104 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUEB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Febrnary 9, 1S7L 



those of the March pattern, which have a small enp for flowers 

 on the top of a single glass rod proceeding from a pan of 

 flowers on the table, but it usually happens that the pendant 

 flowers so essential to the appearance of the upper basin occupy 

 the line of view I wish to keep clear. However, others must 

 determine whether or not the beauties of such things counter- 

 balance their disadvantages ; but it is certain that many orna- 

 mental stands do interfere with this line in a greater degree 

 than those alluded to, and some in themselves are highly orna- 

 mental. I may here observe, that the most costly are by no 

 means the most effective, silver and other metals seldom look- 

 ing so well as plain glass when brought in conjunction with 

 flowers and foliage, and carved work and ornament on metals 

 are worse than lost when partially screened by the foliage, 

 the plain parts alone looking well. I know much disappoint- 

 ment has resulted from this, and at exhibitions the costly 

 articles of plate, though creditably set out with flowers, &c., 

 have ofien been beaten by more common-looking stands of 

 plain white glass. Perhaps, however, when a silver stand 

 takes the form of an epergne, its liohneES and costliness may 

 attract attention, but the floral display must not be overdone, 

 and the fault of a great many such contrivances is, that the 

 bowl for flowers is much too large, necessitating an unwieldy 

 and unbecoming mass ; but of late years there has been great 

 diversity of designs, some being of glass with small baskets of 

 the same material suspended from them in which to place 

 flowers, and some are formed of china with sculptured figures, 

 but I confess having a dislike to them, and in general I would 

 give the preference to glass. 



Although more might be said about the class of ornaments 

 which are elevated a foot or upwards from the table, I will pass 

 onto those of a dwarfer form, cot but that there are many pretty 

 tall designs, but as those which are of less height afford still 

 greater diversity, and, what is of more importance, opportuni- 

 ties for an infinite diversity of design at a very small cost, and 

 with an effect as pleasing as the other, I have the greater con- 

 fidence in recommending it, and having had as much practical 

 experience of the working of the affair as most people, I speak 

 with the more assurance. 



In the first place I consider that for a good display of floral 

 beauty, or in its place that of foliage, on the table, the table itself 

 ought to be wide— certainly not less than 5 feet, and if 1 foot 

 more so much the better. The tables I have had most to deal 

 with are between the two measurements given. Assuming the 

 table to be lighted by candlesticks placed upon it, these are 

 generally placed in a line down the centre, and say about 3 feet 

 apart, and intermediate between these a stand of flowers, or it 

 may be a plant, is often placed, while, possibly, some piece 

 of plate or other ornament occupies the centre of the table, 

 and the dessert dishes are placed about midway between the 

 cuter edge and the middle. The understanding being that the 

 dinner is to be served « la Faisse, a considerable portion of the 

 tablecloth is available for ornamentation, and various are the 

 modes in which this may be done. When a number of visitors 

 are likely to remain for a week or more at a time it is advisable 

 to change the design every day, and this may be done by 

 adopting some of the means that' will be described below, none 

 of them being expensive ; at all events great diversity may be 

 secured at little more than the cost of preparing the materials 

 at the moment they are wanted, and these at most country 

 places are at command. I will therefore assume that the 

 jdessert dishes occupy positions about 18 inches apart along 

 ioth sides of the table. We frequently make use of a set 

 of troughs of zinc about 2 inches wide and about J inch 

 deep, and made in a half-circular form, bo that when two are 

 placed together they form a perfect circle or ring. These 

 troughs usually have the sides painted green (but I am not 

 sxLie but some other colour would do as well), and being filled 

 with sand are dressed with such flowers as are at command. 

