February 24, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



149 



in large towns generally consist of drapery with some fanciful 

 disposition of the lights used, evergreens being but sparingly 

 employed. Perhaps the inability to obtain these in sufficient 

 quantity may have been one preventive to their general use, 

 or a sort of dogged adherence to pre-existing custom may have 

 kept them away. Certain it is, that foliage has latterly become 

 more fashionable as a copy for ornamentation, whether in em- 

 broidery, carving, or sculpture; and since such is the case, 

 aasuredly the original itself ought to be introduced wherever 

 this can be done with advantage. 



Of late years most large rooms intended for public assemblies 

 have been more or less embellished by the architect. I mean 

 those that have been built during the last twenty years, and 

 more especially those that have been erected during the last ten 

 years. Such rooms necessarily require another kind of temporary 

 ornamentation when they are to be temporarily used for a purpose 

 other than that they are daily wanted for. Rich cornices, 

 mouldings, fluted columns, and elaborately carved capitals, 

 friezes, and the like ought, of course, to stand out in bold 

 relief, and what additional decoration is done ought to be of 

 a kind not to interfere with them. The colour of the walls has 

 also a considerable bearing on the kind of decoration to be used ; 

 and if the general hue bo dark, as, for instance, oak panelling or 

 such like, evergreens cannot well be introduced, excepting with 

 drapery of a fight colour. If, on the other hand, the ground 

 and principal colouring of the walls be light, evergreens may 

 then be used with advantage in considerable quantity, and in 

 various ways, especially if the room be without much architec- 

 tural ornament, but large and lofty. 



Assuming, therefore, that a room of this kind is the one to be 

 dealt with, the first thing to do is, to ascertain where nails 

 can be put in without injury to the work, and so work the 

 materials accordingly ; for, as the object aimed at is simply to 

 give a decorative appearance to the place for a very limited time, 

 as little damage to permanent works ought to be inflicted as 

 possible. Let us now take a viow of the kinds of evergreens best 

 suited to such a purpose, and in the first place it is right to say, 

 that however much we may try to imitate the natural features 

 of vegetation, when wa mutilate or amputate its parts we cannot 

 under any circumstances put the same together in any form to 

 resemble them in their natural condition. A certain amount of 

 artificial workmanship must, therefore, at all times be evident ; 

 but the more carefully such work is concealed the better. All 

 clumsy work especially ought to be kept out of sight. As Nature 

 in general presents to our view only one side of a leaf, and 

 that, of course, the best side, a similar arrangement ought to 

 guide artificial work as well, but as this cannot always be done, 

 it is better to use only such foliage as presents a tolerably good 

 appearance on both sides, as well as possesses the good property 

 of a stiff leafstalk, the leaves thickly set on the bough, and of a 

 substance strong enough to endure, without withering, as long 

 a time as possible. It is, of course, difficult to find all these 

 qualities united in one plant, but the nearer it approaches being 

 so the better it is adapted for the purpose here intended. 



Sometimes a thick-set branch is not so much wanted as a loose 

 feathery one, and very often a flat branch of the latter kind is 

 very convenient to place against a wall. For this purpose 

 nothiog is better than the common Laurel, which may be worked 

 into a very nice cornice-piece by selecting branches of about 

 18 inches wide, more or less, as the size of the room requires, 

 and nailing them to a narrow slip of wood of the same colour aB 

 the walls, the tips of one shoot overlying the base end of the other 

 in such a way as to form a nice flat surface. These prepared 

 cornice-pieces as they may be called, can be easily attached to 

 the angles of the room where the cornice usually is made, and 

 the leafy figures will sit close to both ceiling and wall, spreading 

 out in an open spray-like form a foot or more each way. Some 

 other shrubs may do as well as the common Laurel, but I do not 

 know of any thing that will do better, the regularly set and stiff 

 foliage showing to great advantage against a white or pale- 

 coloured wall or ceiling. 



Similar wreaths might be made to hang down any naked 

 corners, or where some projection seemed to require relief, taking 

 care of course not to overload the room with too much ; but if 

 there be very large epaces of naked wall, it would be better, in 

 addition to the cornice-work noted above, to prepare a few flat 

 pieces of evergreens to fasten upon such spaces. These may 

 be made easily enough by having a small piece of board not 

 more than 6 or 8 inches Bquare, upon which nice flat pieces of 

 evergreen may be nailed with their points all outwards. If a little 

 care be taken in assorting their thick ends so as to hide the 

 board and also their cut parts, the whole will appear a flat uni- 

 form surface of evergreens, the outside of all being to the front. 

 These prepared evergreen pictures, as they may be called, may 

 be of any size, but few rooms will require them more than from 

 3 to 4 feet in diameter. If there be no nails in the walls to 

 which they can be suspended, a string to the cornice where a 

 nail can be put in will do. Observe, these masses of dressed 

 evergreens as well as those forming the cornice- work of the room 

 ought not to be too thick and dense, as feathery open pieces 

 showing their foliage in front of the wall and ceiling are all that 

 is wanted. Rosettes of white and pink with a small piece of 

 fine wire will do to fasten them to the evergreens, and they may 

 be used rather liberally. In those masses occupying the plain 

 wall which, as above, we have called evergreen pictures, these 

 rosettes may be arranged in some fanciful form, as a circle, star, 

 shield, or any device that may be most appropriate. The event 

 the decoration is owing to may suggest either a monogram or 

 any other feature that could be carried out easily, clearly, and 

 yet simply, for the most homely plainness is better than any 

 badly executed device of greater intricacy. 



The above remarks refer more especially to large rooms having 

 no architectural ornament of their own ; but as many possess 

 beauties which it would be improper to hide, another description 

 of ornamental work must be adopted. Assuming a rich cornice 

 to surround the room, the side walls below this may be rendered 

 gay with evergreens tied-up in long continuous festoonwork . 

 somewhat thus : — 



The diameter of each semicircle should not be less than 6 feet, 

 unless in small rooms ; but if we take 6 feet as a standard the 

 radius or dip of the festoon ought to be 3 feet at least. The 

 character of the room and its fittings will, however, determine 

 the size of the festoons, and at all places where they finish, a 

 drop or pendant of the same oharacter may hang down by the 

 wall. In making the festoon, I have found short twiggy pieces 

 of Ivy, as the spur piece from some old tree or wall that had 

 not been cut for many years, short leafy twigs of about a foot 

 long with not too much old wood about them, answer best, and 

 are easily fastened to a length of small string of a dark colour so 

 as not to show. The operation of making these festoons is quick 



after a beginning is made. A quantity of small twiggy pieces of 

 Ivy are prepared, and one end of the string is fastened to 3 nail or 

 hook anywhere, while the person gives the string a hitch round 

 the thick ends of one or two pieces of Ivy, and a sort of knot ia 

 formed by such hitch. One or two more pieces of Ivy are 

 fastened in like manner to the string a few inches farther on so 

 that their tops hide the base of the former piece, and this is 

 continued to any required length. The end at starting being 

 temporarily fastened to something is a great advantage. We 

 have, however, generally found that pieces of 6 or 8 feet long 

 were quite long enough to carry, as they can easily be unitod on 

 the spot where they are wanted. 



