144 Milady's House Plants 



Third — A sharp knife is preferable to scissors, the 

 cut made by the former leaving the ends of the little 

 tubes open whereas the compression cut of the shears 

 crushes them. 



Fourth — ^The shorter the stem the longer the life 

 of the cut flower and vice versa is an axiom worth re- 

 membering. This applies especially to hard wooded 

 stems such as Chrysanthemums possess, but is appli- 

 cable to all, and so flowers should be cut at first with 

 as short stems as are to be used in their final positions. 

 ' Fifth — When flowers are received from a florist 

 they should be immediately unpacked and put in 

 water. If they have been a long time in transit the 

 ends of the stems should be freshly cut with a sharp 

 knife and the flowers placed in water and put into a 

 cool place. Roses freshly cut in a warm greenhouse 

 are in- no condition for immediate use in the dry, 

 heated atmosphere of the dwelling-house; they should 

 be placed in a florist's ice-chest, where the temperature 

 is 45°-5o° F., and kept there in vases of water for at 

 least twelve hours before using. If it is desired to 

 keep them a long time for some special occasion they 

 can be wrapped snugly in the wax paper that florists 

 use, making an air-tight bundle — not as much to ex- 

 clude the air as to keep their own juices from evapo- 

 rating — their stems of course being always in water. 

 Constantly cutting off the bottoms of the stems is 

 also a help until finally the Roses that were received 

 with stems over eighteen inches long will come to an 

 honorable end, sometimes ten days after, floating in 

 the modern dish with no stem at all. 



Effective Arrangement of Flowers 



With regard to the arrangement of cut flowers, 



