Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-14
Some Things You Want to Know
The Culture Of Flowers.

A California woman who was called upon
to support herself chose flower-raisinE as
a means OF livelihood. and she has made a
great success with her petunis farm. This
little flower was well known to our grand
mothers and comes from a plain family.
being connected with the tobacco plant.
Yet this woman has succeeded In bringing
the blossoms up to a perfection which has
created a demand for them. Thousands
upon thousands OF blooms, comprising
every variety and color known, I'LL her
garden. With a tiny camel's hair brush the
pollen Of certain flowers is transferred to
others, and by this means choice strains
are obtained. Choice hybridized petuuia
seeds are worth more than 500 an ounce
at Wholesale. The work of gathering and
preparing them is a tedious one. The seeds
have to be selected with the greatest care.
and carefully sifted through a series OF
fine garden sleeves.
Luther Burbank has fully demonstrated
the perfection to which a flower can be
brought IL only sufficient effort is spent
upon 1t. No one Of his experiments shows
this more clearly than his work with the
daisy. This little flower, which is the
harbinger Of spring in many states, was not
very we'll loved when Luther Burbank was
a boy. But he cared for 1t and determined
that sometime he would make It a flower
which would demand admiration. When he
grew to manhood he did not forget this
determination. When he started his ex-
pertinent he first sought out suitable flow
ers with which to cross his little daisy.
First he found a Japanese blossom OF an
unusual lustrous whiteness. After seour-
ing specimens Of this plant he found an
other one in England-a flower less grace
full than the American daisy, but larger.
This completed his stock Of material and
he set to work.
He first crossed the English daisy with
the American flower by transferring some
OF the pollen from the former to the latter.
The seeds which resulted were carefully
watched, saved and then planted. When
this plant was IN bloom the pollen of the
Japanese daisy was transferred to the one
which was already a combination Of the
American and English flowers. This fin
ished Mr.. Burbank's labors so far as Cross
ing the plants was concerned, but still left
considerable to be accomplished. AS a re-
suit of his work he planted many seeds
and made his final selections by deciding
between about 100, 900 blooms. His present
daisy is snow white with a long graceful
stem, petals of rare shape and a glowing
yellow center. The creating of this variety
took eight years.
AS a result of flower cultivation and the
demand made by the public for perfect
blooms, a new beauty doctor has been
created. This is the flower doctor. Like
his professional relative, the doctor of medi-
cire, he requires a case Of Instruments in
Guiding a pair Of dissecting scissors, for
cops of all shapes, cutting pliers and a host
of brushes. He also requires a spray n
bottles containing gums and numberless
perfumes. Flowers that have petals dis
arranged by wind or careless handling must
have them set Alright, and those having ILL
shaped ones must lave them removed.
Often an order demands that the flowers
be buds which will not open in the heated
room In which they are to be placed, and
this means that they must all be wired In
visibly. Flowers like chrysanthemums
often require the removal of withered
petals, e1d sometimes the petals nave to
be curled. In the growing of white flowers
any colored part has to be removed. Amy
plants supposed to be opened, but which
for some reason or other are received
scentless by the florist, are soon made to
smell as sweetly as IL freshly picked from
out-of-doors. Potted ~azeleas, having so
many blooms on a single plant, are inclined
to wither quickly, and for this reason each
flower is cleverly gummed to it's stem, thus
making 1t last considerably longer.
The making of perfume always has been
closely related to the raising Of flowers.
Grasse, France. is one OF the most inn
portant centers Of this industry. There
every variety OF perfume-giving flowers Is
to be found. 1t takes 10000 pounds Of rose
petals to make a single pound of altar OF
roses, valued at $500. For a pound OF
neroli, the basis OF eau de cologne, 1000
pounds OF the petals Of the bitter orange
needed. The perfume is made by sat
urating lard with the oil Of the flower, and
in some cases the blossoms nave to be
changed as many as eighty times before
the mixture is sufficiently strong. The
flowers most used are %violets, jasmine,
orange blossoms, j~onqulls, roses. lavender,
and heliotrope.
Ambergris is used as a basis for nearly
all standard perfumery. This article was
first found floating on the surface OF the
sea or lodged upon the shore. Just how