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Jd>e 17, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Front and Side View of John H. Dunlop's Bride's Bouquet Gilled the Empire Shower. 



ing naturally comes in. The heavy, 

 strong stems need never be wired. The 

 slender ones should always be so 

 strengthened, but should never, through 

 this process, be straightened out of their 

 erooked ways and nice curves. They will 

 find their place in the spray. To prevent 

 the wire from showing, draw it tightly 

 along the stems and do not make more 

 than two or three rounds of the stem. 



In planning a long, large spray where 

 stems are a good length, make two sprays 

 find tie them together end for end, not 

 one stem end over the other, but side by 

 side. "Work in the extra foliage mostly 

 here, with a good sized tie. If chiffon is 



to be used, bend two or three flowers into 

 the bow or under the loop, so that the 

 color shows through the chififon. Some- 

 times a few fern leaves are caught in the 

 tie, with good effect. 



To relieve the evenness of a large 

 spray, lighten by a suggestion of a 

 shower from the stem end, hanging on 

 one or both sides. The bow may hang 

 on one side and the shower on the other. 

 "With roses or carnations, sweet peas or 

 valley make good shower material. 



A Sign of Poor Workmanship. 



Some sprays seen are fastened together 

 with half a pound of wire or a half spool 



of twine. Two or three strands of wire 

 or a few rounds from a spool ought to 

 tie a spray together securely enough. 

 Poor workmanship is displayed by a too 

 liberal use of these materials. Throw a 

 little extra green over any wired stems 

 that persist in showing. 



Neat backed sprays are often met with, 

 but are as often unnecessary. If enough 

 stiff brush is used as a foundation and 

 a good proportion of the flowers used are 

 long-stemmed, the spray ought to hold 

 its own anywhere. Do not consider all 

 stock as lost if the roses drop off the 

 stems. Save the stems and foliage for 

 brush, and this will save extra green, as 



