TO PRESERVE CUT FLOWERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 231, 29 September 1928, Page 4 (Supplement)

TO PRESERVE CUT FLOWERS.

SOME USEFUL SUGGESTIONS. Opinions differ very widely as to the best methods of preserving flowers once they have been cut, and various salts or spirits have been accorded almost miraculous life-giving powers. But of all these preservatives, which range from ordinary kitchen salt to borax, soda, arsenic and sulphur, from ammonia to methylated spirits, Comly's fluid or whiskynone have yet conclusively been proved to he very much more effective than pure water. This should, however, be soft and tepid, and should be changed at frequent intervals. Also, if the" stems of the flowers have become slimy, they should be washed in warm water and ammonia, and the ends eut. The vases bowls, too, must be kept fresh and clean.

It is a good plan to strip the stems of leaves up to the point of immersion, though an exception to this rule is the maiden hair fern, which lasts longer if the fronds are in water. All woody-stem-med flowers, roses, chrysanthemums, lilac and the rest, keep fresher if the stalks are peeled at the ends for an inch or so, while the soft-stemmed ones, such as bulbs, should be split, to allow, them to absorb the water. Moreover, these soft-stemmed flowers, arums, lilies, daffodils and others, should be arranged! only with flowers of their own variety,' never with the woodv-stemmed ones, fori these will kill them almost immediately. As a rule, indeed, flowers should be mixed aa little as possible, and especially wall-1 flowers, stocks, verbena, mignonette,! poppies, and forget-me-nots, for they seem to be particularly poisonous to other flowers.

When the ' blooms are beginning to droop, an excellent method of reviving them is to set them in hot water, at a temperature of about 90 deg. for the soft-stemmed species and boiling point for the firm woody ones. Leave them till they have freshened, and then cut the ends and rearrange them in fresh cold or tepid water. Some varieties, such as Iceland poppies and dahlias, revive remarkably rapidly if the ends are held for a few seconds in a flame, and they last very much longer if they arc burnt in this way as soon as they are picked.

A most effective way of freshening a jaded-looking bunch of violets is to plunge it, head downwards, into a basin of cold water for a few seconds, and an important point to remember when picking cornflowers in to place them in water immediately or they will very quicklv die. Also a bouquet or posy may be preserved for some time if it is placed in water (and some recommend the addinc of a little charcoal or camphor), and a glass cover placed over the top to keep out the air.

Flowers should, if possible, be picked either early in the morning (though sweei peas must never be ga Vered when they are wet either with "rain or dew) or in the evening, and when buying them one should remember that tliev last much longer when the;- are just* coming into season. 0

Finally, flowers should not be set near an open window or in a draught of any sort, while they must, of course, be kept as far as possible from the fire or radiator if they are to be kept fresh for anv length of time.