FLOW 



3214 



FLOWER FARMING 



called elevators. They are fed in 

 bulk through wall hoppers direct 

 from truck or ship's hold by con- 

 veyer bands or pneumatic suction. 

 At this stage or afterwards, dry 

 cleaning is effected by means of 

 warehouse separators. These are 

 systems of sieves utilising differ- 

 ences of size, arid of air currents 

 operating upon differences of 

 weight, some screen surfaces 

 being magnetised for extracting 

 nails and the like. Cockle and 

 barley cylinders are furnished with 

 depressions and apertures for 

 catching smaller and rejecting 

 longer seeds respectively. Scourers 

 fitted with rotating beaters and 

 polishing brushes were formerly 

 used before storage, but this purifi- 

 cation is now often deferred until 

 reduction is actually in progress. 

 Wet cleaning is needed by some 

 descriptions ; some require con- 

 ditioning by heat. 



Breaking is effected in four or 

 five 4-roller mills, rotating at differ- 

 ential speeds. The chilled iron 

 rolls, preferably set diagonally, are 

 furnished with saw-tooth groov- 

 ing, ranging from 10 to 26 per inch. 

 The rolls may be 8 ins. to 10 ins. in 

 diam., and 15 ins. to 60 ins. long, the 

 speed of the longest fast or cutting 

 rolls being 350 r.p.m. The berry 

 being sheared open, the kernel is 

 broken up into angular particles 

 graded into semolina, middlings, 

 and dunst. Various appliances 

 blend different kinds of grain, and 

 extract light offal or bran and 

 dust ; smooth rolls crack the gran- 

 ules and flatten the germ ; and the 

 floury stock is then dressed and 

 sacked. Plansifters are horizontal 

 sieves which replace or eliminate 

 some of the older methods. The 

 whole process, from the crude berry 

 to the sack of finished flour, is auto- 

 matic throughout. See Milling ; 

 consult also Processes of Flour 

 Manufacture, P. A. Amos, 1912 ; 

 Wheat and its Products, A. Millar, 

 1916 ; Flour Milling, P. A. Kosmin, 

 trans. M. Falkner and T. Fjelstrup, 

 1917. 



Flow. Term used in metallurgy. 

 Metals are usually considered as 

 typical of rigidity and hardness ; 

 nevertheless they can all be made 

 to flow while in the solid state. 

 Thus a block of malleable iron or 

 copper may be hammered out into 

 a thin sheet. Other examples of the 

 " flowing " of a metal are provided 

 by the drawing and rolling of a 

 billet into a bar or plate, and by 

 the drawing of a tube or wire. 



These operations are usually 

 made on metals while at tempera- 

 tures raised more or less above the 

 normal, but the temperature is 

 always much below that of fusion. 

 Every instance of the forging of a 



metal object is one of flow, but 

 metals may be made to flow while 

 solid and cold in a still more strik- 

 ing fashion. All that is necessary is 

 to provide sufficient pressure and 

 to give time. Solid lead may be 

 readily made to flow through a hole 

 as a solid pencil ; while harder 

 metals will behave in a similar 

 fashion under suitable conditions. 

 See Metallurgy. 



Flower (Lat. flos ; stem, flor-, 

 flower). Part of a plant containing 

 the organs of reproduction. In the 

 complete flower it consists of four 

 distinct whorls of organs, which 

 differ hi form and number in differ- 

 ent species ; in some cases one or 

 more of the sets of organs being 

 absent. The lower or outer set 

 are the calyx-leaves, which form 

 the bud of the unopened flower ; 

 separately they are known as 

 sepals, and are usually green. The 

 second series are corolla-leaves, 

 mostly brightly coloured, separ- 

 ately, known as petals. The third 

 series are stamens, consisting of a 

 stalk or filament and the anther, 

 the latter containing pollen the 

 male element. The fourth series is 

 the pistil, which consists of the 

 ovary, containing ovules or seed- 

 eggs, surmounted by a stigma or 

 stigmas which may be supported 

 by stalks or styles. Grains of pollen 

 caught by the sticky or rough sur- 

 face of the stigma send out shoots 

 which penetrate the style and fer- 

 tilise the ovules, which then de- 

 velop into fertile seeds. 



