THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



signed with the same object in view as have been the vases. The 

 vases are wide opened at the mouth, which allows the oxygen of 

 the air to enter and help purify the water, and are not pressed 

 closely together at the top as our vases are. The colors of the 

 vases are subdued and inconspicuous so as in no way to detract 

 from the beauty of the flower but only enhance its charm. 



The flowers are placed in the vases in two kinds of supports. 

 In the upright vases a forked stick is used, which passes across 

 the mouth of the vase or holder, and each flower is passed 

 through this opening one at a time. In the low, flat receptacles 

 the lead flower holders are used, as in Japan in the low recep- 

 tacles they only arrange water growing or bulbous plants, and 

 these require the stems pressed on the bottom of the receptacle 

 in order to prolong their life. 



The Japanese spend more time in selecting the material with 

 which they are to work than time on placing it in the vase. What 

 at first to us is deceiving in this style of arrangement is the fact 

 that the Japanese try to represent the whole, while we are 

 content that a branch remains a branch. Where we gather a few 

 flowers and put them in a vase in which they remain a few or 

 part of the whole, the Japanese at once considers where and how 

 the plant grew and represents the whole complete. This is why 

 they strive so hard to bring all the sprays into a unity at the base 

 or iust above the surface of the water, forming what they call 

 the parent stalk. 



This is what gives strength to all this arrangement. They 

 consider the surface of the water in the vase as the surface of 

 the soil from which the artificial group sprang. Not only 

 flowers but branches of trees lend themselves admirably to this 

 style of arrangement, and the Japanese are taught to make one 

 branch simulate the entire tree from which it has been gathered. 



There is nothing more needed in the rush of this century than 

 time taken for the pursuit of something beautiful and it is inter- 

 esting that in Japan when people are nervously ill and doctors 

 fail, patients are often advised to devote so many hours a day 

 to flower arrangement, with the most wonderful results in calming 

 and composing their nerves. It also teaches concentration and 

 proportion. One learns to discriminate in the selection of what 



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