CHAPTER XI 



Picking, Packing and Shipping Carnation Flowers 



THE chief value of any flower consists in its being placed in the hands of 

 the consumer in a fresh, lasting condition. This can only be accom- 

 plished by having the blooms properly handled from the time they are 

 cut from the plant until delivered into the hands of the consuming purchaser. 

 In order to accomplish this the flowers must be picked when in the proper con- 

 dition, the stems immediately plunged in water, and the receptacle placed in 

 a cooling room, which should be scrupulously clean, and in which the tem- 

 perature is uniformly carried at from 45 to 55 degrees. The vases con- 

 taining the flowers should be of sufficient size to avoid crowding or jam- 

 ming the blooms together, and be deep enough to hold at least two-thirds to 

 three-fourths of the entire length of the stem. These vases should be kept 

 perfectly clean, and should be daily filled with fresh water. The temperature 

 of the water in the vases may be from 10 to 15 degrees higher than the 

 temperature of the room at the time the flowers are put into the vase. While 

 the temperature of the cooling room should be from 48 to 50 degrees, we have 

 found it beneficial when both the water and cool room stood at about 55 to 60 

 degrees when the flowers were put in, and when the morning pick was finished 

 the room gradually cooled down to 48 to 50 degrees. The water, room 

 and flowers cooling down together, avoids the sudden chilling of the blooms, 

 a condition which sometimes causes them to wither, or, as the florist terms 

 it, "go to sleep." 



It is more advantageous to pick carnations in the morning, while the 

 temperature is low, and the flowers plump and firm, than to wait until the 

 sun has become sufficiently powerful to cause the blooms to flag. The daily 

 picking of flowers should be finished by ten o'clock in the morning, and all 

 blooms intended for shipment the following day should be in water by 

 that time. 



There is some difference of opinion, as well as in practice, regarding the 

 condition in which the bloom should be when cut. Some of our best grow- 

 ers allow the flowers to stay upon the plant until fully developed, or, as they 

 term it, finished. Our practice has been to pick the flower when about three- 



118 



