Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-12-17
FlOWer-makjng.
From the New York Times.


The following is for the fascination
of the female sex. It is of no interest
to male brutes:
On the street, on the cars, or on the
ferry boat one cannot but observe the
number Of artificial flowers that nestle
so costly under the brims of round
hats, peep from under folds of lace on
bonnets, and adorn in every conceiya-
BILE way all sorts of feminine headgear.
and which sometimes seem SO daintily
formed and tinted that to think Of
their home being anywhere but in the
shady woods or by the side of some
softly-rippling brook seems almost like
deseeration. But in the side streets of
the great city, the very antipodes of
forest-aisles or grassy fields, is where
we find them springing, not exactly
from the soft damp earth, but from the
various combinations of muslin, gum,
paints, wire aud the labor of hundreds
OF young girls. This of course takes
away all sentiment concerning them,
but makes the process of their manu-
facture none the less interesting. There
are in this city alone over two thousand
girls employed in this apparently I'M
some of them, and learn something of
the way these dainty limitations are
made. The material used is nainsook
cambria. and satin jean, and sometimes
satin. This is cut by means of the
dies into the proper shape the work
being rather heavy, is done solely by
boys. The next step is the coloring,
which is all done by hand the greatest
part being done by boys, but few girls
liking to do this part of the work, the
details of fower-making being far from
clearly. Still, there is but little
resemblance to flowers in these fat bits
of colored muslin. But come into the
room where we see dozens of long ia
bIes, each surrounded by numbers of
young girls, all busy at work; and we
see at one of these tables these fiat
pieces shaped and curled on the edge
with large steel pint These are for
the outer petals, and now we wonder
about the inner ones. !" Crumpled
rose leaves - It seems very suggestive
OF color and beauty, and dewy fra
GRANGE, but we find that the crumpled
appearance is given them by means of
a heated iron, which presses them into
an 1ndia-rubber cushion. They are
then gummed and fastened into the
proper position by girl vino recei yes
the stamens and wires from still an
other. # t#
The leaves 60 through nearly the
same process IN regard to cutting ard
coloring, the only distinctive feature
being the velning, which is done with
heavy press. The stems are nearly
all imported, as they are of much bet
ter quality and of lower price than can
be bought here. Indeed the whole
manufacture of flowers here is compar
atively in crude state as Is demon
strated by the fact that only the lower
grade of flowers are here even attempt
ed. II France each woman manufac-
lures what flower is best suited to her
and wears it, be it daisy, pansy. or
rose, and if Nine. Blank says, "Grapes
are worn now, my dear; pansies are
old style" does she straightway 90
and change her soft-eyed pansies for
an immense bunch of grapes Not she,
any more than we, who do not even
attempt to follow the fashion, have one
year all violets in our garden, and the
next weed them al out to make room
Here there is one year "perfect
rage" for daises, and tall, gaunt wo-
men wear them as complacently as the
falr-faced, blushing schoolgirl. The
next year they are drug in the mar
ket, and they must give place to roses.
This difference in France leads, of
course to nearly absolute perfection in
the manufacture of each particular
flower. One man makes violets. He
has workers who have been with him
for years, marriage making no
difference in their occupation.
He has taken pains to teach them, and
their long apprenticeship, together
with their natural taste. makes the
flowers which they produce far supe-
Tor to those which are manufacture d
here, where, perhaps, the girls are
changed each month. Their perfectic u
III one branch is the end to be attained
FOR tins end he has access to the Jar
ON oes Plantes, where he may obtain
mowers that he wishes to assimilate, to
books describing them, and to free
lectures all Of which have a refining
influence, and which tend to educate
his tastes. Flowers are often brought