248 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1024 



scale is now being prepared and checked up 

 •witli standard soil acids made by new methods. 

 E. Truoq 

 Department of Soils, 



Wisconsin Experiment Station, 

 University of Wisconsin 



experimental efforts to retain the fresh- 

 ness in cut rose blooms^ 



During tbe spring of 1908 the Ehode Island 

 Station had a large surplus of rose blooms from 

 its experimental beds, and at the suggestion 

 of Dr. H. J. Wheeler, who was then director 

 of the station, the writer carried on over one 

 hundred and fifty tests with solutions of 

 various kinds of chemicals and in various 

 concentrations, to ascertain their effect in 

 promoting the keeping qualities of the cut 

 blooms, whereby the average housewife could 

 with slight trouble and expense prolong ma- 

 terially the period of freshness of the blooms; 

 thus increasing largely the usefulness of the 

 rose as a home decoration. 



Most of the tests were made in May, 1908, 

 while the final tests were completed in July, 

 1913. 



The varieties of rose blooms used in 1908 

 were Brides and Bridesmaids, while the Mary- 

 land was used in 1913. 



In most cases the blooms were taken im- 

 mediately after being cut, and divided into 

 uniform groups of six to eight. The stems 

 were cut from *! to 10 inches long, and placed 

 in wide-mouthed flasks of 500 c.c. capacity. 

 Ordinary water was used as the solvent in all 

 of the tests, and a control flask was included 

 with each lot of blooms, all of which were kept 

 under laboratory conditions and in the orig- 

 inal solutions for periods of from four to 

 seven days. The number of tests of a given 

 concentration of a chemical varied from one 

 with the extremes to as high as three or four 

 with some of the medium dilutions. 



In the following table the degrees of con- 

 centration of the solutions are divided into 

 the lowest used, the highest used which was 



1 Contribution 205 from the Agrieultuial Ex- 

 periment Station of the Rhode Island State Col- 

 lege, Kingston. 



not injurious, and those used which proved 

 injurious. 



PARTS IN 10,000 



Alcohol 



Ammonium hydroxid 



Borax 



Boric acid 



Carbolic acid 



Ether... 



Formalin 



Glycerine 



Iron, solid, powdered 



Magnesium sulfate 



Nutrient solution ^ 



Potassium nitrate 



Potassium permanganate 



Sodium carbonate 



Sodium chlorid 



Sodium nitrate 



Sodium sulfate 



Sodium sulfite 



Sugar 



Sulfuric acid 



berof 

 Parts 

 Used 



Largest 

 Number 

 of Parts 

 Not In- 

 jurious 



100 

 5 

 5 



10 

 1 

 10 

 10 

 2.5 

 5 

 10 

 10 



5 



1,000 



30 



No. of Parts 

 Used that 



Proved 

 iDJurious 



50-200 



700-1,000 



20-250 



10 

 2-100 

 50-500 

 10-200 

 50-100 



100 



25 



10 



20 



100-250 



2-5 

 10-50 



50-150 



A mixture of one part of carbolic acid and 

 three parts ammonium hydroxid in 10,000 did 

 not prove injurious, while two parts carbolic 

 acid and 50 parts ammonium hydroxid did 

 prove injurious. 



Of all the tests, a strong sugar solution, 

 7-10 per cent., was the only one that caused 

 any marked freshening in the appearance of 

 the blooms. This effect was shown by a deep- 

 ening of the color of the pink varieties within 

 a few hours after the stems were placed in the 

 sugar solution, whereas those in water faded 

 much sooner. However, the breaking down of 

 the blooms and the dropping of their petals oc- 

 curred at the same time in the flasks contain- 

 ing sugar as in those containing only water. 



When clean flasks were used, the changing 

 of the water daily, or the cutting off of the 

 end of the stems and changing the water daily 

 did not prolong the keeping qualities of the 

 blooms. F. E. Pembeb 



Ehode Island Experiment Station 



2 Contained 20 c.c. .1 N Ca(NOa)=, 10 c.c. 

 .1 N NH4NO3, 8 c.c. .1 N KCl, 8 c.c. .1 N 

 CaH,(P04),, 16 c.c. .1 N MgSOi and 10 c.c. .001 N 

 Fe^(,NO^), per L. 



