Page:Japanese flower arrangement.djvu/20

INTRODUCTION into trying this system for themselves will be amply repaid for any amount of time they may devote to its practise.

I am confident that a recognition of the beauty of a few flowers naturally arranged will bring flowers more into general use by those who have hitherto felt that quantity was necessary to produce any pleasing effect. If we would but profit by what the Japanese have to teach us, no one who loves and longs for flowers need be without one or two to give suggestion of nature's wealth of beauty. Even one spray of green can suggest the freshness of growing things which is so often shut out from our city lives; while our masses of roses and violets suggest only the hothouse and are out of the reach of many who could have a few flowers.

Mr. Josiah Conder, in his comprehensive and wonderfully instructive work on the subject, "The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Japanese Floral Arrangement," has given us great enlightenment. No other foreigner has had such opportunities, none has [14]