PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 025 



is the rarer of the two gifts, for comparatively there are sculptors few and 

 painters many. One has to depend, entirely upon beauty of form and 

 sitiiplicity of material to produce pleasant emotions in the beholder; the 

 other has to call in the aid of colors and certain accessories of light and 

 shade to produce the same or similar emotions. 



For this reason floral designs made of fern leaves or other foliage, always 

 to a cultivated and critical taste, produce the most pleasant emotions, as 

 the eii'ects produced alwa^-s indicate greater creative power than if they 

 had the accessories of color and the greater variety of lines to be found in 

 tlowers. Some of the exquisite designs of the silversmith, wrought in 

 bright and frosted silver of palm leaves or fern leaves, or similar foliage, 

 will exemplify what I mean if contrasted with the elaborately wrought and 

 colored work of the choicest Sevres or Dresden China. The exquisite 

 beauty of well arranged phantom bouquets is referable to this source; the 

 material itself is almost despicable, j^et the wonderful creative power dis- 

 plaj'cd in the marvellous traceries and wondrous variety and grace of form, 

 lill us with astonishment, and call into play the highest and most delight- 

 ful emotions of the mind. 



Success in such designs depends much upon the objects in view, which 

 necessarily can be but two and they the opposite of each other, and yet 

 according to the character of the artistic treatment will equal degrees of 

 pleasure be given. Either we must use the simple and delicate forms to 

 ornament some other object, when they become subordinate, or we must 

 make them the principal objects to the eye and so make them of primary 

 importanco. In the first case the object decorated must be of more value 

 intrinsically than the material used in the decoration ; in the second case 

 the object containing them, or to which they are attached, must not appear 

 to be of as much value as the material used. For instance, if you have a 

 beautiful vase or other central piece (jf silver, you may arrange fern leaves 

 of the more common or familiar species around its foot, or upon its stem, 

 or in its cup, and so produce delightful effects of beauty by contrast, by 

 contrasting the elegant lightness of the foliage with the more massive 

 elegance of the silver, while beauty by harmony is preserved by the foliage 

 being all of one color though in diflerent shades. In the other case you 

 require more rare and less known species and of greater variety of curious 

 forms and shades of color, as in this case they are presented to the eye on 

 account of their value as rarities as well as for their beautj'^; we must be 

 careful that the object whicli contains them, or to which they are attached, 

 appear not to be of greater value than themselves, hence a fine glass or 

 simple porcelain vase or ornament is the more suitable for our purpose. 

 But care must be had that we do not go to an extreme; the glass or vase 

 must be of sufficient value either in intrinsic quality or workmanship as 

 to aid in suggesting the idea of the value of its contents by showing them 

 U) be worthy of such a support. This brings me to the consideration of 

 another principle, viz : that the material must be worthy of the labor 

 bestowed upon it. There ought to be in all productions of art a certain 

 nobility of character . which should show that they are the products of 

 intelligence or mental effort, and not the products of mere mechanical 

 skill; and the embodiments of such intelligence or thought should be of 

 [Am Inst.] N* 



