The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1888-06-15

A Long and Tedious Precsss--A Trade
Secret-The Rssults-

a Long and Tedious Procsss-A Trade
seoret-The Rssuits-
A neat little sign, on which was
printed in gilt letters, Natural, Flowers
Preserved" attracted the attention Of q
reporter while passing along. In q win
dow near by was displayed beautiful
cut flower design. made OF roses, hya-
cinths, lilies and carnations, with a
sprinkling of maiden hair fern and myr-
tie. The unobstrusive appearance Of the
sign and its accompaniment led the re-
porter to investigate as to the methods Of
the profession Of preserving natural
flowers. Mounting the steps he pulled
the doofbell gently and then waited for
an answer. 1t came in the person Of q
pretty lady proprietress, who cordially
invited the newsgatherer into the office
and then waited for the order, which she
appeared to very confidently expect.
But it never came. When he explained
his mission, her face assumed fright
ened look, such as all women wear when
they know they are going to be inter-
viewed by a ''horrid reporter" and then
they seem to think they can't talk. Fin
ally. enough courage was mustered up
by her to say:
eyes, we preserve natural flowers.
The profession, if we may call it such, is
not new one by any means. But there
are very few engaged in the business in
this city. In fact, there is only one other
who uses the same method that we do.
There is lady in Allegheny who pre-
serves the flowers by the old method,
that of dipping the flowers in wax; but
we use the chemical process.
els it very hard2"
''She ratified on, now that the ice had
been broken, and pleasantly responded:
"Well, yes, it is very tedious work, and
requires ever SO much patience to do it
right; and the work is so slow! Why, it
takes three weeks to preserve a little
single rose, and you have to be so careful
that you have everything just so, or you
will ruin everything and have your Gus
toner angry with you. and know that all
your time is wasted and lot Of money
spent for nothing. That's why it has
never been a craze among rich people,
like painting, music, the cooking school
and a dozen other different fads that
society girls rake up every. year with
which to sorely punish their patient
friends.
Again, it costs 80 much. Why, good
graciousl those instructors in the east,
who every year have some new method
OF preserving a flower, demand a small
fortune for the information, and"-
"Whom do you find your best parrons2'
hurriedly asked the reporter, before she
could start out on something else, in
order to do q little of the interviewing
himself
"Why. the middle classes, of course.
They have the most work Of that kind
done. The rich haven't got time, us they
must spend their spare moments with the
lawyers about wills, and the poor can't
afford 1t. Most Of our work il the pres
ervation Of decorations used at funerals.
Sometimes we get an order to preserve
flowers used at a wedding or some other
pleasant place, but we get flowers from
funerals most. Sometimes the friends of
the deceased bring the flowers, and again
we get them from the funeral directors,
who take charge of them for their friends
and bring them to us. We get orders
from all over the state.
"How do we do it? Well, now,
really, that is secret of the trade, and
we women were never known to tell
secret-that is, If another person wanted
to know it; but at other times, you know
it's different. Why, we use a lot of
chemicals-about twenty-five or twenty
four different kinds-with names as long
and as hard to pronounce as the names
in Polish directory. Chloride of lime
is used-a lot-and can't tell all the
rest.
"When the flowers come to us, we
take the design apart, after we have
numbered its pieces and described its APP
pearance in a big book which we keep.
We then take off all tho outer petals of
the flowers if they are wilted. If any of
the petals remaining are decayed and
have turned color, we have to cut the de-
cayed spots out. We then put them
through the acid baths. which takes
three weeks on the average to ac-
complish. We have to use two or three
different kinds of acid, and sometimes
az many as q dozen. After this Is
done, we mount the flowers ON
new toothpicks and wrap them with new
wire, and then put them together again,
just as they were when we got them.
The design is then put in frame or
under shade, and all the air pumped
out. All the seams in the frames are ce-
mented, and everything possible is done
to mako the frame air tight, and It must
remain so or the flowers will decay"
''Do they never fade2"
Eyes. some OF the flowers will lose
their color; but very rarely. And when
they do we have to explain the matter to
our customers, and that's all that can be
done. We find the rose and the lilly the
easiest flowers to keep. Amy flower with
a big petal will keep nicely. The valley
lily and the hyacinth, with their little
bell like petals, are the hardest. How to
keep the latter was only learned last
year. There are plenty of flowers yet
that we can't preserve.
"How do we charge? 1t just depends
upon who the patron Is. If he can
afford it, why, big price; if not, why,
not so much. Business is brisk Just now,
and we have some good orders on hand.
''No, we don't give anybody credit.
We did that for prominent business
man down town, who owed us $35 for
work. He gave us s. when the work
was delivered. We went back to him