PRESERVING CUT FLOWERS.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14830, 22 November 1913, Page 9

PRESERVING CUT FLOWERS.

Flowers with succulent stems, and those with hard-wooded stems, require very different treatment. Of the former the Iris is a good example." Xotico how quickly its stems decay and slough •away, and how the odour of ibis is so powerful that it soon dispels the delicate fragrance of the llower. To remedy this put a little disinfecting fluid into the water, chan*jo it once in twenty-four hours/ and each time cut a. bit trom the stern. If the stalks are cut while most of the flowers are yet in bud they will open day after day, lasting from a week to ten days. Mignonette is particularly malodorous, and must ha-ve careful attention. It should always be put into water by itself, a≤ should heliotrope, which turns brown' quickly, and kills almost any other flower it may be put with. Primroses, lilies, poppieSs, and all flowers with succulent stems, have a double lease of life if picked in bud and treated as above. The long stems of hollyhocks, studded with bright rosettes,' make most effective indoor decoration, but to avoid any appearance of a sort of death in life cut off the long slender tops laden with buds, which, no treatment can keep from dropping after an hour or-two;

place in very largo vases, and let one •. or two leaves touch tho water. ■ As fast as leaves or flowers- show, signs of wilting snip thorn off with sharp scissors. Thcso, aud the tall; broad-leafed tropical cannas, are most, admirable for halls, -fireplaces, and piazzas. All cut flowers require largo quantities of water. Hard-wooded .. plants do not decay in the water, so that cutting their stalks is of ik> avail, ~ neither do they absorb moisture through their hard, brittle stems. It is tho tender leaf which hero acts as a conductor, nourishing the blossom from,--, the water, so that with camellias, ■ azaleas, and like flowers, tho secret lies in having the lower leaves under water. ; 1 mado this discovery with chrysanthemums, of which tho stems, while less : hard than those of tho camellia, are still less porous than the ins. One day, iv arranging a huge 2 ua " fafcv of . them, I stripped tho leaves from a portion, and these were comparatively short lived, while those whoso leaves ' were under water, lasted for nearly two .:■ weeks, tho water being changod, and . the stems lightly clipped daily. ' Ferns will live a week or moro if thn lower part of every frond is well underwater. Slitting tho stalk with a enables it to absorb moisture. Somo • flowers seem built on hydropathic principles, and thrive best if a littlo water be poured directly into the calyx several times a day. In tho. caeo of- .. such hard-wooded plants as are provided with a bark, such, as lilac; lalmr ■ num, and azaleae; strip up a portion o? tho hark and submerge this with some of tho lower leaves. .

A£ all times put flowers in water as. quickly as possiblo after picking. At Jono timo, during a prolonged illness, I : . received a box of cut flowers from afriend. They were carefully packed in wet cotton and moss, but wore in. rather a dilapidated condition, notwithstanding. I plunged them at once in hot wator containing a little ammonia, and many of them revived and graced my room for several days. -If you wishto wear flowers, soaling-wax tho ends, '■'. and they will keep frost throughput an entire ovening.—"Mark Lane Journal. ,, ~.