J^lowers for Ornatnent and Decoration. 75 



ferable ; and these blossoms may be more readily examined and admired than if raised 

 to the height of the tallest person's eyes. The most suitable table flowers, are roses — 

 always, if possible — (for their significance), camellias, carnations, tuberoses, fuchsias, 

 azaleas ; or balsams (double), portulaccas (double), gilliflowers, the smaller lilies — 

 lilies of the valley, especially — and hyacinths, in their season ; with heliotrope, mah- 

 ernia, genista, acacia, sweet alyssum and mignonette; all feathery foliage, of the 

 gentlest green, fringing the dish (a pendant spray or blossom breaking the outline 

 here and there) and slightly pointing the collection at intervals. These dishes of 

 flowers are equally suitable for the festive board or the center or pier-table. 



Mantel bouquets, because of their awkward receptacles, are too often clumsy, unin- 

 teresting concerns. Vases of medium height and size are best for these, of colorless 

 glass or crystal. Decorated or gilded vases, whether of china or glass, arc entirely 

 unfit for holding flowers. Their dainty colorings or etchings or picturesque forms 

 may command admiratinn. and serve effectively as ornaments to any apartment, if 

 allowed to remain idle ; t«it, no matter how beautiful they may be in their particular 

 province of art, when plae^ in close companionship with Flora's exquisite tints and 

 tissues, not only do they su' er in comparison, but even the flowers themselves refuse 

 to disclose their highest charms in such society. To prove this, just place two bou- 

 quets, of precisely similar flowers, one in a common glass tumbler, the other in an 

 elegant Bohemian or Sevres vase, and see how much more vivid and healthful in 

 coloring, and vigorous and intelligent in manner, so to speak, the group in the tum- 

 bler will appear, than their dull and dingy and characterless neighbors of the ruby or 

 gilded vase. Silver, it is true, forms an agreeable contrast with delicate green, and 

 the more subdued tintings, and hence vases and dishes of this material will always be 

 in request for table flowers. And for a statuesque group of camellias, tuberoses and 

 cape jasmines — gleaming like scu-ptured marble amid their own dark foliage — the 

 grandeur of some dim old bronze seems most appropriate, and the solitude of some 

 shadowy recess more fit location than the broad display of the mantel. 



The vase for holding a mantel bouquet should be of slightly spreading form ; and 

 as only the front of the flowers is seen, they must be arranged in the fan-shape, rising 

 gently in the center. A back of arbor vitge, or of bouquet green, is very suitable, 

 but more delicate foliage is always desirable when it can be procured. Heath, acacia, 

 or the flumey boughs of asparagus, are vei'y beautiful. Arrange this first, then a row 

 of sprays and spikes of the smallest flowrets in contrasting colors; next, small clus- 

 ters of larger flowers, with their buds, in harmonizing tints; each cluster separated 

 from its companions by a bit of green, or a spikelet of white ; then large and small, 

 alternately (the largest in the center), of harmonizing tints, a speck of green here and 

 there — if part of it is drooping, so much the prettier. Clusters of medium-sized 

 flowers should follow these — a few pendant bells or racemes among them ; and then 

 flowers of a similar size, alternating with the smallest of drooping habit, a few leaves 

 of finely cut foliage interspersed and hanging over the edge of the vase, with a stray 

 branchlet or raceme, of fine florescence, of greater length, to relieve the immotony of 

 the edging. Of course the stalks must be of graduated length, that each set of 

 flowers and foliage, as it is added, may stand freely below the preceding set. 



[TO BK CONTINUED.] 



