HOUSE PLANTS. 



87 



covered with a sheet of paper, and immediately conveyed to the 

 apartment where they are to be used, if that apartment be near 

 at hand. But if they are to be sent to any distance, they should 

 be placed in tin cases, such as botanists use when collecting spe- 

 cimens. We have sent flowers, in such cases, for several hundred 

 miles, and found most of them in good condition at the end of a 

 journey of three or four days' continuance. In this way the 

 Dutch florists send specimens of their finest flowers not only to 

 England, but to more distant parts of continental Europe. Our 

 own florists send to the metropolis, for competition at exhibitions, 

 flowers from Cornwall, from the north of England and from Scot- 

 land, and they arrive without the least decay. They are placed 

 in wooden or tin boxes, having an internal arrangement of small 

 phials, fixed under a covering of tin or wood, perforated with 

 holes, just large enough to admit the stalks of the flowers, the 

 ends of which are placed in the water of the phials, and in this 

 way they are conveyed with perfect safety. 



Flowers should not be cut during sunshine, or kept exposed to 

 the solar influence ; neither should they be collected in large 

 bundles and tied tightly together, as this invariably hastens their 

 decay. When in the room where they are to remain, the ends 

 of the stalks should be cut clean across with a very sharp knife 

 (never with scissors), by which means the tubes through which 

 they draw the water are left open, so that the water ascends 

 freely, which it will not do if the tubes of the stems are bruised 

 or lacerated. An endless variety of ornamental vessels are used 

 for the reception of such flowers, and they are all equally well 

 adapted for the purpose, so that the stalks are inserted in pure 

 water. This water ought to be changed every day, or once in 

 two days at the furthest, and a thin slice should be cleanly cut 

 off from the end of each stalk every time the water is removed, 

 which will occasion fresh action and revive the flowers. Water, 



