288 THE FLORIST. 



ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 



To the Superintendent of the Florist. 

 No. VII. 

 To conclude the subject of form or shape, we come, lastly, to treat 

 of it as subservient to an ulterior purpose, to set off to greater 

 advantage some other means of beauty. This is a large rather 

 than a difficult branch, requiring more a copious induction of par- 

 ticulars than the announcing and establishment of any fresh general 

 principles. Whatever can be correctly said upon the subject will 

 be found to depend on some of those principles that have been laid 

 down before. I shall not therefore here attempt any such extended 

 induction, but confine my observations within as narrow a space as 

 will suffice to explain the mode of their application. 



With respect to the general forms of flowers, different shapes 

 are best suited to different purposes. The cup-edged, or rose- 

 leaved petal, elegant as it is, is unsuited to shew the colours of the 

 Polyanthus, the Auricula, or the disked Cineraria, though it enhances 

 the beauty of the Carnation, the Picotee, and the Pink. The flat 

 surface will not effectively display the markings of such as are equally 

 painted on both surfaces, as the Tulip ; nor will the hollow cup, so 

 admired in that flower, suffice to bring the single Poppy or Peony, 

 w T ith all their glowing colours, into favour with the fastidious. Re- 

 gard must be had to the mode of colour before a decision can be pro- 

 nounced on the form most available for its display. The most perfect 

 is, when the flower is calculated to produce both a general effect as a 

 whole, and likewise to attract observation to its several parts. In 

 this respect I imagine the first place must be conceded, without a 

 rival, to the Tulip, and the second probably to the Orchids. Nor 

 does this prejudice the popular claim for the Rose, a claim in which 

 I cordially join, to be the queen of flowers. The Pvose has too many 

 and too solid attractions to fear giving other flowers their due meed 

 of superiority in particular points over itself. But the Rose is es- 

 sentially a self-coloured flower, though there are some departures 

 from this rule, and, for the most part, with little improvement. And 

 it is rather an encomium upon, than a disparagement of, its merits, 

 that, having to contend at a disadvantage, it wins for itself the highest 

 place in our esteem. The Auricula, the Pelargonium, and perhaps 

 the Carnation, present more of a picture,* and have more properties 

 or points that conduce to excellence than the Rose. 



Were there any flower, the colours of which ate disposed with as 

 minute a reference to mutual position as those of a picture, no doubt 

 a perfectly flat surface would be best. And although making no 

 such pretensions to accuracy, the Auricula is impatient of any other 

 form, because the relative proportions of its primary subdivisions, which 

 proportions are its principal characteristic, are injured or lost without 

 it. The Polyanthus and the party-coloured varieties of Cineraria 

 would suffer in the same w T ay, but in a less degree. The colours of 



* The Pansy does this ; but I have no wish to expose a truth to ridicule by 

 appearing to compare the Pansy to the Rose. 



