The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-10-18
SCIENCE GIVES RAINBOW HUES
 TO GARDEN|AS
Successful Tests Made at Ohio State U. With Dyes
 and Inks
BY OTTO JANSEN United Press Stan Correspondent

United Press Stan COrreSp0ndent)
 Columbus, O., Oct. 18.-(UP).- What is believed to be the first suc- cessful attempt to color gardenias artif1cially has been announced by Charles Bancroft, Ohio State Uni versity graduate student in floricul- ture.
 Though the use of aniline dyes and various commercial inks, Ban- croft has produced gardenias of yell low, emerald green, purple and red. The cut flowers are simply placed in jar containing the coloring and within an hour the hues begin to show in the petals. Within l2 hours the flowers obsorb their maximum of coloring.
 Bancroft, who came to Ohio State about a year ago from McGill Uni versity, Montreal, on a fellowship, hit upon coloring by accident.
 He was conducting experiments to determine the best way to preserve cut flowers. One night he left some gardenias in @ colored liquid and the following day he found the flowers had absorbed the color.
 Blue Ink Not Success
 Sensing the process's possibilities, Bancroft began using various type of coloring matter. He found that certain commercial inks were readily absorbed while others were of no use, presumably because the par ticles in suspension were too large to make their way through the plants cells. He found practically all brands of blue ink were unsatis- factory.
 Bancroft also tried his experi- ment on easter lilies, hunnemanias often miscalled California pop- pies," which they closely resemble and chrysanthemums, with gen. erally good success.
 He also tried sherry wine as a col- bring agent, but found the alcohol was little too much for the flow CTS, producing a definite toxic ef- feet.
 Bancroft's early experiments were conducted on dahlias, but it was found the coloring came out "streaky" because the veins in the petals were too far apart.
 Bancroft said he could not un- derstand why 1t had not been dis covered before that gardenias, which are normally white, could be colored. In the course of his ex- periments, Bancroft has exploded several popular notions about flow CTS. He said his experiments show ed there was no foundation for the belief that aspirin added to flower water has beneficial effect. ExplOdeS Popular Theories
 Tn fact, 1t proves injurious to some flowers and doesn't seem to help any," he said.
 He also said that placing cut fiow- CTS in a copper container with wa ter does not appear to preserve the blossoms.
 Bancroft also found that flowers only need about one inch of water unless they are dried out. Then they should be placed in deep wa ter for about an hour, he said.
 Another experiment showed that flowers with long stems keep just as well as those with short stem.
 Deliberately wilting flowers before placing them in water does not pre- serve them, Bancroft found.
 And if young woman wants to keep a corsage fresh, he said, she should sprinkle 1t with water and wrap 1t in tissue paper and place 1t in the ice box.
 A "by-product" of Bancroft's col- bring experiments was the discov- cry that green dye seems to pre- serve flowers longer than other hues.