28 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL, 
Now, the reader will not fail to discover that it is the contrast of 
the shading with the enclosed spot, and the absence of contrast 
where the shading blends off into the rest of the paper, which 
makes the spot appear whiter to the eye than the paper outside 
the shading, though both are really of the same intensity. This 
is the principle of contrast in the broadest example of it that can 
be given ; but it applies equally to all colours, not only to the 
named ones, but to every tint and tone of all their names. 
In order thoroughly to understand the matter, and be prepared 
so to arrange our flowers as to give to each individually, and the 
tout ensemble of the group, the greatest possible beauty, we must 
bear in mind that the colour, as perceived by us, is not in the flower, 
but in the light which comes from it to the eye, and the adaptation 
of the eye to the perception of that light. This adaptation is 
naturally different in the eyes of different individuals, and in 
some it is wholly wanting; for we have known individuals most 
expert in the perception of form, who had no idea whatever of 
differences of colour in any sense of the word. But supposing that 
the eye has naturally the usual perception of colour, a property 
which is essential to the eye of every florist, it will invariably be 
found that it is fatigued by long observation of any one colour ; 
there is always some other colour which refreshes it, and this is 
found to be as nearly as possible the complemental colour of the 
one which fatigued it. Consequently that arrangement of flowers 
will be best in which colours and their complements are brought 
together 1 , because in this case each will, from the nature of the eye, 
impart lustre to the other. We shall in another paper mention 
the leading colours and their complements. 
AZALEiE. 
WITH PORTRAITS DRAWN AND COLOURED FROM NATURE. 
BY THOMAS ANSELL. 
This family, or sub-family, of beautiful flowering shrubs, 
belongs to the great class of the heaths, which are so varied in 
different regions of the world, but which all have the common 
property of thriving best in a peculiar mould, containing in general 
a considerable admixture of peat earth. 
In the system of Linnaeus, they belong to the class Pentandria 
