CHAPTER SIXTEEN 



FLOWERS BLOOMING IN AND OUT 

 OF SEASON 



IN Japan flowers which bloom in their 

 proper season are the most highly es- 

 teemed and are considered the most 

 suitable for gifts. When flowers blooming 

 in season are arranged with flowers which 

 have been forced into bloom in advance of 

 or kept after their usual time of blossom, the 

 seasonable flowers will always take the high- 

 est positions. Heaven and Man will be made 

 of the seasonable flowers, and only Earth 

 may be of those blooming out of their time. 

 Flowers blooming out of season would 

 never be chosen for a present by a Japa- 

 nese nor used as decorations for an entertain- 

 ment. In fact a Japanese never attaches 

 any value to flowers or fruit forced out of 

 their proper season; strawberries in January 



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