408 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 27, 1866. 



with in England, notwithstanding that the thermometer often 

 descends to 36° below zero. 



Again, if he had walked through the various flower gardens 

 in our neighbourhood, and seen the taste displayed in planting, 

 and the excellent quality of the bedding stuff (thanks again to 

 The Journal of Horticulture for keeping us up to the scratch 

 in this respect) he might have exclaimed with J. Jay Smith, 

 editor »f the •' American Horticulturist," who visited Quebec in 

 1819 for the express purpose of noting the progress of horti- 

 culture there, " Well, well, we had no conception of this ; why, 

 one can almost fancy oneself translated to some stately well- 

 kept domain in England." And were that gentleman to visit 

 Quebec now he might pass a still higher encomium, inasmuch 

 as many of our places have undergone a thorough renovation 

 since that time, to meet the requirements of the present im- 



proved system of bedding out. We can count almost all of the 

 newest bedding Pelargoniums in our collections, including 

 Mrs. Pollock and Sunset, many of the new Hoses, Verbenas, 

 Petunias, Pansies, Dahlias, Hollyhocks (albeit the very cream 

 of the catalogues), Coleus, which by the way grows to immense 

 bushes with us when planted but, Centaurea, Cerastium, &c. 



I fear that I have trespassed on your space, yet I cannot 

 look on these few rambling remarks in any other light than as 

 an act of justice to the gentlemen of Lower Canada, who vie 

 with each other in a spirit of friendly rivalry in the adornment 

 of their conservatories and grounds, as well as to the English 

 people, who might otherwise remain in ignorance of the true 

 state of things here ; and I doubt much if brother Jonathan 

 could not take a wrinkle from the bullfrogs without losing caste. 

 —John Paxton, Gardener, Woodfield, Quebec, Ctwada East. 



DINNER-TABLE DECORATION. 



S3IALL TABLE FOR TWELVE DISHES OF DESSERT, A LA F.USSE. 



In dinner-table decorations rapid strides have been made 

 during the past few years, affording proof that all ladies and 

 gentlemen are fond of flowers, and there are but very few gar- 

 deners who are not equally fond of the beautiful plants and 

 flowers which decorate our houses and flower gardens. 



Many gardeners are musicians, all honour to such, I like 

 music myself ; and some are poets. It has been said that the 

 person who has no liking for either flowers, music, or poetry, 

 is not a fit subject for existence. All three have their charms, 

 and happy must that person be who takes pleasure in all of 

 them. I once knew a person, the chief of a kitchen garden, 

 who had quite an aversion to flowers, and year after year a 

 small piece of his domain was trespassed upon for new Ver- 

 benas, and other plants for trial. This non-lover of flowers at 

 last became so exasperated that he exclaimed, "I suppose 

 they mean to eat flowers." Truly, that man was very much to 

 be pitied. Dinner-table decoration would, I should think, be 

 out of his vocabulary altogether. 



Well, as I said "before, rapid strides have been made in 

 dinner-table decoration, and the prevailing fashion now is, to 

 have a border of flowers all round the dessert-table, which when 

 well arranged has a most charming effect. 



The following rough sketch will give a slight idea to those 

 who may not have tried dinner-table decoration on so large a 

 scale. 



Having plenty of 

 tins, we have some- 

 times made the whole 

 chain, thus — but I 

 think the appearance 

 is too heavy, and too 

 much of the table is occupied. 



The semicircles and squares are all separate, and are made 

 of tin, and painted of a bright green. The tins should be 

 from 1 to 1} inch across, tapering in width to each end, and 

 about three-quarters of an inch deep. They will answer either 



for round or oblong tables. When very long tables are required, 

 straight tins about a foot or 15 inches long, of the same depth 

 and width, are very useful. When a sufficient number is de- 

 cided upon, they should be filled nearly full with sand, and 

 made tolerably moist, after which they are ready for the flowers. 



In choosing flowers for candle-light decoration, bright- 

 coloured ones should be used as much as possible, avoiding 

 yellows, purples, and blues. If scarlet is employed for the top 

 and bottom, and for the two flanks, lighter colours can be used 

 between. For the squares, nothing looks prettier by daylight 

 than the lovely Forget-me-not, which is sure to please the 

 ladies. For the outside border in the tins, the leaves of the 

 Oak-leaf Pelargonium are very useful, and they may be had in 

 use all the year round. Fern fronds are very pretty, but too 

 good to be cut in large quantities. 



When flowers begin to be less plentiful, the fruit of various 

 shrubs may be used with good result, and the most effective are 

 those of the " Pyracantha," to which I promised to refer. This 

 fruit will take the place of the Scarlet Pelargoniums, and will 

 last a long time if kept moderately moist. Then there is 

 the Alpine Strawberry, which is a very pretty substitute for 

 flowers, besides several varieties of Crata-gus, Snowberries, 

 Cotoneasters, Solannms, Capsicums, Arbutus, the fruit from 

 the Sweet Briar, Juniper, &c. For a change, the top and 

 bottom tins might have a mixture of fruit, when the acorns of 

 our brave old Oaks maybe used very appropriately, and for the 

 square tins some varieties of Crabs or small Apples will be 

 found useful. 



Generally, most flowers and fruits look best when surrounded 

 with their own foliage. 



I shall be very glad to have the opinion of your correspon- 

 dents on this subject, when, perhaps, some other useful 

 things may be recommended which may have escaped my 

 notice, and which would be to the advantage of all who are in 

 any way interested in dinner-table decoration. — John Perkins, 

 Thornham Hall, Eye. 



