1837. Preservation of Flowers with their Natural Colors

1837.    Preservation of Flowers with their Natural Colors. The mode in which

• the operation is effected is this: A vessel with a movable cover and bottom is provided, and having removed the cover from it, a piece of metallic gauze of moderate fineness is fixed over it, and the cover replaced. A quantity of sand is then taken, sufficient to fill the vessel, and passed through a sieve into an iron pot, where it is, heated, with the addition of a small quantity of stearine, carefully stirred, so as to thoroughly mix the ingredients. The quantity of stearine to be added is at the rate of 1/2 pound to 100 pounds of sand. Care must be taken not to add too much stearine, as it would sink to the bottom and injure the flowers. The vessel, with its cover on and the gauze beneath it, is then turned upside down, and, the bottom being removed, the flowers to bo operated upon are carefully placed on the gauze and the sand gently poured in, so as to cover the flowers entirely, the leaves being thus prevented from touching each other. The vessel is then put into a hot place, such, for instance, as the top of a baker's oven, where it is left for 18 hours. The flowers thus become dried, and they retain their natural colors. The vessel still remaining bottom upwards, the lid is taken off, and the sand runs away through the gauze, leaving the flowers uninjured.

1838. To Preserve Flowers in Water

1838.     To Preserve Flowers in Water. Mix a little saltpetre or carbonate of soda with water, and it will preserve the flowers for 2 weeks.

1839. To Restore Faded Flowers

1839.    To Restore Faded Flowers. Faded flowers may be generally restored by immersing them half-way up their stems in very hot water, and allowing them to remain in it until it cools, or they have recovered. They must then be removed, the coddled portion of the stems cut off, and placed in clean cold water. In this way a great number of faded flowers may be restored, but there are some of the more delicate kinds on which it proves useless.

1840. To Raise Hyacinths in Winter

1840.    To Raise Hyacinths in Winter. Put the bulbs in glasses or earth, and set them in a dark closet to sprout. If in glasses, the water should not be higher than 1 inch below the bulb, until the roots have reached the water, when the glasses may be filled up, a piece of charcoal put in the water, and the plants set in the sun to grow.

1841. Soot Water for Roses

1841.     Soot Water for Roses. Put the soot obtained from the pipe or chimney of a wood fire, into a pitcher, and pour hot water upon it. "When cool, use the liquid occasionally to water the rose plants. Its effects are extraordinary in strengthening the growth of the plants and flowers.

1842. To Make Hydrangea Flowers Blue

1842.    To Make Hydrangea Flowers Blue. If they are grown in a tolerably strong maiden loam, which contains a portion of oxide of iron, the flowers will become blue without further trouble; but they will require to be potted in this said compost, and continually grown in the same, from the cutting pot, to ensure their flowers coming blue. If the soil itself will not make the flower blue, they should be watered with a solution of alum for some time previous to flowering. The solution may bo made by mixing at the rate of 1 ounce alum to a gallon of rain water. . The plants should bo struck from small cuttings of the soft wood, from February till May, that are required to flower in those months the following year. They should bo potted in time enough for their roots to fill them before winter. It is advisable to flower them the following spring in the pots, allowing the plants to produce only one cluster of flowers each, and talcing off all the suckers and side shoots to strike for flowering the following spring, as old plants cannot be depended upon to produce blue flowers. If 1/6 part of iron filings be mixed with the earth in which the plant is grown, it will frequently, although not always, change from its original pink color to a light blue. A cutting, however, taken from the plant thus changed, and grown without iron filing, reverts to its previous color.