THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 241 



be seeu all round the white should be in the center, with the above arrange- 

 ment of colors in masses round the white. When your bouquet is large enough 

 tie it round in the middle of the stems, cut them off evenly, and drop it into a 

 vase of water. Two principles may be followed in making up a bouquet — one 

 harmony and contrast of color, the other force of light and shade. Which- 

 ever is chosen to begin with, pure white is absolutely necessary ; even if only 

 composed of a single white ilower, it should be the largest mass of the whole. 



COSTLY FLOWERS. 



The cut flower business, another phase of horticulture, is perhaps greater in 

 the United States than in any other part of the world. Certainly the use of 

 cut flowers in New York for bouquets, baskets, and other designs, is far greater 

 than in either London or Paris, and the taste shown in their arrangement here 

 is vastly superior. It is estimated that 83,000,000 were paid for cut flowers in 

 New York in 1880, one third of which was for rose-buds. Immense glass 

 structures are erected in the suburbs for the special purpose of growing cut 

 flowers to supply the bouquet makers of the city. Not less than twenty acres 

 of glass surface is devoted to the purpose of forcing roses alone, during the 

 winter months. At some seasons the prices paid for these forced rosebuds are 

 perfectly astounding. One grower of Madison, New Jersey, took into New 

 York 300 buds of the crimson rose known as "General Jacqueminot," for 

 which he received at wholesale $300, and which, no doubt, were retailed at 

 $1.50 to $2.00 each. A flower dealer in Fourteenth street, a few days before 

 Christmas, received the only four of this same variety of rose that were offered 

 in the city, and found a customer for them, at $60, or $15 apiece, or eight 

 times the value of their weight in gold. — Peter Henderson in Scribner''s 

 Monthly. 



SMILAX. 



It may interest our readers to read the following amusing incident as related 

 in the Boston Post : 



A Boston florist had failed signally in his attempt to make the vine a favorite 

 with New York florists. At the time of the great fair in aid of the French 

 sufferers by the Franco-Prussian war, Madame Doremus, who was one of the 

 managers of the fair, obtained from the Boston florist a number of floral 

 decorations and a supply of flowers for her flower tables, and among these was 

 sent an abundance of smilax. Mile. Christine Neilson tendered her services to 

 Madame Doremus as an attendant to her flower tables, and was presented by 

 the florist with flowers for her hair consisting of two rosebuds and a long 

 spray of smilax. During the evening, and while the rush for the flower tables 

 was at its height, a well-known gentleman found his way to the front, and 

 began to examine the flowers. 



"Yes, I'll buy a bouquet," he said, in answer to the prima donna's basiness- 

 like interrogation. 



"Which one will you take?" 



"I will take that one in your hair, if it is for sale," said he audaciously. 

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