Sometimes the sepals are all 

 joined together and can only be 

 spoken of as the calyx. Similarly, 

 the petals may be united to form a 

 tube, and be funnel-shaped, bell- 

 shaped, urn-shaped, etc. Where 

 there is no distinction between 

 sepals and petals (as in the Crocus 

 and Daffodil) the floral envelope 

 is termed the perianth. In the 

 Gymnosperms (Conifers) there are 

 neither sepals nor petals; and in 

 other forest trees these organs are 

 often very small and inconspicuous, 

 because the pollen is carried by the 

 wind. As a general rule, where the 

 petals are brightly coloured the 

 pollinating agents are insects 

 mainly bees, butterflies, and moths. 

 All flowers of special shapes have 

 been thus adapted to fit particular 

 insects or groups of insects. 



In the majority of such specialised 

 flowers nectar-producing glands are 

 sj placed as to make certain the 

 transfer of pollen from one flower to 

 the stigma of another by insect 

 agency. So also the streaks, or 

 lines of dots, of a second colour on 

 the petals point to the position of 

 the nectar. The long tubes of 

 certain flowers (tobacco, convol- 

 vulus, etc.) are related to the long 



probosces of the larger moths and 

 butterflies ; broad, open flowers like 

 buttercups to beetles, etc. The 

 perfume emanating from flowers 

 attracts insects bees, butterflies, 

 and moths. On the other hand, 

 some flowers, such as those of the 

 stapelias, arum family, etc., emit 

 fetid odours attractive only to flies, 

 which are their pollinating agents. 



Edward Step 



Flower Farming. Branch of 

 market gardening. It includes 

 growing flowering plants for the 

 sake of marketing their cut blooms, 

 and raising annual and perennial 

 plants in vast quantities for bed- 

 ding out purposes, or in pots for 

 decorative uses. The daffodil fields 

 of the Scilly Isles, and the gardens 

 under glass of Worthing, Swanley, 

 Mitcham, and various districts in 

 the North of London, are variations. 



Flower farming is carried on 

 by the mixed system, where the 

 flowers are grown indiscriminately 

 between standard and bush trees ; 

 the distinct method, where sep- 

 arate plots are allotted to vege- 

 tables, fruit, and flowers ; or the 

 alternate system, where all crops 

 are grown in rotation. The last is 

 found to have the fewest defects, 

 and the ordinary methods of culti- 

 vation are applicable. 



Markets and Prices 



The most profitable and popular 

 subjects for market are forced 

 daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips in 

 pots ; cut violets, roses, lilies, white 

 flowers of all sorts for wedding and 

 funeral purposes ; chrysanthemums, 

 and all fine foliage plants. Blos- 

 soms of good bright simple colours 

 find a readier market than those of 

 fancy or bizarre hue. Flowers for 

 marketing should be cut when only 

 half expanded, put in water, and 

 kept in a cool, dark place until they 

 can be packed. They should be 

 gathered for preference early in 

 the morning of the day upon which 

 they are to travel, and with 

 stems as long as possible, although 

 cutting into the hard wood of the 

 parent plant should be carefully 

 avoided. Flowers are consigned to 

 market salesmen for disposal on 

 commission. The rate varies from 

 5 to 10 p.c., 7 p.c. being a fair and 

 usual basis of remuneration. 



The board of agriculture issues 

 a weekly return of prices prevailing 

 in the nine big markets in the 

 British Isles: Birmingham, Bristol, 

 Evesham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liver- 

 pool, London, Manchester, Wolver- 

 hampton. 



The contents of all boxes of 

 flowers should face towards the top, 

 as the flowers are usually sold 

 direct in the box as they arrive at 

 the market, or at the place of 

 retail sale. 



