196 THE CHEMISTEY OF ESSENTIAL OILS
lavender and the production of blossoms can be increased. The laying*
out can take place either by rearranging an existing natural lavender-
field, or by starting from seed or from layers (eclats).
In the former case, in the field grown with lavender, either in the
autumn or in March, furrows are ploughed, or in the more recent way,
cut with a hoe, so as to leave at distances of one metre strips with
lavender plants growing on them. In this manner some lavender
plants are no doubt destroyed, but this loss need not be considered at
all in view of the rapid development of the plants, which, when suitably
fertilised, now give almost double the yield.
Besides in the foregoing manner, the cultivation can also be started
with layers or with seed. Whichever is to be preferred in an individ-
ual case, depends entirely upon the circumstances. The sowing-out is
no doubt cheaper, but against this, layers give a greater yield in the
first four years, so that the net cost is about the same.
The planting of the layers can take place either in the autumn or in
the spring; the latter is advisable (owing to the frosts) if the field is
situated at a great altitude. The plants are placed in rows at distances
of 60 cm., the rows being 1 metre apart, so that about 16,600 plants
go to a hectare. The sowing can also be done either in the autumn or
in the spring, and where the winter is not severe, the spring is pre-
ferred. The seed is sown at a depth of 2 to 3 cm. in rows 1 metre
apart. One grm. of seed is calculated for an area of 1 sq. metre, which
comes to 10 kilos per hectare. The cultivation requires the soil to be
turned twice a year, once at the commencement of the winter, and once
in March; during the latter, the manure which had previously been
distributed between the rows, is worked into the soil. Zacharewicz has
shown by comparative experiments that the fertilisation promotes both
the growth of the lavender and the wealth of blossoms, and that the
yield has thereby been raised from 2000 to 3500 kilos per hectare.
Distillation showed that the blossoms from the fertilised soil were also-
richer in oil. Zacharewicz states that the harvest commences on
1 August, and ends in the first days of September.
Lamothe
l
has recently drawn attention to the fact that the bastard
lavender "lavandin," referred to above, is being cultivated on an in
creasing scale.
Its flowers develop about a fortnight later in the season than those
of the true lavender, which is ascribable to its hybrid character; spike,
for example, flowers still later, in the beginning of September. Lavan-
din occurs principally in the region of the holm-oak, and even spreads
beyond the boundaries of the latter, traversing in a broad belt the De-
partments of the Drome, Vaucluse, Basses-Alpes, etc., where it covers
the southern slopes of several mountains up to the top.
Like all hybrids, lavandin is an extraordinarily hardy plant, and in
its prolific development constitutes an actual danger to the true laven-
der, which it robs of air and nourishment. The fact that this hybrid
is gaining ground year by year gives cause for serious concern, the
more so because pasturing sheep and goats shun it on account of its
acrid odour and bitter taste, whereas in the true lavender these animals
find an occasional welcome substitute for grass.
But in spite of this same bitter, herbaceous, and camphor-like
1
Parfumerie Moderne, 5 (1912), 9.