PRACTICAL HINTS ON FLORAL WORK. us 
allowed to stand in water long enough to absorb all the water they will 
before using. Freshly cut flowers will not stand. 
BASKETS, FLAT AND HANDLED. 
Rackets come now in innumerable shapes and styles, and are classified 
as flat and handled. They are suitable for presentation as gifts, or wedding 
occasions, school commencements, for party and for theatre flowers. 
A chaste arrangement for wedding was of white moss rosebuds, nar- 
cissus poeticus and fern leaves. 
A flat basket was filled only with pink Cottage Maid tulips. 
A handled basket of cardinal satin contained silvery rex begonias, 
choice fern leaves, and asparagus plumosus. 
A yellow satin basket contained daffodils and the misty asparagus. 
A grand combination is Baroness Rothschild or Capt. Christy roses 
and white orchids, or a basket filled entirely of white and tinted lilacs, 
with ribbon to match. The following are all good ; Mermet roses and for- 
get-me-nots ; Roman hyacinths and Perle roses ; marguerites, ferns and 
Bon Silene roses : pink bouvardia and pink roses, valance of pink satin, 
ribbon of the same shade on handle ; basket of violets, one-half white, 
and one-half blue, set with their own foliage. 
Yellow roses 'Perle), and white chrysanthemums ; Bride roses, ferns 
and .smilax. Hampers of shaded pansies, yellow and purple, with fern 
leaves, are lovely. 
A cardinal trimmed basket, filled with Perle roses and yellow pansies. 
A basket suitable for a progressive euchre prize could be made of 
white carnations, with a diamond center of Bon Silene roses. 
For a grand basket, nothing can surpass a large flat basket, filled 
with long-stemmed hybrid roses — stems 15 to 17 inches long. Heavily 
fringe such a basket with rose leaves and good fern leaves, and it is fine. 
Another very different effect is produced by filling a handled basket 
with Lord Beacoufield pansies ( blue, shaded ) with a few trusses of wistaria 
interspersed Arrange a graceful spray of Marechal Xeil or Perle roses, 
and fasten this to the handle with a pretty knot of yellow ribbon the exact 
shade of the roses. Pink roses for the yellow ; white for funeral purposes. 
This list could be extended indefinitely, but the arrangements offered 
will suggest many other combinations. 
FANS. 
These are sometimes carried, but are generally on easels. They are 
a favorite gift from a gentleman to a lady. A fan on an easel of smilax 
is shown on page 73. 
A pretty fan was edged with "sticks" of blue and white hyacinths : 
a graceful spray of La France roses was laid on the open fan, and it resem- 
bled a hand-painted white satin fan with ostrich feathers at a short dis- 
tance. For descriptions of other fans, see cuts on pages 73 and 75. 
