CHAPTER XXV 

 HOW TO PICK FLOWERS 



I WANT to tell you the best way to pick flowers 

 without hurting the plant and so they will keep 

 fresh the longest time. 



First of all never break a flower from the plant, 

 always cut it. Why? For two reasons: First, 

 in breaking a stem you are very apt to bend it also, 

 then the water cannot rise ; second, you are very apt 

 to pull the plant and loosen the roots so that the 

 whole plant withers or else has to spend time and 

 strength mending roots when you want it to make 

 flowers. If you cut the stem the water can rise 

 to the flower, you can have a longer stem, and the 

 plant is not hurt. 



Let us see how the flower was fed before we cut 

 it: The roots took food and moisture from the 

 ground, turned it into sap and pumped.it up to the 

 flower through the stem. When we cut the flower 

 stem there is nothing now to pump the sap up to 

 the flower, but we are going, to put the stem in 

 water, and that great force of nature we have al- 



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