JAPANESE FLOWER ARRANGEMENT 



First. The idea that your arrangement is 

 to represent a living plant, not cut flowers. 



Second. By form of arrangement to sug- 

 gest the season of the year. 



Third. Suggest the nature of the growth 

 of the plant you are arranging by the 

 proper use of buds, open flowers, and 

 withered leaves. 



Fourth. Be sure to keep all the branches 

 or stems together at the base for at least 

 four inches above the surface of the water, 

 to form the parent stalk. This is most 

 important. Branches separated at the base 

 are very badly arranged. The surface of the 

 water in which the flowers are placed repre- 

 sents the surface of the soil from which the 

 group springs; so that here you want to 

 convey the impression of strength and a 

 vigorous origin. For four or five inches 

 the stems or branches must follow the same 

 line. This need not always be a strictly 

 vertical one, but if curved, the curves must be 

 strong and avoid all weak bends and angles. 

 This is a most important rule, for without 



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