BOUQUETS AND FLOEAL OEXAMENTS. 



quantity of the whisk from an old corn broom about six or eight inches long, a single 

 straw of whif.h is used for supporting the heads of small flowei-s, such as Violets, &c. In 

 addition to the above, procure two coils of unannealed, or very pliable or flexible, copper 

 or iron wire, one coil of which should be about the thickness of a pretty good sized pin, 

 and the other the finest almost that can be procured, not larger than fine spool-cotton 

 or horse-hair. The first mentioned is used for attaching Camellias and other large 

 flowers to the switches, or artificial stems, and the latter for the smaller flowers, and is 

 much preferable to twine or thread, as it does not require tying, but is merely passed 

 four times around the flower and its support and is then cut oft' with the scissors. I 

 would recommend that copper wire should be used, particularly the larger size, as iron 

 wire if left in the green-house soon becomes rusty and soils both the hands and the 

 flowers. The commercial gardeners generally use iron. A ball of good strong hemp 

 or cotton twine, or tie-yarn, is requisite for putting the bouquet together and must be 

 kept in a flower-pot at your feet, to keep it from rolling about. A quantity of ever- 

 green, such as Cedar, Arbor Vitne, or, what is better than either, the small evergreen 

 vine, or Lycopodium, which grows in profusion in New Jersey and other localities, and 

 is used for making wreaths for ornamenting churches in New York and Philadelphia at 

 Christmas, for filling in the interstices between the flowers and for finishing the lower 

 part of the bouquet. 



Before describing the modus operandi of making or putting together the bouquet, 

 allow me to say a word or two in defence of the practice of using flowers with short 

 stems. Of course when a collection of plants is very extensive, or when the kinds used 

 are not mostly of a valuable kind, there is less necessity for economy ; but where the 

 reverse of this is the case, I know of but one objection that can be urged, and that is 

 that the flowers will wither sooner than if their stems reached the water. This objec- 

 tion has been found by experience to be far less serious than it appears at the first 

 glance to be, for if the interstices between the supports of the flowers be properly filled 

 up with any kind of materials, such as evergreens, moss, or the like, to retain moisture, 

 and the bouquet is turned upside down once or twice a day and water jDOured on it, it 

 will retain its beauty and freshness for a week at least, and I have seen a bouquet two 

 weeks old so fresh that it called forth the admiration of all who inspected it. 



Before quitting this branch of my subject, I will ofter a few suggestions in regard to 

 the economical use of flowers which will be found of considerable importance where 

 the demand is greater, than the supply. By a careful examination of the botanical 

 structure of various plants, it will bo found that a number of them produce their flowers 

 in clusters or umbels, and that in many cases the upper buds expand sometime before 

 the lower ones, consequently if the whole head is cut oflf the later bloom is entirely lost. 

 This is especially the case with Geraniums, (particularly the scarlet,) Primroses, I'ig- 

 nonias, etc., and it will be found a considerable saving to only cull the expanded blos- 

 soms. There are also other plants which produce their flowers in long spikes or 

 garlands, such as the Acacias, the Euphorbia Jacquincejlora, the Spiraa j)runifoUa, 

 and others, all of which can be divided into pieces from one to two inches long and 

 will have quite as good an appearance in the bouquet as if the whole stem were used. 

 Again, there are other jilants, and among them some of the most gorgeous ai d show^ 

 riptions, whose flowers are too large to be used entire and consequently require 

 ided ; among these are the Poinsettia 2)ulchcrrima and the Strelitzia 



