| Show mbingebrysantbtmumsl t < Frowsy Heads of Famous Flowers Are as Carefully f Dressed as the Hair of Any Great Dame Delicate Instruments Used In Making the Toilets of Prize Blossoms I I Of course you are going to the chrysanthemum chry-santhemum show arid will enjoy lookIng look-Ing at the gorgeous colors and perfect forms of the magnificent blossoms But they didnt grow that way The perfect flower has not yot been developed de-veloped any more than the perfect meji or woman But art may and does step In to aid nature in regulating details de-tails just as Jt does with the human J I I he begins the combing process tle most tedious part of all With the less rare varieties which do not take so j long this is all done rapidly but gently I while the stem is held in the hand but with My Lady who is too aristocratic aristo-cratic to have her temper so tried for I three long Hours this part of the work is done white she drinks refreshing I moisture in the vase One by one each petal is put in place tT I r 1 J > < I 1I I ff 7r > J1 I I t I II I Uy < I 1 fi i r 1 iV e I d i c iS < = = t f 1f1 ttf JT ° mtro LcTI CF ct 7 being The chrysanthemums that are so much admired have had their toilets toil-ets made with > Jnore care and at a greater expenditure of time and patjerue than has gone toward the dressing jof a great ladys hair It takes three hours sometimes to l make the toilet of a single rare specimen speci-men of the chrysanthemum One would hardly believe it but here is the process dreeing a single flower and imagine the care patience and gentleness gentle-ness of touch required One look at an ordinary chrysanthemum or a fine one In dishabille jwill show that there is a hole at the center of the blossom and that the petals straggle in all directions direc-tions up and down right and left It looks like a lazy boy who has forgot < n to comb his hair The flowerhair dresser has his combs and brushes but the combs are pincers of various sizes and the brushes of the softest camels hair Suppose thai the florist has succeeded suc-ceeded in growing some fine specimens of that huge variety My Lady some blossoms of which have measured measur-ed fourteen inches in diameter He cuts the blossom with a long stem so so that the contour of the blossom will be either a perfect circle or a star Of many rays If any petal prove too obdurate II ob-durate to stay in place it is pulled out by a gentle jerk with the pincers of which there are several sizes on hand I one for the work at the center and several sev-eral others for the combing process of finer or coarser varieties When every petal has been put into place the I artist is most fastidious nothing but perfection satisfies him and he takes up camels h lir brush with which he gentlysmoothes out every wrinkle that is detected by his practiced eye Then and not till then is My Lady ready for the admiring throng at the exhibition exhibi-tion This art of flowerperfecting was first introduced by the English florists in their attempts to outdo one another an-other by showing the most perfect 1 blossoms but it has spread to America and tie continent and is practiced hall h-all those seeking prizes at the chrysanthemum chrys-anthemum shows The process varies slightly being somewhat more difficult when the flowers are to be exhibited on the stalk in pots but the hand of the artistic florist has been at work I J j I TT LDY CHRY3fN7ftEflur l3Fofct Tirrr I L P 4IItJh I 1Y LAD Toufl J GHRY5NTtiEtiot L AFTgi R rOIJIln 1 yJ that be can handle > it well Then he places it in a high glass vase with a broad base but over the top of the vase it what looks like the socket of a candlestick with a hole in it The stem paSses through this hole and down into the vase until the lower petals of the blossom ret cgi the zinc support but 4 not too llrml v Before putting the Hower into lhtvase to keep it from wilting under the long operation he has performed the roughest part of the work This consists in pulling out with the pincers enough petals around the center of the blossom to permit tho others to close over that part He is careful to remove any worms or de j fctive difecolored petals and then j I no matter how natural the flowers appear ap-pear t6 the uninitiated It is said that from three to four years of practice is necessary before a man can be called an expert at the task of making the toilet of the flowers but he then commands com-mands a highisalary and n considered at th head Ot his profession as he esteems it Aft has to assist nature to perfection even in flowers which seem to us to be the most Eoontane ously beautiful of anything in creation It would seem that feminine patience and skilfulness of touch ought to adapt women especially fdr this work but strange to say no woman has yet I undertaken it or is known to have I done so |
