Excerpt from The Book of Cut Flowers: A Complete Guide to the Preparing, Arranging, and Preserving of Flowers, for Decorative Purposes Many people who are fond of flowers have but little knowledge of the length of life in water of any but a few of the commonest kinds; of the best methods of cutting and of keeping them fresh; of using them economically; and of arranging them effectively whether as regards the form and colour harmony of the flowers and foliage, or the variety and suitability of the vessels holding them, or the harmony of the flowers and vessels with their surroundings. To spread a knowledge of such matters and to stimulate investigation, my wife and myself some years ago offered prizes at the Dundee Flower Show for arrange ments of cut flowers in suitable vessels, the judging not taking place till the third day, in order to roughly test the lasting qualities of the flowers. The experiment resulted in disappointment, only one exhibit being meritorious. Next year the experiment was repeated with little improvement in result, and we concluded that some other method of inculcating economy in the use of cut flowers, and another way of showing how to. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.