TO KEEP FLOWERS FRESH

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10683, 1 February 1913, Page 1

TO KEEP FLOWERS FRESH

Very few persons understand the art of keeping flowers, yet the matter is simple enough. It is merely a question of temperature and moisture. Roses, for example, are grown in the greenhouse at a temperature, of 65 to 75 degrees, and when cut are placed in a box where the thermometer stands at about 40. Then, when sold, they are taken into a dining or ball-room, where the temperature is 75 or SO. Of course, they droop in a fow hours. They could, however, be kept in proper condition for a week by placing them in water in the coolest part of a living room. Every day half an inch of the stems should be cut off. If this precaution is neglected the stem becomes clogged with a glutinous matter something like the gum that exudes from peach and cherry trees; the water in the. vase, however pure, cannot be drawn up, and the leaves and flowers wither for lack of moisture. In cutting off the stems a knife should always be used, never a pair of scissors.