Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/852

* FLOWER-BUG. ?56 FLOWERS. like most of the others, is shining, black and white. FLOWER DANCE. There were two distinct- ively floral dances in Greece, the anthema, which was danced by women at private gatherings, and the May dance, in which the most beautiful young girls decorated themselves with flowers and danced out singing in honor of the goddess of the May. The song, which was sung while dancing the anthema, was as follows : " Where's my lovely parsley, say? My violets, roses, where are they? My parsley, roses, violets fair. Where are my flowers? Tell me where." FLOWER-DE-LUCE. See Ibis. FLOWER OF COURTESY, The. A poem attributed to Chaucer by Thynne. The prepon- derance of evidence, however, points to John Lyd- gate as the author. FLOWER OF KINGS, The. A title some- times given to King Arthur. FLOWER-PECKERS. A book-name for a rather indefinite group of small, brightly colored East Indian birds, sometimes called honey.-peck- ers, of which the Australian dicanim is regarded a- a type. They have many characteristics of the creepers, but are provisionally set apart into a family DicscidiE. FLOWER-POTS. Receptacles of unglazed earthenware, tapering a little toward the bottom, which is perforated with one or more holes. (See Pottery.) Those of smallest size are only about two inches deep, and are used chiefly for seed- lings to be soon again transplanted. For plants which require a pot of more than 12 inches deep and 18 inches wide, wooden boxes or tubs are generally provided, although earthen pots of much larger size are sometimes made. The flower-pot is usually placed in a saucer of the same material, but when plants growing in flower-pots are placed out of doors the saucer is often dispensed with. For ornamental use flower-pots are sometimes glazed, or made in the shape of vases. In filling flower-pots, small stones or bits of broken pottery are placed in the bottom, to prevent water from lodging there and souring the soil in which the plant is to grow. FLOWERS. A term applied by the older chemists to any light pulverulent substance ob- tained by sublimation, as flowers of antimony, flowers of arsenic, flowers of benzoin, flowers of sulphur, flowers of zinc, etc. FLOWERS, Artificial. Copies of natural flowers made of a great variety of materials, and used for both scientific and decorative purposes. To the former class belong the collection of flowers in I lie possession of Harvard University, which are made wholly of glass, and illustrate the flora of the United Slates. Flowers and leaves of painted linen, ami of horn shavings stained iii various colors, were made by the ancient Egyp tians. and it is said thai Crassus of Home made such artificial flowers of gold. The Chinese form beautiful flowers out of rice paper made from the pith of a kind of bamboo, while the natives of the Bahama Islands and other savages arrange small and daintily tinted shells into sprays of flowers. Feathers have long been made into beautiful flowers bv (lie South American Indians. In Italy the cocoons of silkworms are dyed and used ex tensively for this purpose. Fine imitations ot flowers are made from paper, especially crepe paper, ribbon, velvet, and the thin lamina 1 01 whalebone. Wax-flower making is a distinct branch of the art and is considered under a sep- arate article. At one time the making of wreaths of flowers out of locks of hair, the gifts of friends, cleverly woven with wire, was a favorite form of fancy work among ladies. The Italians were the first to bring the art of making arti- ficial flowers to a high state of perfection. At present the chief centres for the manufacture of flowers for the decoration of ladies' bonnets and dresses, for head-wreaths and for table and house decoration, are in France and America. French immigrants probably introduced the in- dustry into America. As early as 1840 there were ten establishments for making artificial flowers in New York City. The materials of which the artificial flowers commonly in use are made are silks, cambric, jaconet, and fine calico, besides muslin, crape, and gauze for particular flowers, and satin and velvet for thick petals. The tinting of petals of the best flowers requires some amount of delicacy and skill. In nature the tint of each petal of a flower is rarely uniform; and the best artificial flowers represent the natural variations with great accuracy. The petals of a rose, for ex- ample, are dyed by holding each separately by pincers, and then dipping it in a bath of carmine, and afterwards into pure water, to give delicacy of tint; but as the color is usually deepest in the centre, a little more dye is added there while the petal is still moist, and this diffuses itself out- ward in diminishing intensity. The whiteness at the insertion of the petal is produced by touch- ing that part with pure water after the re-t is dyed. The artificial flowers of trade, however, are colored by no such delicate means. The material of which they are made is simply dyed in uniform color, in sheets, and any variation in tint is effected by a few daubs of the paint- brush after the petals are cut out. The aniline dyeing solutions are heated by steam in great copper kettles, into which the material is dipped. The material is then passed through a wringer, and stretched upon frames to dry. The next step is to size the material by applying a solution of dextrin and starch evenly to the sur- face, while the cloth is still stretched upon the drying-frames. The material is now ready to be cut into the leaves or petals of flowers. This is effected by sharp steel cutters, made of the de- sirable size and shape. A large stock of these irons is necessary, as special forms and sizes are required for each flower. Ten or twelve sheets of the material of the same color arc carefully and smoothly laid in a pile on a leaden block, and the cutter, with a wooden mallet, drives the sharp steel stamp through the pile and repeats the process till the sheets are riddled with holes. liie leaves and petals are now passed on to an- other workman, who presses the veins into them by means of a pair of dies. (Sec Dies ami Die- Sinking.) A petal is placed ill the lower die anil (lie upper die fitted over il. The dies are placed under a press and a turn of the wheel presses the vein-lines into the stiff material. The noi process in shaping is that of 'goffer- ing.' or 'ganlling,' by means of which the hollow form is given to petals. For hollowing petals, the