COKSTRUCTlOtf 01? BOUQUEtS, ETC. 217 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

 CONSTRUCTION OF BOUQUETS, BASKETS, ETC. 



The greater part of the following chapter on making 

 up flowers into bouquets, etc., descriptive of the va- 

 rious styles then in use in New York and vicinity, was 

 written by James EL Park, of Brooklyn, L.I., in 1868. 

 Since then there have been innovations made that render 

 some of Mr. Park's instructions then given of little use. 

 These portions I have stricken out, adding, to the best of 

 my information, the flowers now most in use, with the pres- 

 ent modes of construction. Mr. Park's taste and judg- 

 ment in this business gave him an enviable reputation, and 

 had the natural consequence of bringing to him the best 

 customers of New York and Brooklyn, so that at the age 

 of forty-five he was enabled to retire on a fortune of 

 upwards of $100,000, made entirely from the profits of 

 his business, begun on a capital of $3,000 fifteen years 

 before, a better showing than any one within my know- 

 ledge has ever made under similar circumstances. 



With the earliest civilization of our race, flowers 

 began to be cherished and employed for decorative pur- 

 poses ; nor is their arrangement in bouquets a modern art, 

 although its practice is of comparatively recent and mar- 

 vellous growth among us. 



Many people decry the artificial arrangement of 

 flowers ; but how shall we otherwise use them to advan- 

 tage ? The moment we begin to tie them together we 

 leave nature, and ought to do so only to study art. In 

 their simplest arrangement, form and color must be 

 studied to produce the best effect, and whoever best 

 accomplishes this will surely succeed in displaying his 

 flowers to the best advantage. 



Bouquet making is (01 at least ought to be) the art of 



