Picking, Packing and Shipping Carnation Flowers 



The blooms are packed in the early morning, usually between four and 

 six o'clock, and are generally sold and distributed among the various retail 

 stores by ten o'clock of the same morning, so that the carnation flower, which 

 is cut from the plant on any given morning, is in the storekeeper's window, 

 or cool room, by ten o'clock of the following day, and probably in the hands 

 of the consumer, when its real use may be said to have commenced, by three 

 to six o'clock of the same day. 



Many persons have the idea that flowers freshly cut from the plant 

 will keep the best. They frequently come to the florist with the request 

 that blooms be picked direct from the plants as an assurance of their fresh- 

 ness, and carry the blooms away, with the mistaken impression that such 

 flowers will keep better than those that have been picked and treated to 

 the proper curing process. While such blooms frequently will last longer 

 than many of the flowers purchased from the stores, it does not follow 

 that it is the best method of treating the carnation flower. If such flowers 

 can be placed at once in water, in a cool room, even for an hour only, then 

 properly packed in a suitable box for carriage, they will keep much better 

 than when taken directly from the plants to the purchaser's residence. 



During the winter months, it is necessary to protect the flowers from 

 frost while in transit. This is readily done where they are packed in the 

 pasteboard boxes referred to. The shipping case is lined with several thick- 

 nesses of strong, heavy felt ; and in the coldest weather each individual box 

 may also be wrapped with paper. Packed in this manner, flowers will 

 carry a number of hours in the coldest weather, without injury, as the paste- 

 board boxes protect the blooms from frost, even if it should penetrate the 

 outer case. 



When the flowers are shipped in bundles, it is more difficult to avoid 

 loss by freezing, as if the cold penetrates the case at any point, it rapidly 

 spreads throughout the entire mass of flowers and injures them; whereas, 

 when packed in the pasteboard boxes, if the cold penetrates through the outer 

 case, it still meets with resistance from the pasteboard box and its wrapping. 

 During an experience of ten years in shipping flowers, we have had com- 

 paratively few complaints of their being injured by frost in transit, when 

 packed in the pasteboard boxes ; in fact, it may be said, that almost all of 

 the losses which we have incurred from flowers freezing in transit have 

 been where the blooms were packed in bunches, and not where they were 

 enclosed in the pasteboard boxes. 



As before stated, the chief value of a flower consists in its being placed 

 in the consumer's hands in a fresh, durable condition. Some growers won- 



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