PACKING, SHIPPING AND BUSINESS MATTERS 63 



fresh water standing handy to the benches, so that as 

 soon as a bunch is tied up it can be placed in the water at 

 once. This is very necessary, as it helps prolong the 

 life of the flower. If the blooms are left out of water until 

 the cutting is all finished, a number of them wiO have 

 wilted a little and the sap in the stem haidened up to such 

 an extent that the flower will not suck up water freely. 



After the cutting and bunching are finished the flowers 

 should be placed in water in a closet or room where the 

 temperature remains steady at about 5s deg., and where 

 no drafts of air will strike them. When packing to send 

 them to the commission man or wholesale store, use a few 

 sheets of newspaper between each layer of bunches and ' 

 keep the ends of the stems from touching any of the flowers. 

 Two layers of bunches are enough to put in any package, 

 as too many heads get broken when packed in too soHd. 

 The wholesale or commission house should put the flowers 

 in water as soon as received. — 



Now for short distances: Where the flowers can be 

 shipped on trains that will arrive early enough for the 

 flowers to be delivered that same day, the stock sent is 

 usually that cut the night before; but for flowers that 

 will have to remain packed in the boxes over night and 

 for all long-distance shipments, the stock taken is always 

 cut in the morning, and after standing in water for three 

 to six hours, is sent into the market and shipped away 

 the same day. The old idea that a Carnation keeps best 

 if allowed to stand in water eighteen to twenty-four hours 

 before sending into market has been disproved by actual 

 experience, and of the Carnation blooms received by the 

 wholesale growers at least two-thirds the stock is cut in 

 the morning and shipped in to their wholesale stores in 

 the early afternoon to send away the same day. , These 



