LAVENDER CULTIVATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 148, 26 June 1934, Page 2

LAVENDER CULTIVATION

INDUSTRY LN TASMANIA SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT PROSPECTS FOB THE FUTURE ! The cultivation of Lavender on a I commercial basis is being undertaken ' v ith outstanding success at Lilydale, Tasmania, about 20 miles from .Latin•»ton, on a farm known as trie -Bridc•towe .Estate. The proprietor of the estate, Mr. C. .. uenny, who has been visiting Now Zealand, returned to Australia by the i anganella. Mr. Denny said that he 1 started the enterprise 12 years ago and [ it had grown and prospered beyond aB ' expectations. When he took up resi- | deuce iu Tasmania, having left Eng- • land for health reasons, he had no intention of attempting to establish a lavender farm but finally he decided to do so f as he was familiar with the intensive growing of lavender and understood a guod deal about perfumes. “The majority of people believe that j lavender is English, and when one • talks about sweet lavender one usually thinks of England and her lovely Old gardens/’ continued Mr. Beany. “Actually very little’ lavender is grown in England, for the lavender industry always had been, and still is, mainly concentrated in France. The French Government has furthered the industry for a great many years. Lavender cultivation has been tried in a number of other lands, but not very successfully, and to be perfectly truthful I did not think my venture in Tasmania would come off. I thought 1 would get crossbred seeds." The quality of lavender produced on the Bridestowe Estate, saiu -ir. Denny, had proved to be exceptionally high. At the end of the third year of operations 4Ulb. of flowers were produced and the resultant oil was sent to London to be analysed. Lavender oil should contain from 25 to 45 per cent, of its principal odour ingredient, but the Bridestowe oil was found to contain 44.1 per cent. Since then as high a percentage as 47 had been reached, but this was exceptional. Oil containing from 38 per cent of the principal odour ingredient snould realise top price on the world’s markets. The Bridestowe Estate now produced 18 tons of flowers in a year, but it was hoped to increase the output to 30 tons, an average of a ton an acre. As never more than 181 b. of oil was obtained from a ton of Cowers, it would be realised that very many flowers had to be grown to meet the demand. The future of the industry in Tasmania depended upon whether French competition could be combated, ■ and there was every indication that i permanent success could be achieved. j Mr. Denny said the Bridestowe Estate, which, by the way, was named after an English village, was the only one of its kind in this part of the i world. In fact, it was probably the 1 only estate outside France which was I growing on a large scale officinalis lavender, one of the two main types of lavender and the best perfumery. Between 5000 and 7000 visitors annually inspected the Bridestowe Estate, which was one of Tasmania’s most picturesque garden-. __________