APPENDIX 363 



difficult to carry out any design. The best plan is to place the 

 vase, before filling it, where it will eventually be required to 

 stand, so as to be sure and procure the suitable effect. It is 

 advisable not to put water in the vessel until the composition 

 is completed, as it sometimes tips over in the process of fixing 

 the stems in the wedge. 



Before beginning the bouquet, make up your mind, in a 

 general way, what branches and flowers to use and how to 

 dispose them. Then first place the principal ones, fixing each 

 firmly in turn with the bits of Bamboo if not large enough to 

 fill the space, or by pruning the bottom of the stems if too thick, 

 so as exactly to fit the wedge. All tree-branches and shrubs 

 should have the bark peeled off the part which is under water, 

 as this allows a freer entrance to the moisture, and so enables 

 the plant to last fresh for a much longer time. When you have 

 finished the arrangement, stand at a little distance, and remove 

 all leaves, shoots, or flowers which interfere with the clearness 

 and beauty of line from various points of view. Then fill the 

 vase with water slightly tepid is best, especially if the flowers 

 are at all faded. If the wedge is still visible above or through 

 the water, cover it over with a little Moss or other very light 

 leafage or, in the case of a water-plant decoration, with some 

 small water weed. 



The diagrams showing the trilineal arrangement of stems 

 are taken from Mr. Condor's book, and are in strict accordance 

 with the rules of the Japanese art. The other two illustrations 

 of flower decorations are photographed from life, and are merely 

 casual examples of the effect produced by this system of sup- 

 porting flowers by fasteners, even without conforming with any 

 great precision to the laws adhered to in Japan. 



There is hardly a flower, shrub, or tree which is not, at one 

 stage of growth or other, adaptable to this style of arrangement, 

 but some of the most obviously suited are here mentioned by 

 way of suggestion. All fruit blossoms, wild or cultivated: 

 Blackthorn, May, Dog Eose, Bramble, Willow (more especially 

 in bud, known as ' palm '), Maple, Oak, Rhododendron, Azalea, 

 Laburnum, Wistaria, Tree Paeony, Syringa, Berberis, Laurus- 

 tinus, Holly, and almost all kinds of Pine trees ; Irises, Narcissi, 

 Bulrushes, Marsh Marigolds, Water Lilies, Honeysuckle, Clema- 

 tis, Chrysanthemums, &c. 



