232 



JOUENAL OF HORTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ llarch 30, 1871. 



it. The specimen in the conservatory, which ib daily thronged by 

 admirers, is now in its very highest beanty. 



GARDEN DRILLS. 



We do not remember a, single garden crop that cannot be 

 better cultivated if sown in rows than if sown broadcast. Eows 

 allow the hoe to be more effectively used, and to have gutters 

 between them for the application of liquid manures, a mode of 

 manuring not nearly so well appreciated as it deseryes. 



more effective than single flowers. The whole bouquet was 

 margined with Honiton lace, white ribbon, and silver tassels. 



The bouquet was furnished and presented by Mr. Charles- 

 Turner, Slough. 



SYRINGING GRAPES. 

 It is a long time since I read anything so like a fallacy as- 

 that put forth on page 211, to the effect that syringing is not 

 injurious to the bloom of Grapes, and I shall be much sur- 

 prised if a man of such practical experience as Mr. Pearson 

 commits himself to the support of Mr. Peach's assertion. The 

 bloom of the Black Alicante Grape is thick and tenacious, and 

 not so easily rubbed off as the bloom of some other kinds ; but 

 nothing is so likely to destroy the bloom of Grapes of any 

 kind, or to utterly spoil their appearance, as the continual 

 syringing of the Tine?, not to speak of scouring the bunches 

 "with a hydronette every day for weeks," as any of your 

 readers can prove to their complete satisfaction by making 

 the experiment. Further, the cleanest and softest water that 

 can be procured for daily practical purposes will leave a dirty 

 scum over the berries that will in itself make the fruit unpre- 

 sentable at table. When a constant scouring of the foUage by 

 the syringe is required, something is wrong that such treat- 

 ment wUl not cure. Eobust health and splendid crops of fruit 

 can be secured without syringing after the bloom has come 

 upon the berries, and such treatment is, therefore, not needful, 

 nor to be recommended. — J. Simpson, Wortley Hall, 



For large extents of ground a wheeled drill, on the same 

 principle as the agricultural drill, 

 has been invented, but delivering 

 only one row at a time. 



For smaller beds, and for small 

 seeds only, a soda-water bottle 

 with a quill through a cork was 

 devised. 



Now we have one patented and 

 on sale under the name of the 

 "Sidney Seed-sower." We thought 

 that this was in memory of Alger- 

 non Sidney, who was for levelling 

 all things in the State, but we are 

 better pleased to find that it is a 



ribnte to the inventor's wife, who, we have no doubt, in some 

 way is another instance justifying 

 the Persian monarch's invariable 

 query, " What woman has had to 

 do with this ? " 



This neat little implement is in- 

 tended to obviate " the difficulties 

 sowers have to spread seeds with 

 any regularity, particularly in wet 

 or windy weather — it will distribute 

 with equal regularity Peas, or the 

 very smallest flower seed, in any 

 required quantity, either broad- 

 cast or in drills or pots." This is 

 effected by the slide being raised 

 or lowered as desired, which is a very marked and effective 

 characteristic. 



PRINCESS LOUISES WEDDING BOUQUET. 

 Ix an old volume now before us we read, " Lady Ver, the 

 Spring, is come, the nosegay-giver to weddings," for in those 

 days such flowers as Maiden-blushes, Primroses, Pansies, and 

 Violets were alone attainable. 



" The bride 

 ilade holy these, all othera lay aside." 



But in our days of richer floriculture the bridal bouquets are 

 of more costly and more rare combinations. Princess Louise's 

 was chiefly of Orchid flowers — Phalsnopsis grandiflora, Odon- 

 togloBsum Alexandra, Odontoglossum pulchellum, Cymbidium 

 «burneum, Lyoaste Skinneri alba, Calanthe vestita alba— Bho- 

 dodendron jasminiflorum, Bouvardia longiflora, Adiantum cu- 

 neatum, Gleichenia fiabellata, white Eoses, Gardenias, Orange 

 blossoms, and Myrtles. The Orchids were in sprays, as being 



FRENCH HORTICULTURISTS' P^ELIEF FUND.. 



There can be no doubt that the efforts in this direction have 

 received a rude shock by the melancholy events that are now 

 taking place in Paris, and yet surely nothing can be more il- 

 logical than to hold back the aid contemplated on this account. 

 The insurgents of Belleville and Montmartre are not to be con- 

 founded with the quiet hardworking horticulturists in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Paris. And what, after all, is the principle of 

 giving? for some people say, ''What little thanks have we! 

 When a vote of thanks to England was proposed in the Assem- 

 bly it was shouted down, and some French people look upon 

 our gifts as an insult." Now, I have read that we are togive 

 hoping to receive nothing again ; and even although gratitude 

 may cost the receiver very little and be pleasant to the giver, 

 yet we do not give expecting to receive it. May the time never 

 come when we in England shall be looking to aid from others. 

 But we have, let it be borne in mind, an element in London 

 as dangerous and disorderly as that which has revolutionised 

 Paris ; and we should think it very hard then, if any outbreak 

 of violence took place, that the sins of Whitechapel and Seven 

 Dials should be visited on the quiet gardeners of Isleworth and 

 Twickenham. 



Nothing in this matter has been more gratifying to me than 

 to see a class which I have always respected for their intelli- 

 gence and good conduct — the gardeners of the various private 

 establishments throughout the kingdom — coming forward, out- 

 of their not very large means, to help their brethren of the 

 spade in France. It is the fashion with some to decry them. 

 Their conduct in this matter wUl strengthen the hands of those 

 who, like myself, have taken the opposite view. — D., Deal. 



DINNER-TABLE DECORATION. 



I PREFACE my suggestions by observing, that I prefer the 

 simple to the elaborate in this art, considering fruit, flowers, 

 china, crystal, lamps, and candelabra, as the available and most 

 elegant materials (with the exception on a sultry day of a block 

 of Wenham-Lake ice, with a little greenery for a centre piece), 

 and objecting to the effect of rockwork, tanks of gold fish, 

 fountains, or the canal-like appearance produced by laying 

 mirrors along a dinner-table. _ _ 



We never put the fresh summer fruits on the table; it is 

 diflicult to find flowers which harmonise agreeably with the 

 colour of Strawberries, &c. They are shown to full advantage 

 when handed round after the ices, a sprig of Ice-plant being 

 laid on each dish. 



For the centre, if high, whether silver or glass, nothing excels 

 the beauty of the leaves and long tendrils of Aristolochia Sipho^ 

 with or without a wreath of full-blown Eoses in a tin circle laid 

 flat round the stand. 



The wine-coolers, Minton or Parian vases, or baskets corre- 

 sponding, I would fill with full-blown Eoses ; or edge both the 



