HINTS FOR FLOWER GROWERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2115, 23 October 1890, Page 4

HINTS FOR FLOWER GROWERS.

A French contemporary (Le Moniteur d' Horticulture ) mentions methods o£ hastening or retarding the opening of flowers, which may interest our readers. To cause buds (of rose or lilac, for instance) to open prematurely they should be cut, and the stems placed in rases of water, at the bottom of which a little slacked lime is placed. If a bell-glass is placed over them, and the buds be kept in the full sun, or in the greenhouse, at theend of three days it is said that the blossoms will be as far advanced as after eight days in the open air. If, on the other hand, it is wished to retard certain blossoms,those which can resist frost must be chosen, as the plants should be kept in the icehouse from January 1 until March 15 ; they should then be planted out in the shade, when the flowers will open a month or two after their proper season. To revive cut flowers which have been gathered some days and are faded, it is only necessary to hold them in steam for a few minutes, and then dip the tips of the stems in boiling water.|Theae ends should be cut off before the flowers are replaced in a vase of cold water. To produce the same result another plan is recommended : Sprinkle the blooms lightly with water, and stick them into sand or moss saturated with boiling water, in which has been put a little sulphate of ammonia or acetic acid • the blooms should be kept covered with a bell-glass for a little while before they are again used. she same informant from which we culled these details tells us that when flowers have been slightly touched by frost they may be revived by steeping them first in cold and then in tepid water.