CUT FLOWERS 



135 



{Equisetum) and the tall Reed {Arundo Phragmites)^ 

 but here again a bit of the base is a help as well as 

 the slitting of the stems. In the case of Bamboos, 

 after years of regret that I could not use them in 

 decoration I have found out a way of making them 

 live in water. It is by having some tall jar deep 

 enough to immerse at least three joints, and by cutting 

 notches in the upper part of each internode that 

 will be under water so that the water flows in 

 and fills each length. During the long and harmful 

 drought of the late season, one of my clumps of 

 Bamboo on a raised bank was showing signs of 

 great distress for want of water. This seemed to be 

 a good time to test this process, so before watering 

 the Avhole clump I cut a few of its tall sprays, 

 notched them, and put them in water. Looking at 

 them an hour later I had the satisfaction of seeing 

 that the drooping leaves, that were brought in looking 

 Avithered, pale, and shrivelled, had risen and flattened 

 out and regained their healthy colour. The tall 

 water Reeds do well in the same way, and such 

 treatment may be generally advised as suitable for 

 the Eulalias or any of the giant grasses or other 

 plants that have jointed, hollow stems. 



In room decoration with flowers, the old tight 

 pudding-like arrangement of many flowers crammed 

 together is happily no longer seen, and it is only in 

 exceptional cases that the mistress of a house or her 

 grown-up daughters have not cultivated their taste 



