September, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



175 



planting more than the usual care 

 should be taken to see that the bulbs 

 are planted at even depths, if they 

 are expected to bloom all together. 



On large estates, where bulbs are 

 naturalized by tens of thousands in 

 irregular masses, this evenness ol 

 bloom is not so important as on 

 small city and suburban lots. Small 

 bulbs scattered over lawns are not 

 really "naturalized" unless arranged 

 in natural looking groups. Circular 

 groups, colonies scattered at regular 

 intervals over the entire surface of a 

 lawn and all colonies that do not fit 

 their situation, are bad. Irregularly 

 shaped plantings, longer than their 

 breadth, and that chime in well with 

 their surroundings, are in best taste. 

 The centers of the groups should be 

 the most thickly planted, with edges 

 spreading thinly into the grass. 

 Scilla Siberica and snowdrops bloom 

 near together and form a pretty blue 

 and white effect. They will hold 

 their own for years in the grass of 

 a closely shaven lawn, frequently 



dotting it with flowers the last week in March. Crocuses 

 planted in close-mown lawns need to be renewed every two 

 or three years. They do not ripen their foliage so early as 

 the snowdrops and scillas. 



Snowdrops, with flowers uncut, form large, heavy seed 

 pods that weigh their slender stems to the ground. When 

 the capsules turn yellow w r e sometimes bury them where they 

 have fallen, and the next year little plants spring up. Snow- 

 flake and snowdrop are not the same plant, as some people 

 imagine. The snowflake has a smaller flower than the snow- 

 drop, and thinner, paler green foliage. 



The daffodils and narcissi, of various sorts, are among the 

 best of all bulbs for naturalizing. They bloom very early, 



Glory of the Early Spring — A Tasteful Planting of Hyacinths 



with the magnolias, and help to form one of the most de- 

 lightful flower seasons of the year. Two of the prettiest 

 sorts, poeticus and its double form, like drier ground than 

 the others. Most of the sturdier narcissi, like Golden Spur, 

 Princeps, Sir Watkin, Orange Phoenix and Trumpet Major, 

 increase rapidly, soon thickening up their colonies into masses 

 of white and gold. 



It is possible, also, to naturalize tulips and hyacinths in 

 woodland or waste places, where the soil is sandy or flaky, 

 with old leaf mold. For this purpose we use principally 

 bulbs that have been forced in winter, and do not expect 

 them to make a great show until they have been planted for 

 two or three years. 



The Arrangement of Cut Flowers 



I HAT the arrangement of cut flowers for the 

 house should be an art, highly developed and 

 specialized, requiring many years of practice 

 for its perfecting and a keenly developed 

 taste, is an idea that strikes the Western 

 mind as something incomprehensible, a need- 

 less task, a waste of energy. Fortunately for the develop- 

 ment of Western floral taste, this is no longer regarded as 

 useless study or needless effort. Acquaintanceship with 

 Japan and with things Japanese has brought no more lovely 

 knowledge to the West than the wonderful insight of the 

 Japanese into the art of floral arrangement. 



The Western idea may be broadly stated as simply putting 

 flowers into any convenient receptacle. The Japanese idea is 

 to use a flower as a decoration, as something to decorate a 

 room with, to give it life and vitality, and to give these things 

 in the most artistic and direct way possible. The difference be- 

 tween the two ideas is as broad as the ocean which separates 

 America from Japan. But we are learning the lessons taught 

 by the Japanese in floral arrangement, and we are learning 

 them faster every day. 



But the Japanese puts no speed into his work. The ar- 

 rangement of a group of flowers with him is a matter of 

 profound study. Every possible aspect of the disposition of 



the flower must be studied and its final destination con- 

 sidered before the task can be adjudged complete. There 

 is, of course, a great difference between Japanese and 

 American rooms which is quite fundamental. The Japanese 

 room contains almost no furniture; it is, to Western minds, 

 very bare. The American room is often chiefly furniture, so 

 ponderously is it filled with tables and chairs, so thickly are 

 its walls hung with pictures and prints. A single vase of 

 flowers, in the simply appointed Japanese room, counts for a 

 great deal more than it would in an American apartment. In 

 the former, it may be the one chief object of beauty; it will 

 be just as beautiful in the American room, but its beauty must 

 stand competition with a multitude of objects that bear no 

 relation to it. 



A few simple statements will make clear some of the ele- 

 mentary principles of the arrangement of cut flowers. 

 Flowers of one kind only should be placed in a single vessel. 

 Try the separated and the compound methods, and the value 

 of the former will be indisputably established. So true is 

 this that often the best effect can only be obtained when 

 flowers of a single color are placed together. Another ex- 

 cellent rule is not to crowd too many flowers into a single 

 receptacle. The most beautiful will lose much of their charm 

 if so arranged. 



