118 BRITISH FLORAL DECORATION 



French ones are often so plentiful that they can 

 scarcely be sold at any price. It is to be hoped 

 that these statistics will catch the eye of some 

 enterprising capitalists who have land in favourable 

 localities, and that they will profit by it. If it does 

 and they will communicate with me I shall be 

 pleased to tell them how to go to work about 

 Violet-farming on a large or small scale, though it 

 is only by growing the finest varieties in quantities 

 that the thing can be made really practicable and 

 profitable, as the supply of second-rate flowers is 

 already overdone. 



Reverting to the Lily of the Valley, there is 

 scarcely need to mention its many virtues from 

 the decorator's point of view ; there is not a single 

 corner in floral art that it does not fill with grace 

 and beauty. It is exquisite, by itself, in great 

 bowls or tiny vases, and there is nothing from the 

 rarest Orchid to the simplest flower that grows in 

 the garden to which the addition of a few Lilies 

 does not add a charm. 



It is particularly useful when one is decorat- 

 ing tables or making bouquets, or memorial 

 designs of flowers which in themselves are some- 

 what stiff, such as Tulips, double Ranunculi, 

 or even Camellias. They break up the rotundity, 



