FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 



15 



in the humbler walks of life, have taken up one, 

 two, or more subjects (such as the Auricula, Carna- 

 tion, Pink, and Tulip, among others), and cultivating 

 them with the greatest care, saved seed and raised 

 seedUngs; selecting with intelligence from these 

 only such as were manifest improvements upon the 

 varieties known to them, and rejecting all others 

 as inferior type? unworthy their attention. Such 

 cultivators have invariably worked by certain rules, 

 which have come in course of time to be known as 

 "properties" or "points," and which were eventually 

 formed into a code by some who had a clearer in- 

 sight into what were deemed to be the requirements 

 of quality in flowers than others. Thus an authori- 

 tative statement of the properties of florists' flowers 

 was made known and accepted by the large body of 

 florists, and acted upon as if they had the authority 

 of an Act of Parliament. When these laws or 

 properties in their more elementary character began 

 first to shape themselves in the minds of florists, we 

 cannot say ; but as developments of their favourite 

 flowers occurred, experience gave them a broader 

 application. They were for a time unwritten, yet 

 generally understood. By-and-by, when the neces- 

 sity for a more accurate and complete exposition 

 became necessary, they were codified, and the 

 " Philosophy of Florists' Flowers " became a phrase 

 current among florists. A few of the properties held 

 to be desirable may be mentioned by way of 

 illustration : — The circular petal ; thickness of sub- 

 stance in petals ; purity of the white ground, where 

 it occurs as a base ; density, brilliancy, and unity of 

 any prominent shade or hue of colour ; regularity 

 and perfection ■ of the feather on the edge, or the 

 flame in the centre of the petal of a Tulip ; the 

 circular edge, the dense, well-defined zone of body- 

 colour, as well as the thickness, purity, and smooth- 

 ness of the paste in the Auricula. These, with 

 others of greater or lesser importance, serve as 

 illustrations of what not a few modem writers are 

 apt to term the artificial and arbitrary laws set up by 

 the fiorists. Now-a-days they are being consider- 

 ably relaxed ; but in bygone days they did undoubt- 

 edly work out great and important results in the 

 case of many popular flowers, which went altogether 

 beyond the most sanguine expectations of the 

 pioneers of the floral movement, though their faith 

 in time was large. 



In so strenuously insisting upon the requirements 

 of the code of properties, the florist, during the last 

 forty or fifty years, made such striking advances in 

 the attainment of size, stoutness of texture, sym- 

 metry of form, and comparative perfection in the ar- 

 rangement and distribution of colours in flowers like 

 the Auricula, Carnation, Dahlia, Hollyhock, Piootee, 

 Pink, Ranunculus, and Tulip, not to mention others, 



that it appears difficult to advance much beyond 

 what has been attained. The florist is now accused 

 of having developed flowers so formal, and so geo- 

 metrically correct, that everything almost has been 

 sacrificed to form : the grace of natural beautj' hav- 

 ing been overlooked. 



The chief objection is, however, rather that he has 

 set up a standard of his own, without always sufii- 

 cient reference to the natural conformation and 

 purpose of the flower. Instead of striving to de- 

 velop and accentuate its distinctive features, all of 

 which are important as landmarks in the history of 

 the flower and its relation to outward circumstances, 

 the florist often ignores these in setting up his own 

 ideal, to which he endeavours to make the flower 

 conform, applying to each and aU, in spite of their 

 diversity, much the same rules. It would be affec- 

 tation to deny that the result is very beautiful, but 

 it sometimes lacks the highest beauty — that of 

 truth — and thus destroys the significance and evi- 

 dence of purpose and adaptation, which are as dear 

 to the intelligent observer as mere symmetry of 

 outline, or harmony of colour. 



As a kind of reactionary movement, a great deal of 

 attention has of late years been given to the de- 

 velopment of the eccentric and fantastic in not u, 

 few florists' flowers, so called ; and with these new 

 breaks have been associated other properties of size, 

 substance, form, and striking colours; but upon 

 many of these, the florist of the older school looks 

 with undisguised contempt, and considers them as 

 altogether unworthy of his care. But narrow as 

 are his views in the estimation of some, he knows 

 nothing of finality in relation to his work. He has 

 an unfaltering trust in the possibilities of nature ; 

 his ideal continually recedes as he reaches nearer 

 towards its attainment, taking on new features of 

 beauty and fitness, and inciting him to renewed 

 efforts to realise the better and eventually the best. 



■ One result of this floricultural enterprise was the 

 establishment of a large number of small exhibitions 

 of flowers in many parts of the country, where cul- 

 tivators of certain subjects could meet, put their 

 specim'ens into comparison, and receive premiums 

 for the best. These shows sprang up with marvel- 

 lous rapidity in and around London, and especially 

 in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and other of the Midland 

 and Northern Counties. The Flemish and French 

 weavers, who many years ago were driven from their 

 own country by religious persecution, brought with 

 them their Auriculas and other flowers. Settling in 

 London, Lancashire, and elsewhere, they cultivated 

 them with assiduity and success ; and intermarrying 

 with those among whom they came to reside, spread 

 abroad a love for their flowers, and a desire to culti- 

 vate them. At Middleton, near Manchester, quite 



