CONSTRUCTION OF BOUQUETS, ETC. 159 



reds of thousands of dollars annually, will soon assert 

 its own position, and it is for those engaged in it to make 

 or mar it, as they conduct it more or less respectably. 

 As Americans assuredly pay better prices for their bouquets 

 than any other people, let the florist see to it that they 

 get the finest and best arranged flowers. 



We must apologize to the general reader for the minute 

 description and the technical terms used in detailing the 

 modus operandi of construction, but it is necessary to 

 be thus particular, to be properly understood by such as 

 are interested in the subject. So many flowers have 

 short or unmanageable stems, or grow 

 so close to buds which the grower can- 

 not afford to cut, that artificial stems must 

 be largely used. Even where stems are 

 available, the bouquet maker in all good 

 work prefers having another added to 

 hold the flower in position, the strength 

 of the stem being proportioned to the 

 weight of the flower it bears. Thick 

 stems must be avoided, else the bouquet 

 handle becomes clumsy, a very objec- 

 tionable feature, as amateurs speedily dis- 

 cover, particularly when using flowers on 

 their own stems. The stems commonly 

 used are of broom-corn or straw matting, 

 Fig. 44. cut in lengths as desired, from four to 



eight inches. With this and hair wire cut to three- 

 inches, the "stemmer" goes to work. By a rapid twist 

 one end of the wire is fastened on the straw, and the 

 flower is attached by a whirl of the stem between finger 

 and thumb, as in figure 44. Stemming is a large 

 part of the labor of bouquet making, and rather distaste- 

 ful to the amateur. One bouquet maker requires two 

 stemmers, and a very prosy business it soon becomes to 

 both, and vastly less interesting than the growing of 



