22 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 203. 



enjoying lite. This last is CEnothera sinuata, var. hemifiisa, 

 and here exhiljits two shades of hoariness and two pronounced 

 variations in the toothing- of its leaves. Tlie little, clinging, 

 sliort-petioled and pure white-flowered Oldenlandia rotundi- 

 folia seemed to be making an heroic eifort to save the sand- 

 hills from removal by the winds of ocean, but the size of its 

 spread seemed hardly likely to give its scheme any large 

 measure of success. It surprised me to find this diminutive 

 plant so high on the dunes in soil apparently so dry. Upon 

 these same inclined and shifting surfaces a spreading com- 

 posite, supposed to be of rather recent introduction, occurs 

 frequently. This is Acanthospermum xanthoides, with heads 

 whicli, when their fruit is mature, resemble minute, especially 

 crabbed specimens of the five-rayed star-fish. This was in 

 flower, as was also another equally modest member of the 

 same order, Eclipta erecta. With the Eclipta were the strict- 

 stemmed and blooming Samolus floribundus, the prostrate 

 and also blooming Herpestis Ivlonniera, and the creeping 

 Lippia nodiflora, not yet showing its heads of flowers. 



The Lippia and Herpestis had dipped into the white-lined, 

 quietly flowing sulphur-water brooklet, while following theni 

 and holding above their stems its peltate leaves appeared the 

 umbelled marsh Pennywort, Hydrocotyle umbellata, as care- 

 less of the season set by the manual for exhibiting its flowers 

 as many another of the lower-growing species. 1 brought 

 away with me the dead calyx-decorated stems of Teucrium 

 Canadense, but had rather have secured a single stem of the 

 Youpon, densely set with drupes, tlian aught else. This sea- 

 side Holly covered perhaps more space than any other one 

 plant growing back of the dunes, but it lacked just here its 

 handsome red berries, not a simple specimen in fruit being 

 seen by me during my several hours' stay. 



Jacksonville, Fla. 



B. F. Leeds. 



Recent Publications. 



Japa 



3anese Art in the Arrangement of Flowers. — I. 



The Flowei'S of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement. 

 By Josiah Conder, F.B.I.B.A., Professor of Architecture and 

 Architect to the Imperial Japanese Government. With illus- 

 trations by Japanese artists. Tokio, 1891. 



This most beautiful, most novel and interesting book is of 

 quarto size, and is illustrated by fourteen full-page plates in 

 color and forty in black and white, as well as by many cuts in 

 the text. It is handsomely printed and is charmingly boimd 

 in parchment covers decorated in color. All the drawings, 

 which include landscape and garden views with figures, are 

 excellent examples of Japanese draughtsmanship and printing, 

 and no more need be said to prove their e.\cellence. There 

 is only one fault in tlie make-up of this admirable volume : 

 the silk strings which bind the sheets together are inserted so 

 close to the edge of tlie text that it is difficult to open the 

 pages wide enough for perusal. 



In his preface Mr. Conder says that his book is the result of 

 the interest excited by a paper on the subject which, in 1889, 

 he published in the Transactions of tlie Asiatic Society of 

 Japan. He has now supplied a much larger amount of in- 

 lormation, which gets triple value from its profuse illustra- 

 tion, but lias cast it in a simpler shape. The subject is so 

 unfamiliar to most readers and IVIr. Conder's treatment seems 

 so detailed to western minds that it is impossible to review the 

 book ill any limited space. Every chapter is significant ; 

 almost every paragraph is suggestive ; and an attempt to 

 mark passages for quotation would leave no stretch of mar- 

 gin untouched. Of course, some of the facts which Mr. Con- 

 der makes plain have been noted in a more or less casual way 

 by a hundred travelers in Japan. But none of them, perhaps, 

 has ever before been so clearly set forth, and nothing pre- 

 viously published in our language approaches this book in its 

 explanation and illustration of the whole fascinating and com- 

 plicated subject ; but how complicated, how subtile, emblem- 

 atic, poetic, religious, and even philosophic and historic, 

 are the ideas with which it is inseparably connected in the 

 Japanese mind, one would never fancy until he has had Mr. 

 Conder for his guide. 



Mr. Conder makes no attempt, he tells us, " to discuss the 

 different schools of flower-design, each of which lays claim to 

 be the only true exponent of the art, and to possess secrets un- 

 known to rival teachers. A study of the different theories of 

 these schools, and of designs illustrated in their published 

 works, shows that the principles of arrangement followed de- 

 viate in no important points." Three cliapters are devoted to 

 the flowers of the country, classifledas those of spring, of sum- 

 mer and of autumn. In the first we read of Plum-blossoms 



and Cherry-blossoms — of the various ways in which they are 

 cultivated and are enjoyed. The second tells us about the 

 Wistaria, the Iris, the Paeony and the Lotus; and the third 

 about Chrysanthemums, Maples and the "seven plants of 

 autumn," by which term are meant the Lespedza, the Morn- 

 ing-glory, the Eulalia Japonica, the Valeriana villosa, tlie Vale- 

 riana oflicinalis, the PuerariaThunbergiana and the Carnation. 

