July 21, 1870. ] 



JOUBNAD OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



45 



with Dazzle, Grandis, Parsonsii, Sir T. Thomas, Margaretta, and 

 Mauve Queen. Mr. Hinton is also first in the class for ichimenes in 

 the schedule of the Oxfordshire Horticultural Society. 



Some charming young hut finely hloomed plants of Gloxinias are 

 staged by Mr. Charles Turner in the class for sis hinds. They con- 

 sist of Glowworm and Henry Husson, erect -flowering hinds ; and 

 Rubens, Rose d' Amour, Count Benary, and Distinction, drooping kinds. 

 Perhaps a better and more varied half-dozen could hardly b3 selected. 

 Mr. W. Hickman, the Gardens, Bletchington Park, Oxford, is second 

 with Princess Beatrice, Sultan, Bridesmaid, and Nimrod, erect-flower- 

 ing lands ; Queen Victoria, very pretty, and Princess Royal, with pen- 

 dant flowers. 



De*ner-taele Floral Decop.ations. — A proverb will often throw 

 a sunbeam of light over that which from a mere custom is becoming 

 hazy and obscure. "We are not at all prepared to sail with the stream 

 in the present enthusiasm for dining-table decoration. We have a 

 lingering belief that there should be a place for everything, and every 

 one thing should be kept in its place. The office of a dining table 

 is to present eatables and drinkables to the good people who sit 

 around it. We have no desire to be barbarian enough to see a hugo 

 table loaded with a whole roasted ox, sheep, or pig ; but at the risk 

 of being considered old-fashioned, we like to see the joints of which 

 we partake in the good old English style, instead of the slices on a 

 plate, brought in the mode a la Rtisse, so much in vogue, which puts 

 us in mind of the eating-house, instead of the home and the mansion. 

 Attempt by presumed refinement to disguise it as you will, the natural 

 principle remains, that it is most pleasant to partake of the little you 

 want from a large, next-to-an-inexhaustible supply. When we have 

 dined a la Musse, what we call next place to eating-house fashion, if 

 we felt we could take another slice, we have been deterred by the 

 thought that there might not be enough for others. "When we see 

 before us the round of beef, and the leg and shoulder of mutton, &c, 

 we see there may be <; cut and come again," and that we may have 

 what we want without depriving others of their legitimate share. If 

 a man is considerate at any time be ought to be so when he dines in 

 company. Well, we are old-fashioned enough to like the old ways, 

 and to inhale the fragrance of well-cooked meat and vegetables, as 

 well as partake of them for our nourishment. In such a case we want 

 no sickening aroma from flowers to mingle with the aroma from the 

 joints. We have no objection to a few flowers and sprigs of vegetation 

 to give a pleasing diversion to the eye, but as the object in sitting 

 down at the table is to eat, these floral decorations on the old English 

 syBtem should never le rendered more lofty and conspicuous than the 

 joints to be demolished. More latitude may be given on the a la 

 Mussc style, where the table may be at once furnished with the dessert 

 and rendered somewhat ornamental with plants and cut flowers. The 

 mischief is, that people forget that the dining-table, if it keeps its 

 place, is a place to eat and drink at. All floral ornament and devices 

 should, therefore, be of a very secondary instead of primary import- 

 ance. We have read of an emperor long ago who had silver shoes for 

 his horse, and a golden manger from which to eat his oats. Were 

 -the oats a whit better than if they had been taken from iron or wood ? 

 Is it a bit more truly refined to attempt to turn an eating-table into 

 an aquarium, a fernery, or a neat conservatory? Everything in its 

 place, gentlemen. When you dine, let dining be your object, and not 

 the contemplation and study of floral display. A few men with 

 wondrous minds can enter into the consideration of many things at 

 once. We believe that the great masses can only thoroughly enter 

 upon one subject at a time. 



