GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 
water, and the breaking off of the thorns opens 
new channels for nourishment to reach the flowers. 
The flat Japanese bowls so popular the past few 
years, are not only artistic, but good for the flow- 
ers, which in them are not crowded, and so can get 
their needed oxygen. They can be held in place 
by the transparent glass holders if one objects (as 
the florist did,) to the perforated frogs, turtles, 
mushrooms, etc., now to be bought wherever vases 
and other flower holders are sold. Any one who 
has tried to arrange even half a dozen blooms in 
this simple way will never go back to the crude, old- 
fashioned mixed bouquet! On the tables of the fine 
restaurants in New York City one most often sees 
only a simple, clear glass vase, with perhaps only 
two or three flowers; but they can be enjoyed for 
their full beauty. 
The secret of the whole subject is simplicity!— 
and you never know what you can do until you try. 
At our last Garden Show I had expected to make 
a well-studied arrangement of wild flowers for that 
class of table decorations, but did not have the 
time. At the last moment I took an odd little glass 
basket, filled it with damp sand, and stuck it full 
of cornflowers, (what you might call ragged robins 
or bachelor buttons, and which I grow to go with 
my blue china,) so that the holder was nearly hid- 
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