GAEDENING FOE WOMEN 25 



will be found particulars of the remuneration that 

 can be usually claimed by a lady expert. 



Floral decoration may be combined with job- 

 bing gardening, or it may be undertaken apart 

 from any other interests. 



All will agree that the work of arranging 

 flowers is undoubtedly suited to ladies. It needs 

 good taste, an eye for colour, lightness of touch 

 and great patience. These qualities are possessed 

 by most young gentlewomen, but if they are not 

 natural to them, practice will, as a rule, teach 

 sufficient for the execution of the mechanical 

 part of the work. The preliminary stage of train- 

 ing is perhaps least tempting, for it involves long, 

 tiring hours, spent in a hot, unrestful florist's 

 shop. It will be found best to serve an appren- 

 ticeship in this way for some months. Possibly 

 the people met there are not very obliging or 

 polished ; often work has to be done under extreme 

 pressure, as many orders have to be ready at the 

 same moment, and the freshness of flowers has to 

 be greatly considered. Bouquets, dinner-tables, 

 all have to be postponed until the last safe moment. 

 Consequently there remains but little time for en- 

 joyment of completed work, and there is very 

 scant appreciation. Work which has to be hurried 

 is seldom pleasing. Being chiefly mechanical, how^- 

 ever, it rapidly becomes easier to carry out the 



