The Daily Dispatch: June 12, 1861., [Electronic resource]

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How the Japanese restore Faded Flowers.

--After a bouquet is drooping beyond all remedies of fresh water, the Japanese can bring it back to all its first glory by a simple and seemingly most destructive operation. A writer at Nagasaki says:

‘ I had received some few days ago a delightful bunch of flowers from a Japanese acquaintance. They continued to live in their beauty for nearly two weeks, when, at last, they faded. Just as I was about to have them thrown away, the same gentleman, (Japanese gentleman,) came to see me. I showed him the faded flowers; and told him, that though lasting a long time, they had now become useless. ‘"O. no,"’ said he, ‘"only put the ends of the stems into the fire, and they will be as good as before."’ I was incredulous; so he took them himself, and held the stems' ends in the fire until they were completely charred. This was in the morning; at evening they were again looking fresh and vigorous, and have continued so for another week. What may be the true agent in this revving process, I am unable to determine fully; whether it be heat driving once more the last juices into the very leaflet and vein, or whether it be the bountiful supply of carbon furnished by the charring.--I am inclined, however, to the latter cause, as the full effect was not produced until some eight hours afterward, and as it seems that if the heat was the principal agent, it must have been sooner followed by visible changes.

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