CUT FLOWERS 



141 



is sometimes grey-gi'een and sometimes brown-red, 

 seemed not only to fulfil the physical need, bat tc 

 be the exact colour-complement demanded by the 

 delicate milk-white flower and pale soft leaves. 



This kind of study and practice may seem to some 

 to be an unnecessary complication of Avhat many 

 people may hold to be the very simple matter of 

 putting flowers in water ; it will come naturally to 

 those who have had some training in the fine arts, 

 and have therefore acquired some critical power. It 

 may moreover in itself be reckoned as valuable 

 training in a domain that closely borders upon their 

 infinitely greater one. For it demands that close ob- 

 servation, and cultivation of the power of comparison, 

 followed by exercise of judgment, that, even though 

 at first unconscious, becomes ripened by constant 

 repetition. The trained eye accepts the grouping of 

 certain forms ; probably in its earlier stages of training 

 some chance arrangements came well and were retained ; 

 they were seen to be good, though the operator could 

 scarcely say why; but later, the grouping is formed 

 with deliberate intention, and the result can be lucidly 

 demonstrated. 



The elaborate system of flower arrangement prac- 

 tised by the Japanese shows firstly, and throughout, 

 a recognition of beauty of line as the supreme law. 

 It may be of one main line only, or of a grouping 

 of several, but it is always there. It has become a 

 fashion to attempt to imitate this system ; and among 



