THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



31 



and satisfactory effects will be ob- 

 tained by a repetition of certain 

 leading forms and colours ; tbe plant- 

 ing may then be made to assume the 

 form of an harmonious composition, 

 and every separate detail will be made 

 subservient to tbe production of one 

 grand and complete picture. 



In the " Garden Oracle for 1862," 

 there is a capital suggestion for the 

 production of agreeable and even sur- 

 prising effects in the planting of de- 

 ciduous trees in the borders of small 

 gardens. The writer recommends 

 the sweeping away of lilacs, snow- 

 berries, and other shrubs of untidy 

 habit, and replacing them with forest 

 trees remarkable for fine foliage ; 

 these to be grown as bushes of from 

 eight to twelve feet high, cut in every 

 autumn, so as to induce them to pro- 

 duce immense leaves, and a dense 

 growth down to the ground line. It 

 is very certain that many an old 

 garden, now encumbered with shrubs 

 that deserve the epithet " scrubs," 

 might be remodelled on this plan at 



a very small expense ; and that purple 

 beeches, scarlet oaks, maple-leaved 

 planes, and variegated sycamores, 

 would produce an effect unequalled 

 of its kind, where there is now only 

 sameness during summer, litter during 

 autumn, and bare sticks the winter 

 long. Chevreul advises the grouping 

 of trees with a reddish hue with 

 those of the most decided green, and 

 those of a bluish or bluish-brown 

 green with those of a yellowish light 

 green ; the old yellow ribes gives one 

 of the most cheerful tints of light 

 green to contrast against a sombre 

 foliage, and the beautiful copper beech 

 never shows to such advantage as 

 when contrasted with the rich green 

 of deciduous trees. It must be re- 

 membered, too, that form is quite as 

 important as colour. Conifers rarely 

 group well with deciduous trees, their 

 forms are of a totally different class ; 

 hence the system of grouping them 

 in the arboretum is as true a matter 

 of taste as it accords with their bota- 

 nical relationships. 



NEW HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The immense increase in the number 

 of amateur cultivators of plants, 

 flowers, and fruits in the suburbs of 

 the metropolis, and the non-recogni- 

 of these by the great societies which, 

 for the most part, determine the 

 fashion of exhibiting, and minister 

 to the horticultural proclivities of the 

 wealthy classes, render it necessary 

 that some effort should be made to 

 afford to florists and pomologists re- 

 sident in the vicinity of London some 

 means of comparing their productions 

 and taking counsel together for mu- 

 tual help and progress. With some 

 such conviction in their minds, a 

 few exhibitors met together at 37, 

 Arundel Street, Strand, on the 23rd 

 of last month, to consider whether 

 any steps should be taken to supply 

 a want which was felt by all. After 

 some desultory conversation, Mr. 

 Shirley Hibberd, F.B, H. S., was 

 called to the chair, and requested to 

 open the proceedings by some general 



statement of the views entertained 

 by himself and friends on the subject 

 of a new horticultural society. Mr. 

 Hibberd said that, while there were 

 thousands of ardent florists and pomo- 

 logists to be found in the rural dis- 

 tricts comprised in a radius of twenty 

 miles from St. Paul's, there did not 

 exist any organization to facilitate the 

 meeting together, in some central posi- 

 tion, of cultivators of all classes from 

 east, west, north, and south. The 

 grand exhibitions got up by the great 

 societies provided recreation for the 

 wealthy, but they accomplished little 

 or nothing for the advancement of 

 horticulture. It did appear that there 

 was great need of a society in which 

 gentlemen amateurs, nurserymen, and 

 gardeners could meet together on 

 equal terms for the exhibition and 

 examination of the various flowers, 

 fruits, etc., to the collecting and cul- 

 tivating of which they were severally 

 devoted, and at which meetings there 