We like everyone, however, to gratify his tastes, considering he has 

 a perfect right to do so if he interferes not with the rights and 

 pleasures of others. Even on the a la Ifusse plan, the ornamentation 

 should never be so conspicuous as to lead the diner for a moment to 

 forget he is at a dining table. A few Ferns in low vases, and cut 

 flowers in low dishes, will generally tell the best, as not interfering 

 with the free co lverse and free sight of the diners on each side of the 

 table. For want of attention to keep floral decoration lowly and sub- 

 ordinate, we have seen pretty high glasses and vases of flowers on the 

 dining table, that we wished could be transferred to side tables, or to 

 the di-awing-room, where, placed singly or in groups, they would 

 become objects of attraction, more especially if the aroma was not 

 overpowering. This latter observation would open-up a largo field of 

 remark and observation. Our own opinion is, that in many cases the 

 something like rage for cut flowers in rooms is furnishing more than is 

 dreamed of — occupation for our medical friends. A growing plant with 

 light in a window is a source of health to the inmates of that room. 

 A plant, though green, set on a table, or in recesses where no direct 

 light reaches it, is anjthing but a source of health to the human occu- 

 pants. Cut flowers unrelieved with plenty of green, are always more 

 injurious than beneficial in confined places, and especially at night. 

 Did we consider the fitness and the place for things, we wo; 41 have 

 fewer plants and cut flowers where we could not give them light, and 

 feel more pleasure in examining them under conditions more favour- 

 able to their healt'i and our own. 



Feeling powerie;s to arrest the stream of floral decoration, but with 

 some small hope, with the help of others, of so directing it in its course 

 that it may not become a noxious extravagant mania, we will shortly 

 notice a few of the matters of ornamentation that struck our attention 

 at Oxford. And first of the three groups of flowers, or of flowers and 

 fruit, suitable for the decoration of the dinner table, Class 96. Of the 



three lots nothing is attempted with fruit, and hence all are on some- 

 thing like equal terms. Mr. Perkins, Leamington, who takes the first 

 prize, has a pair of low glass plates, each having a column of 

 twisted glass supporting a smaller and rather shallower glass vessel or 

 vase. The lower vases are nicely done with fine flowers of Alla- 

 manda, Roses, Pelargoniums, all rendered light and airy by dressings 

 of Maiden-hair and the neat miniature flowers of a great beauty for 

 this purpose, the Gypsophila repens. The upper vases or epergnes 

 are draped with Maiden-hair and Fuchsias, and the flowers are equally 

 well arranged. The centre of the three is a glass vase on a pedestal 

 and base, raising the vase some 9 inches in height. This is dressed 

 equal to the others, and in this vase a central column rises, terminating 

 in a tube or trumpet-mouthed glass, with Fuchsias, etc., depending. 

 From the centre of the lower vase rise three wide-mouthed tubes to 

 about half the height of the central one, and furnished in a similar 

 light and easy manner. Then, in combination with these, there are 

 some thirteen glasses some 7 inches in height, and averaging an inch 

 across at the top ; these are dressed chiefly with Maiden-hair, some 

 have a single Rose or bud, others a few choice flowers. Sitting at the 

 table, the upper glasses of the three are above the line of vision, but 

 are pleasant to look up to. Our chief objection to the central one is 

 the three central tube glasses that rise about half the height of the 

 eentral one. This would have enhanced its beauty as a separate article 

 in the drawing-room or on a side table. Looked at merely as en orna- 

 ment of the dining table, the centre vase is rendered more lumpy and 

 less airy and graceful than its companions. We are just in great doubt 

 whether, looking to fitness and appropriateness, these beautiful glasses, 

 just filled as they are, would not have been as well without the columns 

 and the upper epergnes. They would have been more simple. 



