Garden and Forest. 



| Number 471. 



length of the table, making an irregular rope effect. Some- 

 times I commence at the centre to arrange the pansies, and 

 all the dark blue and purple flowers are selected. These are 

 placed in the moss, some high, others low, some turning 

 one way and some another, the outside of the little cres- 

 cent relieved by the Sweet Allyssum, and so on down the 

 length of the table, with lighter pansies in the next dish, 

 and still lighter ones beyond, until the lavender and pale 

 yellow and white pansies finish the ends of the rope of 

 flowers. Generally, flowers that bloom in different colors, 

 as the Corn-flower, Centaurea Cyanus, are more effective 

 when the colors are separated and one or two shades only 

 are arranged together, but I think pansies are an exception, 

 and all their colors seem to harmonize. Nevertheless, the 

 effect is much heightened by tasteful combination. A 

 careful study of the way the pansies look on the plants will 

 help to avoid any stiff effect in their arrangement, and the 

 combination with Sweet Alyssum makes a beautiful table 

 decoration. Heliotrope may be used with pansies, or 

 Maiden-hair Fern, or small clippings of their own bright 

 green leaves, always avoiding a regular arrangement of 

 first a flower and then a leaf. Nearly half of a dish may be 

 solidly filled with Maiden-hair, and the eye turns with de- 

 light from the mass of quiet green to the gorgeous coloring 

 of the pansies. An especially fine blossom should be 

 prominently displayed or surrounded with colors that best 

 bring out its beauty. 



These same dishes lend themselves to many other pleas- 

 ing effects. I sometimes place them point to point to form 

 a circle, and in the centre a tall slender vase with a few 

 white roses or other flowers of quiet coloring that do not 

 spoil the effect of the pansies. For a large table an ample 

 platter of flowers may be arranged in the centre, and the 

 small dishes extended down the table from it ; or one low 

 dish filled with moss and flowers and edged with Ferns or 

 some different flower is effective. The pronounced pansy 

 clusters may be softened with the foliage of the common 

 garden Carrot, the delicate leaves falling around the edge 

 of the platter like a lovely ruffle of lace. If the flowers are 

 watered each day they will keep fresh for a long time. 



Besides the crescent saucers a number of other low 

 dishes may be easily procured, such as cheap pressed glass 

 olive and bonbon dishes, all shallow enough to be filled 

 with moss, and the shapes are often quite artistic. Soup 

 dishes, fish platters and bread plates were frequently 

 pressed into this service until the housekeeper maintained 

 her rights in the pantry, and I have been forced to get the 

 pressed glass. After all, there is nothing more satisfactory 

 than glass for flowers ; it requires extra care, but a package 

 of washing powder will keep it looking bright with little 

 trouble. 



If desirable moss does not grow as near a garden as it 

 does to mine it may readily be had from a florist, and it can 

 be kept moist in a tin box, and the same moss used several 

 times. Pansies have been suggested as the principal ex- 

 ample of short-stemmed flowers, but many others will 

 show to the best advantage arranged in this way, as the 

 sweetbrier rose, the fragrant cinnamon rose, forget-me- 

 nots, violets and nasturtiums. 



Rangeley, Me. Dorothy Root. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



THE annual general meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society was held at Westminster on February 9th. 

 A large number of Fellows were present, and the proceed- 

 ings were of an unusually smooth and satisfactory char- 

 acter. The President, Sir Trevor Lawrence, called attention 

 to the amount of useful work done by the Society during 

 the year, and to the absence of evidences of dissatisfaction 

 among Fellows and friends of the Society. The balance- 

 sheet showed that about four thousand pounds now stand 

 to the credit of the Society, a state of things which proved 

 the wisdom of the new departure made ten years ago when 



the Society, at that time deeply in debt, quitted South Ken- 

 sington and decided to devote itself to horticulture exclu- 

 sively, instead of combining it with brass bands, fireworks 

 and tea-gardens. 



The experimental gardens at Chiswick are being grad- 

 ually remodeled and the keep and collections of the 

 Society's garden made worthy of the headquarters of Eng- 

 lish horticulture. Dr. Masters expressed a hope that efforts 

 would be made to keep Chiswick to the fore by holding 

 now and then exhibitions or formal meetings of some kind 

 to bring the Fellows and friends of the Society there. Pro- 

 fessor Michael Forster remarked that the Society had not 

 got to the extent of its usefulness and there is a strong 

 feeling in some quarters that good experimental work done 

 on scientific lines might be undertaken at Chiswick with 

 beneficial results to horticulture. The Society must have 

 a garden, and, moreover, one that will always do creditable 

 work in the interests of scientific horticulture. The annual 

 cost of these gardens to the Society is about ^2,000. Mr. 

 Barron's successor, Mr. Wright, was accorded high praise 

 by the President for the work he had done since he took 

 charge at Chiswick. 



The bimonthly meetings and exhibitions held in the hall 

 continue to attract large numbers of those interested in 

 horticulture, owing to the fact that every plant with any 

 pretensions to rarity or exceptional beauty, and even 

 examples of cultural skill, is sent to these meetings for 

 certificate or commendation. During last year eighty-four 

 first-class certificates were awarded, principally to plants, 

 and three hundred and fifty awards of merit. The Coun- 

 cil consider this number excessive and recommend that the 

 committees should be more careful in selecting. There is 

 no good reason for granting certificates to old favorites, as 

 is sometimes done now, solely on the ground that they 

 have never had such recognition, otherwise I do not 

 remember that any plant distinguished by a certificate last 

 year was unworthy of it. Sixty cultural commendations 

 were voted to plants showing extra cultural skill, over half 

 of these being Orchids. 



It has been felt that the record of the plants certificated 

 was incomplete without an accurate drawing or picture 

 representing the essential characters of each. To remedy 

 this defect a move has been initiated by the Orchid Com- 

 mittee, certain members of which undertake to pay a third 

 of the expense, by which all the Orchids certificated will 

 in future have their portraits painted by a competent artist. 

 A suggestion was made that this should be done for all 

 plants certificated, and it is probable that this will soon 

 follow, should the pictures of the Orchids prove a success. 

 As a rule our horticultural journals are energetic in preparing 

 and publishing drawings of ali meritorious new plants 

 exhibited, but these are not always of such a character as 

 to enable one to make critical comparisons. After all, The 

 Botanical Magazine has been and continues to be the por- 

 trait gallery of all good and interesting species of plants 

 introduced into cultivation, and it is only the varieties and 

 forms of garden origin for which some similar arrangement 

 now requires to be made. Competent pictures of these 

 will have a value to the student of racial development 

 among garden plants now and in the future, a subject of 

 quite exceptional interest to botanists at the present time. 



In January, 1893, the Council published a list of all the 

 plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables certificated from the 

 year 1859 to 1892. A supplement is now ready, bringing 

 the list down to December, 1896. Each part is issued at 

 the price of one shilling, but the two together may be 

 obtained for eighteenpence, at the Society's office. 



An examination in the principles and practice of horti- 

 culture was held on May 1st, concurrently in different 

 parts of the United Kingdom, a centre being established 

 wherever a magistrate, or clergyman, or schoolmaster, or 

 other responsible person accustomed to examinations 

 would consent to superintend one on the Society's be- 

 half and in accordance with the rules laid down for its 

 conduct. No limit as to the age, position, or previous 



