48 breck's new book of flowers. 



pale sea green and rose color, or any of these, with white. 

 This seems the prevailing thing, as much in dress as in 

 flowers, and as much in rooms as anywhere. But then, 

 Parisians do compose room, and toilette, and flowers, all 

 as a sort of picture. 



" But to go on to vases and to flowers in general. The 

 great idea now in arranging them, is to show each flower 

 separately (not in that horrid way, of all others most ob- 

 jectionable, when, having a crowd of flowers, each flower 

 tries to be seen, thus making up a result of a mass of ex- 

 cited petals, like flices turned up in a crowd) — but where 

 the view is to let each flower repose quietly and calmly 

 upon a bed of green. That is, after all, the natural view 

 of flowers ; but I never saw it done perfectly till a few 

 days ago, at Paris. 



"Bouquets for the hand are not made up abroad like 

 " the run" of English ones. The prettiest mode this year 

 is to have a kind of fern shaped spray of green going 

 down the bouquet between each little group of flowers. 

 It seems to me that in composing a bouquet, there are five 

 or six separate bunches of green arranged first separately 

 — some fern, for example, or sprays of rose leaves (to men- 

 tion things, that every one has at hand), and then these 

 sprays are fastened to the centre, formed, one after each 

 little group of Azaleas or Geraniums. The efiect is ex- 

 ceedingly good. The flowers would not be mixed much — 

 perhaps red and white in one place, and only pink in an- 

 other ; or perhaps blue would be alone here, and next door 

 to it bufl". The art is, not to seem to think the flowers 

 unsuited to each other. Flowers for hair and dress are 

 now very rarely mixed. You have some one flower and 

 its own buds for all. Then, if more green is wanted, 

 there are always sprays of ivy, drooping fronds of fern, 

 long ribbons of delicate grass. As a general thing, how- 

 ever, one flower with its own leaves is enough for one per- 



