THE JAPANESE FLORAL CALENDAR. 



the most difficult plants which it has ever been my lot to try and 

 paint; the flowers are at their best only in the early morning, and 

 each blossom, after it has opened, closes again before noon the first 

 day ; on the second day its petals drop. The leaves are so large and 



so full of modelling that it is impossible to generalise them as a 

 mass ; each one has to be carefully studied, and every breath of 

 wind disturbs their delicate balance and completely alters their 

 forms. Besides this, their glaucous surface, like that of a cabbage 



