160 The Horticulturist' s Rule- Book, 



Preserving and Printing Flowers and Plants, continued. 



3. Plants may also be plunged in a boiling solution of 1 part of 

 salicylic acid and 600 of alcohol, and then dried in bibulous paper. 

 But this should be done very rapidly, violet flowers especially 

 being decolorized by more than an instantaneous immersion. 



4. Red flowers which have changed to a purplish tint in drying 

 may have their color restored by laying them on a piece of paper 

 moistened with dilute nitric acid (1 part to 10 or 12 parts of 

 water) , and then submitting them to moderate pressure for a few 

 seconds; but the solution must not touch the green leaves, as 

 they are decolorized by it. 



5. With Sulphur. (Quin.) Procure a chest about 3 or 4 ft. 

 square, with a small opening in the under part of one side, to be 

 closed by a bar, through which the basin containing brimstone 

 must be put into the chest ; this opening must be covered inside 

 with perforated tin, in order to prevent those flowers which hang 

 immediately over the basin from being spoiled. Paper the inside 

 to render it air-tight. When the chest is ready for use, nail 

 small laths on two opposite sides of the interior, at a distance of 

 about 6 inches apart, and on these lay thin round sticks upon 

 which to arrange the flowers ; these should not be too close to- 

 gether, or the vapor will not circulate freely through the vacant 

 spaces around the flowers. When the chest is sufficiently full 

 of flowers close it carefully, place a damp cloth on the sides of 

 the lid, and some heavy stones upon the top of it; then take 

 small pieces of brimstone, put them in a small flat basin, kindle 

 and put through the opening in the bottom of the chest and shut 

 the bar. Leave the chest undisturbed for twenty-four hours, 

 after which time it must be opened, and if the flowers be suffi- 

 ciently smoked they will appear white, if not, they must be 

 smoked again. When sufficiently smoked, take the flowers out 

 carefully and hang them up in a dry, airy place in the shade, and 

 in a few days or even hours they will recover their natural color, 

 except being only a shade paler. 



To give them a very bright and shining color, plunge them into 

 a mixture of 10 parts of cold water and 1 of good nitric acid ; 

 drain off: the liquid, and hang them up again the same as before. 

 The best flowers for this process are asters, roses, fuchsias 

 (single ones), spiraeas (red-flowered kinds, such as callosa, 

 Douglasi, etc.), ranunculus, delphiniums, cytisus, etc. The 

 roses should be quite open, but not too fully blown. 



