312 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



which are frequently seen on tables in private housea, are not by 

 any means desirable, but the fruit should certainly be suflScient for 

 the guests, or be kept off tbe table altogether. On the third prize 

 table the fruit was piled up on huge stands, aud so placed that the 

 guests on opposite sides of the table could not see each other, and 

 the host and hostess could not have seen more than the two guests 

 sitting right and left of them. One of the first principles in the 

 decoration of a dinner-table is the preservation of a clear view across 

 it, yet, as a rule, very little importance is paid to it, to the dis- 

 comfiture of the guests. I know of nothing more vexiug than to 

 be placed opposite to a friend, and to have a large epergne or a big 

 plant between us, so that it is a work of extreme difdculty to speak 

 to him in the course of the dinner. 



The best example of dinner-table decorations was that afforded 

 by the three stands of Mr. J. Hudson, of Champion Hill, and these 

 were so tasteful, comparatively inexpensive, and, moreover, per- 

 mitted a clear view across the table, that too much cannot be said in 

 praise of them. The middle stand consisted of a circular plateau of 

 flowers, with a palm about two feet in height in the centre. The 

 two ends consisted of circular plateaux of flowers, with a slender 

 trumpet glass eighteen inches or so high. The bases of the stands 

 were not visible, and it would be difficult to say whether they were 

 of glass, metal, or earthenware. It does not, in fact, matter what 

 they are made of, provided they are of the proper size and the edges 

 nearly touch the tablecloth. This mode of employing palms oi\ the 

 dinner-table can be highly commended. The plant, which should 

 be of the height mentioned, have gracefully pinnate leaves and a 

 slender stem, is turned out of the pot, a few of the crocks removed, 

 and then set in the centre of the dish. The ball of soil is then 

 banked up with wet sand, which slopes off to the edge of the dish. 

 The sand is then covered thinly with Lycopodium or the fronds of 

 Adiantum cuneatum laid over it to prevent its being seen through 

 the flowers. The flowers are then fixed in their places by inserting 

 the stalks in the wet sand. On this occasion Mr. Hudson had a 

 fringe of fern fronds, and immediately above these a row of flowers 

 of the white Eucharis Amazonica and tbe scarlet Vallota purpurea, 

 placed alternately. Above tbe ring thus formed the same flowers 

 were arranged in a somewhat irregular manner, although equally 

 disposed over the surface, and between them were placed lightly 

 single flowers of the blue Agapanthus umbellatus and fronds of 

 Adiantum cuneatum. The bases of the two side stands were dressed 

 in much the same manner, with the exception that they contained, 

 in addition, a few brilliantly -coloured spathes of Anthurium scher- 

 zerianum and the inflorescence of a small elegant grass. In the 

 trumpets, which were only about two inches in diameter at the top, 

 were a few sprays of grass and two or three blooms of one of the 

 new tuberous-rooted Begonias, and a bloom each of Lapageria rosea 

 and Lapageria alba ; and a most elegant effect was the result. 



These straight aud slender trumpet glasses are far superior to the 

 fanciful glasses so much in vogue, and they are comparatively inex- 

 pensive. Indeed, as thf base of all three stands may be of tin, and 



