the tank next the cylinder into the one out of which they barrel, it is obvious that the oil they sell must be in the very best condition. In all good wells the oil is found with, i. e., probably floating on, salt-water. This water evidently has no current, but lies shut up within fixed boundaries. Hence both it and the oil are local products. Whatever their cause and origin they are now where they were originally deposited, or, if they have flowed at all, they have now ceased to flow, having arrived at the point where no outlet leads them further on. Were this not so, much greater irregularity and different peculiarities would mark the yield of the wells. This may be a fitting place to introduce, and submit for consideration, a theory respecting the formation and deposit of Petroleum, or Rock Oil; or rather of that deposit most fully developed in Northwest Pennsylvania. I submit this theory without claiming any authority for The geological facts upon which it is based Half a mile below the Economite property is a well 975 feet deep, drilling under the intelligent superintendence of Mr. David Ralston, for the Tidionte and Alleghany Oil Company. This company, with commendable zeal, is prosecuting its labors with the intention of testing the question of the existence of large oil deposits far it. |