BOOK OF THE HOME GARDEN 



ready talked about, "Capillary Attraction," is go- 

 ing to send the water in the vase up to the blossom 

 but if the stem is injured or bent or dried, Capil- 

 lary Attraction cannot send the water up and the 

 flower soon withers. 



If you notice the stem of every flower you see, 

 whether you are a flower gardener or a vegetable 

 gardener, you will learn much from them. Some 

 stems are a hollow tube and the sap can rise easily 

 pick the first dandelion you see and examine it; 

 others are hard and woody and the sap flows just 

 under the bark look at an apple or peach blossom. 

 The flowers which have soft hollow stems can get 

 the water from the vase very easily but they are 

 also very easily bent and broken. The flowers with 

 a woody stem do not get the water so easily and we 

 have to make a special effort to keep them soft. 

 So we put them first into very hot water for a few 

 minutes and then into cool water. The hot water 

 softens the stem and is a pump to start the water 

 rising; then we put the flowers into cool water and 

 it goes on rising. 



The only proper time of the day to pick flowers 

 is in the early morning, because the plant has been 

 cooled off by the night air and has rested in the 

 dark. But after the sun gets high the roots are 



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