INTRODUCTION 



into trying this system for themselves will be 

 amply repaid for any amount of time they 

 may devote to its practise. 



I am confident that a recognition of the 

 beauty of a few flowers naturally arranged 

 will bring flowers more into general use by 

 those who have hitherto felt that quantity 

 was necessary to produce any pleasing effect. 

 If we would but profit by what the Japanese 

 have to teach us, no one who loves and longs 

 for flowers need be without one or two to 

 give suggestion of nature's wealth of beauty. 

 Even one spray of green can suggest the 

 freshness of growing things which is so often 

 shut out from our city lives; while our masses 

 of roses and violets suggest only the hot- 

 house and are out of the reach of many who 

 could have a few flowers. 



Mr. Josiah Conder, in his comprehensive 

 and wonderfully instructive work on the 

 subject, "The Flowers of Japan and the 

 Art of Japanese Floral Arrangement," has 

 given us great enlightenment. No other for- 

 eigner has had such opportunities, none has 



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