 These, we are told, though comparatively inefteclive indi- 

 vidually, are prized at a season when flowers are rare, and 

 gather "importance and interest in combination." But much 

 the larger part of Mr. Conder's book is absorbed by the eight 

 chapters on Floral Arrangement devoted to Flowers Accord- 

 ing to their Months, History and Theory, Lineal Distribution, 

 Selection of Material, Flower Vessels, Position of Flowers in 

 Rooms, Ceremonial and Etiquette, and Practical Examples. 



" The arrangement of cut-flowers in vessels of various 

 kinds," says the author in an introductory passage, " has 

 become with the Japanese a decorative art of considerable 

 refinement, compared with which the western methods of 

 floral composition appear but haphazard combinations. The 

 bouquet, the wreath and the garland, all depending for their 

 beauty upon the close massing of blossoms and greenery in 

 luxurious confusion, bear no resemblance whatever to the 

 more austere and open combinations of the Japanese. The 

 fact that many of the most charming flowers of the country 

 are those of trees, the blossom-clad twigs of which it is im- 

 possible to arrange in closed and rounded masses, may in 

 some manner explain the open, lineal character given to floral 

 designs ; but the same treatment is applied equally to flower- 

 ing plants and grasses which lend themselves more easily 

 to the European metht)d of grouping. The peculiarity of 

 treatment noticeable in these flower-arrangements, is closely 

 connected with the Japanese manner of observing and enjoy- 

 ing floral nature. Whereas the eastern amateur devotes his 

 attention mainly to the blossoms, the Japanese lover of flow- 

 ers bestows his admiration on the whole character of the pjlant 

 or tree producing them. The rugged nature of the Plum 

 trunk, with its straight, stiff shoots, or the graceful sweep of 

 the branches of the Weeping Cherry, are inseparably asso- 

 ciated with the beauty which the blossoms themselves pos- 

 sess. The lines of branch and stem, the form and surfaces 

 of leaves, and the distribution of buds and blossoms, all re- 

 ceive their full share of attention. The loveliest buds and 

 blossoms torn from their stems and crushed together in a 

 mass, with ferns or other greenery between them, convey to 

 the Japanese mind no idea of floral art or beautj'. The art 

 under consideration is, in fact, based upon the representation, 

 more or less conventional, of floral growth ; and principally 

 for this reason the compositions are made to assume an open 

 character, in which the individual forms of branches, stems, 

 leaves and flowers are all clearly expressed. The Japanese 

 term ' Hana,' translated as flower, has, in the art of floral 

 arrangements, a much wider signification than its English 

 equivalent. Among the so-called Flowers of the Season are 

 included certain evergreens and other flowerless shrubs and 

 trees, some of which hold very high floral rank. The Pine 

 and Bamboo, for example, both occupy a very important place 

 in what are called Flower-arrangements. And the Maple, 

 with its reddening leaves, is used as one of the principal 

 flowers of autumn. 



"Seasonableness in the choice of material is one of the 

 leading principles which guide the designer. The luxurious 

 taste for designs, as associated with the idea of rarity, is dia- 

 metrically opposed to the rules of the art under consideration. 

 Flowers l)looming out of their proper season are, with very 

 few exceptions, rejected for floral compositions, which are 

 intended, in a manner, to be expressive of the particular period 

 of the year. April blossoms used in any other month would 

 appear to the flower artist as incongruous and out of place as 

 would be winter clothing worn in summer-time. It tlierefore 

 naturally follows that a proper cultivation of the Floral Art 

 requires a thorough acquaintance with the nature and growth 

 of all trees and plants employed ; and even a close observa- 

 tion of the varying characteristics of the same plant during 

 different seasons, in the case of those which are common to 

 several months. The Flag, or Iris, for example, which is com- 

 mon alike to certain months of spring, summer and autumn, 

 has a peculiar bend and vitality in its leaves, and a dilTerent 

 lengtli and vigor in its flower-stems, at the various periods of 

 its growth ; these dislinctions are all kept in view when em- 

 ploying this flower in compositions." 



To exijlain what the Japanese artist has to learn before he 

 can begin to practice the art of flower-arrangements, Mr. 

 Conder then gives long lists of the plants appropriate to the 



