St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-04-14
COLORfNG FLOWERS,
A New York Florist Talks About Ne,
Tricks of His Trade

oHall L Wflte your name on this
rose?'
How will you do it?" asked a re.
porter of this dealer who was handling
beautiful jacqueminot rose.
''As easily as writing on paper with
a pencil and without injuring the rose
in any way
Tell me about the process
'It is done by an electric needle.
The needle consists of a very fine piece
of platinum wire and is connected
with very powerful battery. The
rose must, of course, be handled very
carefully or the entire flower will be
destroyed. Take one of the leaves of
the flower-one of the most prominent
ones and a perfect one, and place
under it piece of glass Then, with
the needle. quickly write your name
over the leaf The needle must be held
very tightly. BUTT must touch the flow
er. The electricity conveyed through
the needle kills the parts that it
| touches and drives all the color out,
leaving the name distinctly written.
This will show best on colored flowers,
like this red rose, or on a yellow flow
er. 1t can be done on white leaf,
but does not show as we'll as OH the
color"
Can You make white carnations
green?"
very easily. Some florists claim
that coloring flowers is trade secret
but it is nothing of the sort When tha
Emerald ball was given in Brooklyn
green-tipped carnations we're very
prominent in the decorations. Every
one present at the ball wore some OF
these odd-looking flowers in their
coats. A great many persons thought
that they had really grown as they ap.
peared that evening. and I b lieve
some amateur gardeners have been
trying to buy some of the plants to
grow in their gardens this summer.
Any body who wants to can easily
have some of these flowers.
They are only the ordinary white car.
nations colored. and, instead of being
trade secret it is just the result of
little chemical experiment One way
to color these flowers is to doctor
them while they are growing. This
is done by feeding into the stems of
each flower a weak solution of car
bolic acid. The acid must not be
strong enough to injure the plant,
and just enough should be put in the
stem for it to soak into the bud and
flower This will give the flower
greenish tint when it has opened. and
to make the color deeper the flower
should be washed in solution of car
bolic acid after it has been picked.
This method can be used when
number OF the colored flowers are
wanted, as they can be dipped into
the solution handful at the time.
The color does not take hold of the
flowers in an artistic manner, but ap.
pears in blotches on the leaves. II
time is no object, a very pretty color
ing can be given to the flowers.
After they have been picked the
leaves should be carefully squeezed in
the hands until only the edges
OF the leaves are left exposed. %
These should be held in the
fumes of sulphur for short time and
then the flowers dropped into green
dye. The dye will color the flower
just where the color fumes have
By this means and by ex-
ercising a little care the flowers can
be made to look very pretty. The
edges of the leaves can be colored
green and light green streak can be
made to run down the veins of the
caves The white carnations can be
made blue, green, yellow, purple,
black or any color that one may
wish"
lis it possible to color other
lowers?''
Just as easily as to color the car
lations. Lily of the valley can be
made blue or red or any color.
ave taken spray of lily of the val
ey and made one of the little bells
'reen, another red. another blue and
elbow, and SO on. The large lilies
an be made 10 look very peculiar.
hey can easily be colored and their
ames and dates can be written on their
urge leaves. Any lover who might
1ish could send lots of letters to some
air lady in this way, and no one
Eould ever dream of examining the
caves of lilies or roses to find mes :
ages OF affection. 81 any one liked,
20, he could arrange quite a pretty
ode of signals with the oddly-colored !
overs. A blue rose might mean one
ord, green carnation another. and
on, using yellow lilies of the VAL
y purple pinks. violet chrysanthe-
ums and so on. Different colors OH
le same flowers could be made to
ean any thing. In fact, new Lam
uage OF flowers will have to be
to suit these new colored
oral beauties. The process of put
ng carbolic acid On the stems of car
atoms to color them was, believe.
seovered by New York boy, who
nd spent a great many months ex-
srimenting. Since the Emerald ball
ley have been named the Emerald
nk.n-N. r. .NgH and Express.