50 BRECK’S NEW BOOK OF FLOWERS. 
“ Another thing that struck me was the great use made of 
green in everything, and the immense effect thus produc. 
ed, A stand of flowers would really have very few plants 
indeed. There would be green and moss—and perhaps 
two plants in flower. Setting off one gem is far more the 
fashion than collecting a crowd that detract from each 
other’s beauty. Each flower is thus allowed to be distinct. 
And then things are ona large scale. I have passed under 
a flower vase often in going to dinner—a tall vase on a 
side-table, with really gigantic flowers—Sunflowers and 
Dahlias, with great Roses and Gladioli, and with such 
large green leaves, and the flowers cut with such long 
stalks, that each seemed well detached—and the strange 
selection was Oriental, and beautiful in its strangeness. 
Of course all things of this kind must suit the rooms they 
are in; but in immense lofty rooms, and with the large 
massive style of most of the French furniture, nothing can 
be in better taste than some of these brilliant vases. Then 
the beautiful feathery grasses are very much used in Paris; 
and nothing can be more graceful, on a large scale, than 
are these white plumes.” 
PROTECTION OF PLANTS. 
In our variable climate it is necessary to protect many 
of the herbaceous plants before winter sets in, especially 
in the vicinity of Boston and other places upon the sea 
coast. Farther back in the country, where the ground is 
covered with snow from December to April, it is not so 
important, as the snow is the best protection they can 
have. Many Alpine, Siberian, and other plants from high 
