Horticultural Society of Chicago. 
Chicago, March 24-29, 1914. 
For those who may visit California in the coming months, the 
address is here given of the Theodosia B. Shepherd Company, at 
Ventura, where petunias are grown which are said to be "without rivals 
in size and beauty." 
jforeign mews 
France. 
Preserving Cut Flowers. 
Modern research in France has developed the art of preserving 
cut flowers to a point undreamed of a few years ago. The old way 
was to cut off the end of the flower stem or sear it or add salt water. 
Fourton and Ducomet applied the principles of osmotic pressure to the 
subject. They reasoned that when flowers containing salts in their 
juices were placed in pure water, the unequal pressure thereby developed 
ruptured the cell walls and made the plant wilt. Consequently, they 
tried a great number of solutions for preserving the cut flowers, and 
found that when the osmotic pressure of the solution outside equaled 
that of the juices in the flower, the best results were obtained. 
Sugar solutions of varying strength proved the most effective except 
in the case of lilies, lilacs and sweet peas. Carnations lasted longest 
in a 1 5 per cent, sugar solution, while roses were most permanent in 
a sugar solution of half that strength. Chrysanthemums and tulips are 
not benefited, but effort is being made to discover a suitable preserva- 
tive for them also. Although lilacs are not benefited by a sugar solu- 
tion only, yet if they are kept in a 1 2 per cent, sugar solution which 
also contains 1 00th of 1 per cent, manganese sulphate, they last much 
longer than usual and improve in tint. One of the United States 
experiment stations has begun experiments in this line and new results 
are expected. — Scientific American. 
Great Britain. 
The Royal Horticultural Society will hold a special exhibition 
of forced spring bulbs on March 10 and 11, 1914, the object being 
to demonstrate the varieties best suited for gentle forcing. 
