The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-04-28
HOW TO KEEP ROSES.
Care OF the Cut Beauties Fully Explained
by Florist.

"No, would rather tell you how to
keep them," he answered. "Most
people have an idea that roses are
born to bloom for a day or two, and
that carnations and other harder
flowers will perhaps live little longer.
If they only knew it, it rests with them
whether they keep their roses for a. day
or for WEI, k, provided the flowers are
in healthy, fresh condition when bought.
And the directions for their care are.
very simple,
"Roses need a cool, moist atmos-
phere They droop and fade in the
dry heat of the modern drawing room.
1t is not possible, perhaps, to adapt the
air of your drawing room to the needs
of your roses; but you can observe GER
tain precautions in regard to them
which will make the hot room more
endurablc.
"In the first place, there are
certain roses whose color is enhanced
in beauty by light--not direct sun
beams, but the warm, rich light which
comes through an unshaded window,
Other roses fade and droop if exposed
to the light. Exposure to light deep.
ems the color of yellow roses, but it
beaches the red rose or the pink one.
The white roses are better for good
supply of light. Therefore, keep your
red and pink roses in a shaded place;
put the white and yellow ones near the
window.
Change the water on your roses
twice a day, and spray them at inter-
walls. The oftener it could be changed
would be the better for them, were it
not for the fact that constant handling
might bruise them. Have a good pair
of strong shears, and when you lift the
roses from their vase trim the ends of
the stems a little. They will draw in
the refreshing water all the easier. Let
the water be cool.
"There are several ways of preserv-
ing the color of roses. Adding a little
salt to the water is one way. Wrap
ping the stems in blotting paper satur-
ated with salcylic acid is another. You
can get the proper solution of the acid
from a florist. If you dip ordinary
botting paper in this solution, wrap it
around the stems, and then put waXed
paper around. The flowers will show
very little ill-efect from exposure to
light and to other bleaching influences
Salicylic acid retards fermentation,
which, next to sunlight, is the most
active agent in robbing flowers of their
color.
"There is no excuse for leaving your
roses to fade during the night hours
when you are asleep, and they can fur
nish pleasure to no one except, perhaps,
through their fragrance.
During the night hours roses should
be placed where they will have cool,
moist air to refresh them, SO that they,
as we'll as you, may have a beauty
Sleep and wake the next morning
brighter and prettier for the nights
rest. If you have a cool cellar where
the temperature is equable and the all
damp, put the roses there. Any cellar
room which is removed from the heat
of the furnace is a good place to store
them.
"If you have a refrigerator you can
keep the roses on ice over night. Wrap
them in paper and lay them on the
block of ice in the ice-boX. When
you put them in water in the morning
they will show almost Immediately the
eight or ten hours development. They
have not remained in a state Of sus
pended animation. They have grown
all night to a rarer perfection, holding
their beauty of form and color instead
of dropping on their stems, as they
would have done if left standing in q
hot room all night
"The simplest way to provide for
flowers at night is to put them on a
table in the window of your drawing
room, behind the lace curtains. They
will get supply Of fresh air through
the window Crevices, and the curtains
will protect them from the overhead
ed heavy air ofthe room. l have known
roses of ordinary varieties to last more
than week when kept in this way.
"Roses are good travellers. They
can. be carried almost any reasonable
distance at any season of the year with
the certainty of arriving in good con
dition.
"The system of packing by which
roses are kept for days and even week
while travelling is odd and interesting
In the summer season or, in fact, when
ever the weather is not bitterly cold
the roses are laid in long, fiat DO,
with their head at the two ends anC
their feet in the middle They lie il
rows, one above the other, at each end
There is no prettier sight of its kinC
than a box of travelled roses freshl
opened,
"Over the stems of the roses ar
nailed two strips Of wood, which act a
partitions, making a central compart
ment where the rose stems meet Ii
this central compartment is placed
lump of ice. 1t is larger or smaller
according to the distance which tn
flowers are to travel If they are goinI
to Denver, it would be large; to Chi
cago, it would be small The woodel
- - tk. AanE