St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-05-26
cOLoRINo FLOWERS.


VOIOHuN0 VeOW6u0s
4 New York Florist Talks About New
Tricks Of II . Trsalo.
shall l write your name on this
rose!'
How will you do iti" asked a 70.
porter Of this dealer who was handling
. beautiful jacqueminot rose
'As easily rs writing on paper with
q pencil and without injnring the ,oso
in any way"
Tell me about tho process
':It is done by an electric needle.
Tho needle consists OF a very fine piece
of platinum wire and is connected
with q very powerful battery. Tho
rosc must. of course. b handled very
carefully or the entire flower will be
destroyed. Take ono Of the leaves Of
the flower Of the most prominent
ones and . perfect one. and place
under it piece Of glasA Then. with
the needle. quickly wrAe your name
over the Leaf The needle must be held
very tightly. but it must touch the flow.
or. The electricity conveyed through
tho needle kills the parts that il
touches and drives all the color ous
leaving the name distinctly written.
This will show best on GDlored flowers.
like this rcd rose. or ON a yellow flow.
or. 1t can DO done ON a white leaf
but does not show as yell as on Tho
'''s5; Can you max. vi 4,e e,raa,ion.
green7"
VERY easily. Somss florists claim
that coloring flowers isa trade secret
but is nothing Of the dort. When tho
EN- raid ball was give in Brooklyn
green-tippcL carnations were very
prominent in the d C ,rAtiona Every
one present at the ball wore some Of
these odd-!o king flowers in their
coats. A great many persons thought
tina, they had rally grown as thev APP
pca:ed that evening. ianl l b lievc
somc amateur gardeners have been
trying to buy some OF tho plants to
grow in Their gardens this summer.
Any body WHO wants to can easily
havo some of these flowers
They are only tine ordinary white car.
nations colorcd. and. instead OF bein g
a trade secret. it is just the result of a
little chemical experiment. Ole way
to color these flowers Is to doctor
them while they are growing. Thil
is done by feeding into the stems Of
each flower a weak solution of car
bolic acid. The acid must not bc
strong enough to injurc tho plant
and just enough should b. put in tho
stem for it 10 soak into the bud and
flower This will give the flower a
grecnish tint when ii has opened. and
to make the color deeper the flower
should be washed in a pollution of car.
bolic ac'd after 1t has been picked.
This method can be used when &
number of the co!orcd flowers are
wanted. IS they can DO dipped into
the solution a handful at the time.
The color does not take hold Of tho
flowers in an artistic manner. but ap
pears in blotches on the leaves Il
time is no object. 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 edge:
Of the leaves are left exposed.
1i~ss should be held in Tho
fumes OF sulphur for short time and
then the flowers dropped into a greer
dyc. The dye will color the flower
Just where the color fumes have
touched. By this means and by ex.
,rcising . little care the flowers car
bc made to look very pretty. Ths
edges Of the leaves can be colored
green and q light green streak can b'
made TO run down the veins Of thu
leaves The white carnations can bs
made blue. green. yellow. purple
black or any color that one may
wish"
is it possible 10 color othe'
iowers?"
"Just rs easily as to color the car
nations Lily Of the valley can b.
made blue or red or any color
have taken a spray of lily of the val
ley and made ono Of the little bell
green, another rcd. another blue ant
| yellow. and SO on. The large lille
can be made 10 look very peculiar
They can easily be colored and thei
names and dates can be written on thei
large leaves. Any lover who nigh
wish could send lots Of letters to SOM
fair lady in this way. and no ont
would ever dream of examining th'
leaves Of lilies or roses to find mes
sagcs of affection. n any one liked
too. he could arrange quite a pretty
code of signals with the Oddly-colorct
flowers A blue rose might mean ont
word. . green carnation another. ant
so on. using yellow lilies OF the val
ley. purple pinks violet chrysanthc
NUNS. and so on. Different colors OF
the same flowers could bs made 4
mean any thing. In fact. new Ian
guaSc OF flowers will have to b
arranged to suit these new coloret
floral beauties The process of put
ting carbolic acid on the stems OF car
nations to color them was ! believe
discovered by New York boy. VIII
had spent . great many months ex
perimenting. Since the Emerald bal
they have been named the Emeral,
pink." IN r MaI and Express