Mr. Chard, Clarendon Park, Salisbury, is second with another 

 simple arrangement, simpler even than the last, though the same 

 remark will apply to the elevated epergne. This consists of three flat 

 glass dishes resting on the table some IS inches in diameter, with, 

 brass rods or columns supporting another shallow glass epergne some 

 10 inches in diameter. Two columns are festooned with climbing Fern, 

 the central one with Cissus discolor. All these are dressed at the 

 base with the common Male Fern. Two are filled chiefly with Roses, 

 relieved with Maiden-hair and wither thickly studded with Grasses, 

 the centre Grasses being some 15 inches long. A few Grasses give 

 lightness, too many make a vase of flowers look common and poor. 

 The common Fern dressings as a base are also rather long — some 

 15 inches beyond the glass, and therefore taking up considerable room. 

 The central glass is similarly dressed, only is furnished with Alia- 

 mandas, Begonias, and finer flowers. Here the height of the upper 

 epergne leaves plenty of room for opposite guests to see and converse, 

 and the Grasses from the fields make all look simple ; and yet never- 

 theless, just as in the last case, we are in doubt if the upper epergne is 

 an improvement. 



The other exhibition, that of Mr. Spiers, of St. Giles's, Oxford, 

 consists of three shallow glass epergnes, raised by base and pedestal 

 a foot above the tablecloth. Each of these has a central column ter- 

 minating in a wide-mouthed tube some IS inches in height. From 

 the base of this column rise three other columns rising about half the 

 height of the central one, then circling over like a crooked horn, and 

 terminating in a hook to hold each a little long glas3 basket. The 

 three lower epergnes are based with the common Male Fern and the 

 common Bracken, are then edged with leaves of Mrs. Pollock Pelar- 

 gonium, nud a variety of flowers used for grouping upper and lower 

 epergnes and the suspended baskets. Looked at individually on a side 

 table each of these would be interesting; as adjuncts to the dining 

 table, the triple columns and the hanging baskets make them heavy. 



In Class 97, Hand Bouquets, one pretty vase is shown by Mr. House, 

 of Peterborough, but not entered, edged with Maiden-hair, and nicely 

 blended with Stephauotis, Crassulas, Marcchal Niel Rose, and Pelar- 

 goniums. It wanted relief at the centre. That exhibited by Mr. 

 Perkins iswery pretty. Edged with lace paper aod Maidenhair ; filled 

 with a nice mixture of small Roses, Pinks, Carnations, scarlet and 

 light Pelargoniums, relieved with dots of Maiden-hair, other little 

 green bits, and dots of Forget-me-not. Mr. Ear ley, of Digswell, 

 Welwyn, exhibits a very graceful and airy bouquet , the best flowers 

 lightly relieved by Maiden-hair Feru and small Grasses. Mr. Hill 

 exhibits a nice arrangement, relieved with sprigs of Maiden-hair. Mr. 

 Chard, of Clarendon Park, has a very simple arrangement ; some good 

 flowers, as Heaths and Clerodendrons, being rather too much relieved, 

 though made light and airy, with Grasses and Ferns. 



The prize offered by the Journal of Horticulture for the best dessert 

 of fruits combining excellence of quality with taste in arrangement* 

 has failed even more than hitherto in securing the object aimed at. 

 There is not the slightest attempt made at taste in arrangement. I 

 had hoped to have learned a lesson here, and so far have had my 

 journey for nothing. I dearly wished to open up the question of 

 dressing fruit with flowers, &c, but here there was not the vestige of a 

 chance.. There was a great deal of fruit altogether, but nothing above 

 the usual average. Some six or seven Queen Pines ; four of Grapes 

 Black and White, retaining the traces of sulphur or dirty water ; two 

 of Nectarines, Violette Hative and Pitmaston Orange, the former fair ; 

 three of Peaches, one dish at least rotten and gone ; two of Strawber- 

 ries, good but for retaining traces of the packing ; two of Cherries, 

 fair ; a good Melon, Prizefighter ; and a plateful of the small Royal 

 Ascot Melon, and very small Turkey Figs. I give every credit to 