 Early in the summer Eoses are often used when plentiful, 

 later in the season the flower beds yield Geraniums, &c., and 

 in autumn Chrysanthemums. In all these instances it is ad- 

 visable, before putting in the flowers, to dress the edges — that 

 is, to fix some kind of foliage in the sand so as to hide the 

 edges of the trough in a neat and becoming manner, yet with- 

 out proceeding too far. All descriptions of foliage are not 

 adapted for this purpose ; the leaves of Eoses answer very 

 _well, and those of Geraniums are not amiss. In winter we 

 are often obliged to pick out suitable leaves of Ivy, as a 

 leaf that sticks out at right angles does not look well ; only 

 such as lap over are suitable. Ferns, however pretty else- 

 where, cannot well be worked in here. Sticking in the flowers 



is an easier matter, and I would certainly not advise more than 

 one kind to be used, or at most two, while only one kind of 

 foliage is wanted. To those inexperienced in such matters I 

 may say that flowers of a blue, purple, or violet colour do not 

 look well by candlelight, while scarlet, crimson, yellow, and 

 white are very effective, and most star-shaped flowers, as Cine- 

 rarias, look well. A good proportion of green is also advan- 

 tageous, especially when white or yellow flowers prevail, and 

 these colours, when having a green border between them and 

 the tablecloth, look better than most others. As flowers are 

 very scarce in winter, it is often advisable to make the most 

 of those which are to he had, and, having two or three sets 

 of troughs, we plant one entirely with Selaginella denticulata 

 some time before it is wanted, placing it on a hotbed or other 

 medium affording bottom heat, in order that the Lycopod may 

 make siifiicient growth before it is wanted, and we then bring 

 out that set in place of the made-up one, and its appearance 

 on the white tablecloth is, perhaps, more pleasing than the 

 floral arrangement. The overhanging sprigs are generally 

 sufficiently numerous to hide the edge of the trough, and they 

 show their beautiful configuration to the best possible advan- 

 tage against the white background. Sometimes it has been 

 thought advisable to stick in a row of light-coloured Pompon 

 Chrysanthemum flowers along the centre, like a row of beads or 

 buttons, but I am not sure that this is any improvement ; it 

 certainly destroys the belief that a living plant only is before 

 you ; and whether the floral display compensates for this or 

 not I leave others to determine. At all events i£ flowers are to 

 be used let them be only of one kind and one colour. 



It will be seen that the troughs, being all semicircular (al- 

 though of two sizes BO as to meet any irregularity that may 

 occur), are capable of being placed in a great number of forms, 

 but one of the most pleasing is a series of scollops all around 

 the tables, enclosing a dessert dish or something of that kind ; 

 perhaps a wider scollop may be wanted at each end, or it may 

 sometimes happen that the troughs do not exactly touch each 

 other in all places, but a little extra dressing will make up the 

 difference, and to meet this difliculty we have a number of 

 straight short troughs which may be worked in, but we seldom 

 require them, either the one size of circle or the other suffic- 

 ing for our purpose. When it is advisable to work the semi- 

 circles into a sort of serpentine form these short lengths come 

 in handy, likewise when a square or a straight line is desirable ; 

 they are also useful to unite the curves, but in general the 

 latter do their work well, and are capable of being worked into 

 circles surrounding each object in the centre, or it may be at 

 the sides ; in fact, they can be arranged in several ways which 

 will suggest themselves to the decorator. 



In addition to the curved troughs alluded to, we have also 

 sets of straight ones to form a straight bordering around the 

 table ; these are of the same description as the others, and are 

 planted or dressed in the same way. They are from 1 to 2 feet 

 long, with curved comer pieces. Generally they are placed all 

 round at about 14 inches from the outer edge of the table, so as 

 to leave room for the plates and other requirements of the 

 company. Some admire them more than they do the curved 

 ones, and they come in well as a change. There are, however, 

 other modes of dressing besides those in which the trays ars 

 used, and sometimes very simple applications of very common 

 things are better than more costly contrivances. Those I shall 

 describe are mostly of this description, and I would invite 

 opinions on them ; at the same time the advocates of lofty 

 stands for flowers, &o., will see that the contrivances above 

 described do not in any way prevent such being used, neither 

 do those which are to follow, excepting in one case where tha 

 novelty of the arrangement seems to forbid anything high in- 

 tervening. 



Where a long round of dinner parties has to be provided for, 

 and that perhaps in winter, especially where bouquet-stands 

 have to be daily made up for the drawing-room, and now 

 and then tall stands for the dinner-table, the drain upon tha 

 flowers for these purposes leaves but few for what may be 

 called flat-table decoration ; consequently foliage alone, or 

 relieved with berries, has frequently to be adopted. Here there 

 is scope for great diversity of design, although the materials 

 for the purpose ought to consist of small foliage only, as the 

 extreme width of the figuring ought not to exceed 2 inches, 

 and that without cuttiug-in any of the leaves, as is often 

 done in preparing letters and other things of the kind for church 

 decoration. Box is one of our greatest favourites, but we also 

 use Yew, one or two kinds of Cypress, a small-leaved Phillyrea, 

 and one or two others. Box, owing to the number of its bright 



