218 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



arranging flowers. Who has not 'seen bunches of beauti- 

 ful flowers cut from the garden and tied up in the least 

 artistic fashion with the most stupid result ? And who 

 that has attended fashionable weddings or parties has 

 not occasionally seen a large bouquet or basket in which 

 the quantity of good flowers was its only merit where a 

 mass of flowers was muddled together in a most incon- 

 gruous fashion, equally removed from both nature and 

 art ? Nor is this fault that of the tyro in bouquet making 

 only ; many who practice it as an occupation have not 

 learned the first principles of tasteful arrangement. Yet 

 great allowance may be made for the bouquet makers, 

 when we consider how much like labor their work 

 becomes. No one, trying always to execute this work 

 with taste, would ever accomplish the amount of 

 work required of him in any thriving establishment, a 

 great part of it being of necessity done hurriedly ; and as 

 the variety of flowers is so great and constantly changing 

 with the seasons, and their colors so varied, it is only by 

 trying them in various combinations that the best results 

 can be obtained. 



Probably the simplest, the easiest, and commonly the 

 most desirable, method of using cut flowers is arranging 

 them in vases. The more loosely and unconfused, the 

 better. Crowding is particularly to be avoided, and to 

 accomplish this readily a good base of greens is required, 

 to keep the flowers apart. This filling up is a very 

 important part in all bouquet making, and the neglect of 

 it is the greatest stumbling-block of the uninitiated. 

 Spiked and dropping flowers, with branches and sprays 

 of delicate green, are indispensable to the grace and 

 beauty of a vase bouquet. To preserve the individuality 

 of flowers, which is of the greatest importance, the 

 placing of those of similar size and form together ought to 

 be avoided. Thus Heliotrope, Stevia, Eupatorium, or 

 Alyssum, when combined lose their distinctive beauty ; 



