Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1876 — Rules for Making Bouquets. [ARTICLE]

Rules for Making Bouquets.

Ist. The color of the vase to be used is of importance. Gaudy reds and blues should never be chosen, for they conflict with the delicate hues of the flowers. Bronze or black vases, dark green, pure white, or silver, always produce a good effect, and so does a straw basket, while clear glass, which shows the graceful clasping of the stems, is perhaps prettiest of all, 2d. The shape of the vase is also to be thought of. For the middie of a dinnertable, a round bowl is always appropriate, or a tall vase with a saucer-shaped base. Or, if the center of the table is otherwise occupied, a large conch shell, or shellshaped dish, may be swung frrtm the chandelier above, and with plenty of vines and feathering green, made to look very pretty. Delicate flowers, such as lilies of the valley and sweet-peas, should be placed by themselves in slender tapering glasses ; violets should nestle their fragrant purple in some tiny cup, an.i pansies be set in groups, w ith no gayer flowers to contradict their soft velvet hftes; and— Uiis is a hint for summer—few tilings are prettier than balsam-blossoms, or double variegated hollyhocks, massed on a flat plate, with a fringe of green to hide the edge. No leaves should be interspersed with these; the plate will look like a solid mosaic of splendid color. 3d. Stiffness and crowding are the two things to be specially avoided in arranging flowers. What can be uglier than the great tasteless bunches into which the ordinary florist ties his ware, or what more extravagant ? A skillful person will untie one of these, ari, adding green leaves, make the same flowers into half a dozen bouquets, each more effective than the original. Flowers should be grouped as they grow, with a cloud of light foliage in and about them to set off their forms and colors.

4th. It is better as a general rule not to put more than one or two sorts of flowers into the same vase. A great bush with roses, and camelias, and carnations, and feverfew, and geraniums growing on it all at once would oe a frightful thing to behold ; just so a monstrous bouquet made up of all these flowers is meaningless and ugly. Certain flowers, such as heliotrope, mignonette, and myrtle, mix well with everything; but usually it is lietter to group flowers with their kind—roses in one glass, geraniums in another, end not try to make them agree in companies. sth. When you do mix flowers, be careful not to put colors which clash side by side. Scarlets and pinks spoil each other; so do blues and purples, and yellows and mauves. If your vase or dish is a veiy large one, to hold a great number of flowers, it is a good plan to divide it into thirds or quarters, making each diviflon perfectly harmonious within* itself, and then blend the whole with lines of green and white, and soft neutral tint. Every group of mixed flowers requires one little touch of yellow to make it vivid; but this must be skillfully applied. It is good practice to experiment with this effect. For instance, arrange a group of maroon, scarlet and white geraniums with green leaves, and add a single blossom of goldcolored calceolaria, you will see at once that the whole bouquet seems to flash out and become more brilliant. —“ Flowers in Winter," in St. Nicholas, Non.