choosing violets, therefore, for evening wear, it will be found that
the blossoms which have thin, rather washed-out petals of the lightest
purple will look best, the full blue not being nearly so effective. =For
luncheon=, an arrangement of purple clematis in vases on the palest pink
ground is lovely, but does not look quite so well by gas-light, though
here again if the least velvety flowers are chosen for evening, a good
effect can be obtained.

=Yellow is a splendid evening colour=, but must be bright, or it will look
merely cream. A dining-room panelled in light oak, adorned with yellow
marguerites alone, is very pleasing to the eye. In the spring, =laburnum
makes a novel dressing for a dining-table=; care, however, must be
exercised with this flower, as the pods are poisonous. Blue also looks
well with brown in the day-time; larkspurs, forget-me-nots, _plumbago_,
_campanulas_, _nemophilla_, etc., all look very well. We know how artistic
blue porcelain is on oak shelves, and, if the flowers have a white eye or
are veined with white, the effect is somewhat the same. =Scarlet is a good
gas or electric light colour=, but it must be used judiciously, and as a
rule only be mixed with white, just as the ladies at a regimental ball are
generally only allowed to robe themselves in this pure shade.

=SIMPLICITY.= Now-a-days the decorations are rarely made so high that one
cannot see the other side of the table. Though this arrangement might
occasionally be useful in hiding the face of an enemy, on the whole it was
found inconvenient; accordingly they have climbed down; the "bazaar-stall"
fashion is also disappearing, and flat table-centres are used instead, or
none at all. Simplicity is the great cry now, and though of course it may
be costly, a charming effect is obtained with fewer flowers than was
formerly considered correct, and is moreover easily imitated by an
artistic eye in less expensive blossoms.

Some of the flowers to be had in each respective season are enumerated on
p. 86. It will be noticed that where plenty of out-door blossoms are to be
had, the hot-house varieties are omitted.

TABLE OF NATURAL AND FORCED FLOWERS FOR EACH MONTH.

JANUARY.

_Natural._

Christmas rose.
Yellow jasmine.

_Forced._

Carnations.
Eucharis.
Gardenias.
Poinsettias.
Tuberoses.
Late chrysanthemums.
Roman hyacinths.
Odontoglossum (orchid).
Tulips.
Violet, single and double.
Narcissus.