Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-08-15
COLORlNG FLOWERS.

COLORlNG FLOWERS.
A New York Florist Talks About N ew
+ Tricks of I'll Trade.
Shall l write your name on this
roseP"
How will you do itp" asked re
porter of this dealer who was handling
a 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"
sit is done by an electric needle.
The needle consists of very fine piece
of platinum wire and is connected
with a very powerful battery. The
rose must, of course, be handled very
carefully OF the entire flower will be
destroyed. Take one of the leaves of
the flower--one OF the most prominent
ones and 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. but it must touch the flow
Ell. The electricity conveyed through
the needle kills the parts that it
touches aud drives all the color out.
leaving the name distinctly written.
This will show best on coIored flowers,
like this red rose, OF on a yellow flow
Ell. 1t can be done on a white leaf,
but does not show as we'll as on the
color.
Can you make white carnations
greenP"
Very easily. Some florists claim
that coloring flowers is trade secret,
but it is nothing of the sort. When the
Emerald ball was given in Brooklyn
green-tipped carnations were very
prominent in the dc .rations Every
one present at the ball wore some of
these odd-lo king flowers in their
coats. A great many persons thought
that they had really grown as thew APP
peared that evening. anil 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
a trade secret, it is just the result of
little chemical experiment. Ohe way
to color these flowers is to doctor
them while they are growing. This
is done by feeding into the stems of
each flower 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 a
greenish tint when it has opened, and
to make the color deeper the flower
should be washed in a solution of car
bolic acd after it has been picked.
This method can be used when a
number of the colored flowers are
wanted, as they can be dipped into
the solution a handful at the time.
The color does not take hold of the
flowers in an artistic manner, but APP
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 a short time and
then the flowers dropped into a green
dye. The dye will color the flower
just where the color fumes have
touched. 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
leaves. The white carnations can be
made blue. green, yellow, purple,
black or any color that one may
wish"
rs it possible to color other
fowers?''
Just as easily as to color the car
nations Lily of the valley can be
made blue or red or any color. I
have taken spray of lily of the val
ley and made one of the little bells
green, another red, another blue and
yellow, and so on. The large lilies
can be made to look very peculiar.
They can easily be colored and their
names and dates can be written on their
large leaves. Any lover who might
wish could send lots of letters to some
fair lady in this way, and no one
would ever dream of examining the
leaves of lilies or roses to find mes
sages of affection. IF any one liked,
too, he could arrange quite a pretty
code of signals with the oddly colored
flowers. A blue rose might mean one
word, a green carnation another, and
so on, using yellow lilies of the val
ley, purple pinks. violet chrysanthe-
NUNS, and so on. Different colors on
the same flowers could be made to
mean any thing In fact, a new lam
guage OF flowers will have to be
arranged to suit these new colored
floral beauties. The process of put