July 25, 1872 ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



73 



Hougemont (Waterloo), under Wellington. After a hard day's 

 march in sunny Spain no one knew better how to cool a bottle 

 of wine by putting it into a woollen stocking, and keeping it 

 wet in the sun. No one knew better the properties of confined 

 ah 1 for keeping out cold and heat : hence he had double win- 

 dows for his favourite rooms, and he made me dispense with 

 plants in a corridor because I could not keep them there with- 

 out air-giving. " Why, the heated ah- lets in the heat to me. 

 Keep all shut-up, and in the room beyond I shall enjoy a 

 delicious coolness." And it was so. 



This matter of air-giving is not understood, even as respects 

 our sitting-rooms and bedrooms. Under all aspects you will 

 see windows stand open to get fresh air : all right enough, but 

 what about the delicious coolness in such weather as we have 

 lately had ? I say advisedly, the closer every window is kept 

 whilst the sun shines upon it, and if blinds are used too, the 

 cooler and the more pleasant it will be. If the windows face 

 the east, open them in the afternoon; if the west, open in the 

 morning, shut by midday, and open after sunset, and so on in 

 proportion. In such weather it is a comfort to keep heated 

 air out. It adds to the discomfort to let it in freely. This 

 advice acted on, many a bedroom, even in summer, might be a 

 cool retreat, that is now little better than an oven, because 

 everything in it and about it has been heated by the sun's 

 rays, and the heat will be radiated and reflected during 

 the night, so as to prevent refreshing sleep. A great point 

 would be gained if it were clearly understood — that, however 

 desirable in winter, it is not equally desirable in summer that 

 sun heat and sun light should have free access to our living or 

 sleeping rooms. A great point in comfort would be gained if 

 the simple fact were clearly understood, that a cool retreat 

 depends greatly on keeping the hot air out. — R. Fish. 



GILBEET'S HAND-LIGHTS. 



Amateur, gardeners with large ideas and small means have 

 long been in want of something, not so large and expensive as 

 a frame, in which they could raise a few seeds of the less hardy 

 kinds of plants not requiring a stove heat. For such nothing, 

 perhaps, is cheaper than a common flower-pot covered with a 

 piece of glass ; and generally speaking if the season becomes 

 progressively warmer, and the plants do not grow too large, and 

 if the attention bestowed is very careful, satisfactory results 

 are secured. But then, there is a great deal of trouble attached 

 to attending to » number of glass-covered pots, and the smaller 



they are the greater is the danger of injury to the plants which 

 they contain ; once these reach the glass a change of quarters 

 is inevitable, and if, as in the past spring, cold weather suc- 

 ceed an unusually warm period, they must either spoil or 

 perish. We have tried a number of contrivances, but none 

 have pleased us better than those formed of wood, which, 

 thickness for thickness, is at least four times more effective 

 than bricks in keeping out cold. The old hand-glasses were 

 very useful for the purpose we have named, and very useful, 

 too, for protecting Cauliflowers, Lettuce, and out-door Cucum- 

 bers, but they are expensive and very liable to breakage. 

 Mr. Gilbert, gardener to the Marquis of Exeter at Burghley 

 Park, has devised a hand-light quite as cheap as, and from 

 the sides being formed of wood more effective as a protector 

 than the wood or iron and glass hand-light, while it is equally 

 portable and less liable to breakage. As will be seen by the 

 accompanying figure, the glass slides in grooves for the pur- 



pose of giving ventilation and attention to the plants, and it 

 can be lifted or elevated as readily as any ordinary hand-light. 

 It is, in fact, a miniature two-light frame, with two pieces of 

 glass sliding in grooves, instead of the ordinary glazed sashes. 

 For protecting purposes we have a decided preference in favour 

 of wood and glass as compared to pottery and glass, and, we 

 know not why, but plants seem to thrive better under the one 

 than the other. We can recommend Mr. Gilbert's as a good 

 and very neat protector, likely also to be useful in many other 

 ways. 



HAND BOUQUETS. 



The letter of " Inquirer " opens out a field of great interest 

 and a subject on which much might be said. He has fallen 

 into disfavour, it appears, because on a recent occasion when 

 he was acting as judge he preferred a small but delicately 

 arranged bouquet to one of larger dimensions formally arranged, 

 and, while striking at first sight, deficient in taste of arrange- 

 ment. Now, presuming that his description is correct, and 

 without prejudice, as the lawyers say, he was unquestionably 

 right, for the great fault of bouquets as generally made up is 

 lumpiness. " You have," said an eminent Parisian bouquetiste- 

 to me once, " the very best and choicest flowers in England ;, 

 but oh ! how you arrange them — crowd them together, and 

 make horrid mops of them ! " and it is generally true. Yet 

 all this is a matter of taste ; as people do not often agree on 

 what constitutes beauty in the human face divine, so in all 

 ornamentation we may almost say, " Tot homines totidem 

 sententice" 



What the standard of good taste in a bouquet is it would 

 not, perhaps, be difficult to decide. Lightness of form, bril- 

 liancy in colour, yet with a due consideration to tone, so that 

 nothing glaring may offend the eye, and portability, are some 

 of the points I should insist upon. As to those bedding-out 

 bouquets (I can think of no better name), in which the flowers 

 are arranged in circles of colour, or the bouquets quartered off 

 in whites, and blues, and reds, they are very abominations, 

 although, I believe, the fashion was set by some deluded French 

 bouquetiste; and then, if a thing becomes fashionable, away 

 goes taste. Is there any human being who considers that the 

 present fashion of wearing a tower of false hair and a bit of a 

 thing called a bonnet on the top thereof can be considered as 

 good taste ? and yet how utterly useless to prove that it vio- 

 lated every canon of beauty ! All honour to whoever, then, 

 stands up for simplicity and elegance as opposed to lumpiness 

 and fulness. That these mistakes are made by- 

 French artists as well as our own I can testify- 

 When, before the war, I was deputed by the Crystal 

 Palace Company to obtain and bring over for one of 

 their shows the best productions of the best bou- 

 quetistes in Paris, I went to one well-known name, , 

 told him my wants. " Ah ! you shall have such a . 

 one as will astonish you." Well, I left it to him.. 

 In due time a huge box arrived at my hotel. I 

 could not open it, but when I did so at the Palace 

 it was nothing but a huge mass of Rose buds 

 without either elegance or beauty. There is no 

 plant of greater use to the bouquet-maker than 

 Adiantum cuneatum, j'et it must be remembered 

 that it is not to be used, as charity, to cover a 

 multitude of sins, as I have seen it used. A badly, 

 lumpily arranged bouquet has been covered over 

 with a few fronds, which have hid its defects. I 

 conclude, therefore, that "Inquip.ee" was right,, 

 and hope all who have to judge bouquets will come to a like 

 decision when called upon to do so. — D., Deal. 



ADVICE FROM BEULAH— SILVER- VARIEGATED 

 GERANIUMS. 

 We are anxious to correct an error into vrhich we have 

 several times fallen when describing the merits of the various 

 Geraniums that we employ for the embellishment of our 

 flower garden. Of the Silver-edged varieties we have for 

 several years been very much in favour of Miss Kingsbury,, 

 and we have discarded nearly all others of the Silver-edged, 

 section except Pearl, to make way for that, our favourite. 

 Although we have grown Pearl in small quantities ever since- 

 it was sent out by Mr. Pearson, its fortunate raiser, yet we 

 have never till this year grown it in sufficient quantities to 

 test its real qualities as a bedder when grown en masse. At. 



