May 23, 1872. ] 



JOUBNAIi OF HOBTICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



419 



Fendeburst, near Leeds, were sold by aiietion by Mr. J. C. 

 Stevens on the 14th iust. They realised £520. The speci- 

 mens for which the highest prices were given were Odonto- 

 glossnm triumphans, £9 .5s. ; Ca-logyne cristata, £5 5s. ; Odon- 

 toglossum Hallii, £17; Cattleya labiata, £5 ; Disa grandiflora, 

 £12 12s. ; Ouciilium macranthum, £9 ; Cypripedium viUosum, 

 £6 10s. ; and Masdevallia Veitchii, £36 15s. 



DINNEE-TABLE DECORATIONS. 



After reading in your Journal the report of the Show at the 

 Eoyal Horticultural Gardens on the 15th and 16th iust., I 

 fully endorse aU "T>., Deal," has to say with regard to the 

 elegant and simple taste shown by the fair recipients of the 

 first and second prizes for dinner-table decorations, with one 

 exception — viz., that the beautiful Ferns hi the one and the 

 Palms in the other that so largely contributed to the effect, 

 were let through the tables. Now, I ask anyone acquainted 

 with this kind of decoration, how ordinary dining tables could 

 be made so accommodating as to admit of this practice, be- 

 sides the difficulty with regard to the tablecloth, which must 

 also be cut. It the pots, or any receptacle sufficiently deep to 

 have supported the fronds of the Ferns or the planting the 

 Palms, had been placed upon the table — the only way under 

 ordinary and practical pm-poses — the effect, and probably the 

 result, would have been very ^different. 



As there is no doixbt there will be a very extensive show of 

 table decorations at the Birmiugham Exhibition, I think it 

 but right to call the attention of the Judges to this point. — 

 yV. J. Lucking. 



Let me, in the name of common sense, protest against the 

 system of making holes in dinner tables iu order to insert the 

 pots of plants that are used to decorate the table. No doubt 

 pots are of themselves objectionable things, but if plants are 

 used, suitable ornamental flower-pots or vases ought also to be 

 used, and plants ought especially to be grown for the pui-pose 

 in small pots, in order lo be turned out of then' pots and put 

 into the vases. 



I was not present to see the dinner-table decorations at 

 South Kensington last week, but I see by the papers that the 

 first two prizes in class 1 were won by designs in which plants 

 were sunk through the table. Now, I have always been under 

 the impression — it may be a wrong one — that the object of 

 offering prizes for dinner-table decorations was to educate 

 public taste in the matter, and that prizes ought to be adjudi- 

 cated for those designs best adapted tor general use. It seems 

 to me utterly incongruous to see aplant growing out of a table. 

 There is, I know, an old motto — Ars est cehire artem, but I can 

 hardly interpret this to mean that the art of arranging dinner- 

 table decorations is to hide the pot. I am happy to say that 

 in ninety-nine gentlemen's houses out of a hundred dining- 

 room tables are still made cither of mahogany or other valuable 

 wood. No doubt, under the present fashions of diners a la Russe 

 tables might just as well be made of deal ; but it does not follow 

 that we are to cut holes through mahogany tables in order to 

 insert pots, and it is equally absurd that every time a large 

 dinner party is given at a house, the tablecloths are to have 

 holes made in them to put the pots through. I know I shall 

 be told that pots can be put iu at the junctions of the table- 

 cloths, and napkins folded so as to hide the joins, and that 

 deal leaves can be uiserted between the mahogany ones, &c. 

 But all these things are only makeshifts ; as well do away with 

 mahogany tables, and put up tressles and deal boards, and in- 

 stead of valuable damask cloths use bleached calico and cover 

 it with long strips of damask on each side. 



But seriously speaking, I again assert that if large prizes ai'e 

 to be given for dinner-table decorations, general utility ought 

 to be considered, and, as iu diners «■ la Russe the very best 

 quality of damask tablecloths ought to be used, and where it 

 is possible each table should be covered ^ith a single cloth with- 

 out joins, it seems to me very absurd to encourage the fashion 

 of sinking pots into the table. No doubt if one could divest 

 oneself of the incongruity of the proceeiUng, and forget that 

 deal shps must be used, and strips of damask folded, and the 

 joins iu the cloth hidden, that the arrangement may be pretty 

 and effective in itself ; but I have seen many a dinner-table 

 beautifully and effectively aiTauged without, and what may 

 look very well in a tent when we know that nothing but deal 

 boards and tressles are used, would not recommend itself for 

 general adoption at ordinary dinner parties. I am not finding 

 fault with the Judges ; they had only to adjudicate on the 



designs put before them, and I have no doubt, from the general 

 agreement of the ijublic press to then' verdict, that thej' chose 

 the most tasteful and ornamental designs, but I think some 

 restrictions ought to be made in the schedule, and that piizes 

 should be offered for dinner-table decorations best suited for 

 universal use. 



