CONSTKUCTIOX OP BOUQUETS, ETC. 189 



while camellias vary from one dollar each, when scarce, 

 to twenty-five cents when plentiful. At Christmas and 

 New Year's, camellias are frequently sold from two to 

 three dollars each. The price of hand bouquets varies 

 from fifty cents upwards. What florists call good hand 

 bouquets sell at about five dollars, extra fine from five to 

 ten ; occasionally they bring still higher figures. This writer 

 has sold not a few at fifteen, and on rare occasions has 

 received twenty dollars for a hand bouquet, and that 

 from men who knew well the usual prices of flowers. 

 To give the uninitiated some idea how these things are 

 used, we may mention having seen a belle at an evening 

 party in New Yoi-k, carrying a bouquet in each hand, 

 while three others were strung from each arm as tro- 

 phies of her prowess among the simpler, if not the softer 

 sex. Of course this display could not last long; the very 

 weight of her attractions would speedily compel her to sur- 

 render, for be it remembered those eight bouquets certain- 

 ly contained about sixty camellias alone. We have known 

 rich and fashionable belles even more favored than this, 

 and have heard of one having fifteen splendid hand bouquets 

 sent for one occasion. We have never, however, heard of 

 another showing such muscular prowess in their display. 

 Baskets of flowers commonly sell from five to twenty-five 

 dollars, stands from fifteen to fifty, extra large stands from 

 fifty to a hundred. We have heard of two hundred and 

 even three hundred dollars being paid for one. Bouquets 

 for refreshment and dinner tables range from five to fifty 

 dollars each; we have ourselves made one at one hundred. 

 The prices of wreaths, crosses, &c., vary from fire to 

 twenty or thirty dollars ; from five to fifteen is a com- 

 mon range. On one occasion a New York florist is said 

 to have supplied three thousand dollars' worth of flowers 

 for a private entertainment, but two or three hundred 

 is more common, and esteemed a very good order. 

 A business, which in New York alone amounts to hund- 