I must also add that it hardly seems within the province of 

 the Eoyal Horticultui'al Society, a Society ^intended to advance 

 the interests of horticulture, to offer prizes of such great value 

 for mere matters of taste and ornament where no horticultiu'al 

 skin is called iuto requisition. — C. P. Peach. 



Foe these I confess myself much disappointed with the result 

 of the offer of £84 in prizes by the Eoyal Horticultural Society. 

 I fully expected more entries, and of a more tasteful character. 

 I cannot consider it the proper way to decorate a dining table 

 by cutting three lai'ge holes in it, and putting therein pots of 

 plants. I well know that if anyone were to so serve a table of 

 mine, I should consider he had mistaken his vocation and also 

 ruined my table. I suppose on this principle in future our 

 dining table will be made with holes of vaiious sizes in dif- 

 ferent parts of. the surface, with wood to fit such holes when 

 not requh-ed. At one of the Crystal Palace Shows I saw 

 branches of trees stuck into holes made in the table. Surely 

 this is table decoration with a vengeance ! I do not consider it 

 to come within the meaning or intention of the term, and I 

 was exceedingly sorry to see the first and second prizes on the 

 15th iust. awarded as they were. Again, as a matter of taste, 

 it does not look well, nor in my opinion is right, to have plants 

 as though they grew in the table. For my own part, had I been 

 one of the Judges I should have given the first prize to the ex- 

 hibitor who only gained the third. I consider this table was 

 decorated in the legitimate way, and was hght and elegant to a 

 degree that quite won my adnui'ation, and the table appeared 

 to me truly decorated, and not a spoiled piece of furniture after 

 the cloth was removed. Perhaps we shall have dining tables 

 made with no centres at all, but merely a kind of shelf around 

 on which the plates of the guests wiU rest, and the middlepart 

 will be filled with cork rockwork, fountains with gold fish, &c. ; 

 but this would not be table decoration, although it might be 

 very pretty in the eyes of some. 



Table decoration I take to be au ordinary dining table with 

 cloth and other matters placed thereon for the purpose of 

 dining, and to make such still more pleasing, vases or other 

 receptacles for cut flowers, or flowers in pots to be tastefully 

 and imobtrusively arranged iu then- vacant spaces, and so done 

 as not to hide one guest from the view of the other through- 

 out, and of such colours also as not to detract in any way from 

 the dresses and complexions of the guests. One ought to re- 

 member in di'essing a table, that the guests are a part of the 

 decoration. In some instances at South Kensington it was 

 evident to me that this was in the mind of the artist. I am 

 led to make these observations, as I feel that the ornamentation 

 of the dining table is diifting into the wrong direction, and 

 with the hope the table wiU at least be respected, if not the 

 comfort of the guests. — F. E. H. S. 



CARTON.— No. 2. 



The Seat of the Dcke of Leinstek. 



In wiituig of gardening at Carton the splendid kitchen garden 

 claims our admii'ation and greatest attention. This garden is 

 in every way worthy of the place, and it has distinct features 

 pecuhar to Carton. Although it is now fully one-half less 

 than it was in the time of James Earl of Kildare, it is still 

 large, being nine acres iu extent within the walls. In this 

 garden there is more evidence of careful and practical design 

 than iu any like garden with winch we are acquainted. We 

 have not been able to find the name of him who laid out this 

 garden. 



The accompanying plan will, better than writing, explain 

 this pecuUai- style of garden. The walls are placed more ob- 

 Uquely than the plan shows them to be. It is evident the 

 design was to give the gi'eatest variety of aspect, and to reduce 

 to the lowest di-aughts or cm-rents of wind ; and this form 

 would equalise the influence of the sun as far as could be 

 within such an enclosm-e. There are some 4000 feet in length 

 of brick walls 14 feet high, and nearly aU these waUs are avail- 

 able for fruit trees on both sides. The only thing not com- 

 plete in the walls is their want of a substantial coping. 



A glance at the engraving will show that the main entrance 



