May 8, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
£59 
be a natural taste and aptitude for the work. Many there are who 
with scant material at their command will accomplish far greater 
results in the. way of pleasing combinations and telling effects than 
others will with a plentiful supply of the choicest and best flowers, 
and this, too, in a much shorter space of time. One great point in 
connection with our subject is, whatever work you are going to do, 
whether it be decorating a dinner-table, dressing an epergne, or 
furnishing a library or drawing-room, study well beforehand and 
contemplate the effect, so as to be able to picture to yourself the 
completion of your work before it is begun. By adopting some such 
rule as this many obstacles are easily overcome, and much time, 
together with material, such as plants and flowers, will be saved. 
When we have a definite object in view it is surprising how easily 
and quickly with a little tact and energy it may be accomplished. 
Presuming we have a dinner-table to decorate on which cut 
flowers, and leaves are to predominate, it becomes necessary to 
ascertain before cutting anything what ornaments in the nature of 
china, epergnes, glasses, &c., are available for our work. Having 
done this the tallest must be selected for positions down the middle of 
the table, and these are generally epergnes. In the dressing of these 
we cannot lay down any hard-and-fast rule, but there are certain 
practices to be avoided—viz., overcrowding and the opposite extreme. 
The principal object to be aimed at should be lightness, elegance, and 
gracefulness, a proper blending of colours, and a judicious use of Ferns, 
dried Grasses, sprays of climbers, &c. Fern fronds, although indis¬ 
pensable, should not be too liberally employed ; moreover, it is always 
advisable to have them in character with the ornament in which 
they are put— i.e., the more bold and striking the latter so it should 
be with the Ferns. For instance, say we have an epergne or 
trumpet-shaped glass 2 feet high, we would make very little use of 
Adiantum cuneatum, much rather we should prefer A. formosum and 
other species of a like nature. A few dried Grasses are extremely 
useful for this kind of work, owing to their graceful appearance. 
Sprays of. climbers for entwining round the supports of epergnes 
and hanging over the sides, Ficus repens, Cissus discolor, and 
Ampelopsis Veitchii are also very suitable. 
Small globular glasses filled with Maidenhair Ferns and cut 
flowers should be arranged between the epergnes. In our opinion 
these look much better when one colour for each glass is employed 
than they do with two or three. Having placed all the ornaments 
containing flowers in their proper positions, the arrangement should 
be completed by laying on the cloth a line of Selaginella, this to 
extend the entire length and breadth of the table, and should be just 
inside the line of the knives and forks. Quadrants may be formed 
at each of the four corners, and it will add greatly to the effect if 
a row be arranged round the dessert dishes. 
By way of a change (a very desirable matter in floral decorating) 
cut flowers may be employed in other ways different from that 
already described. In many places shallow tin troughs are in great 
request. These are made of various shapes and sizes, being 1 inch 
deep and about 2 inches in width. When they are arranged on the 
table so as to form geometrical figures and designs they have a most 
pleasing effect. Mounds of moss on circular boards dressed with 
flowers and Fern fronds are also much appreciated by many. Some 
little practice, however, is required to do them tastefully, and perhaps 
it would be for the benefit of the inexperienced to give further 
details on this point. For instance, say we have to make up a mound 
on a board 15 inches in diameter, we should first of all require 
a small well-grown plant of some kind, Aralia Veitchii or Dracaena 
Cooperi would do very well. This should be stood on an inverted 
6-inch pot placed on the middle of the board, from the edge of the 
latter to the rim of the pot containing the plant fill in with fresh- 
gathered moss, which must have a gradual slope from top to bottom, 
and face with Selaginella Kraussiana. In this arrange the flowers, 
which should be in a continuous line the whole circumference, 
forming acute angles near the rim of the pot and 2 inches from the 
bottom of the board, a few Fern fronds to be intermixed here and 
there, the whole to be finished off with a row round the edge of the 
board about 6 inches long and resting on the cloth. Mounds of this 
description placed down the middle of the table have both a novel 
and picturesque appearance. Much more might be written on the 
subject, but as this note has already lengthened out into considerably 
more than was at first intended, further remarks must be left to 
another occasion.—E t (Vetera. 
THE GRASS GARDEN. 
The note I previously sent on this subject, and which you 
were good enough to publish, was confined to the consideration 
of flowers which blossom in the earlier portion of the year. 
While I at once concede that no flowers are so welcome, so 
pretty, and so much appreciated as spring flowers, I would 
not on that account limit the grass garden to spring flowers 
only. Tet while saying this, it must be admitted that the list 
of plants suitable for growing on grass to flower in summer and 
autumn is short. Such plants must have, as a fundamental 
recommendation, the quality of taking care of themselves when 
once they are put out, a capacity for growing and flowering year 
after year without attention as to staking, thinning out, and 
transplanting, qualities which the majority of plants are alto¬ 
gether deficient of. 
The Pampas Grass (Gynerium argenteum) may be named as 
typical of the kind of plant required. But we are not quite 
reduced to a sole dependance on this handsome Grass. There 
are a few others which might be introduced. The common 
Foxglove is one of the very best, and should be extensively 
planted close to the stems of shrubs. A packet of mixed seed 
sown now will produce hundreds of pflants to blossom another 
year. The German Irises and the large-flowered pale blue Iris 
pallida are both well suited for culture in grass. Strong clumps 
dotted in the open is the best way of managing these. 
A most effective foliage plant for extensive stretches of grass 
is the Giant Cow Parsnip (Heracleum giganteum). It grows to 
a height of 9 or 10 feet, and is best established in clumps of six 
to a dozen plants. Pheasants are said to be fond of the seeds. 
Sown now, and transplanted in autumn, these should be sti’ong 
for another season. Tritomas make a glorious show of colour in 
late autumn, but unfortunately I have not fouud them succeed 
so well as we would think they ought to. It is worth while to 
prepare a bed, thoroughly cultivating the soil by working a 
9-inch coating of manure into the ground, and after the plants 
are put out mulch the surface of the soil with more manure. 
If the beds are kept clean the first season, and an annual coating 
of manure, 4 to 6 inches in thickness, placed round the plants 
every winter, they will succeed in most places. After the first 
year the plants should grow enough to cover all bare ground. 
Other good plants for employing singly which may be men¬ 
tioned, are Astilbe rivularis, Spiraea Aruncus and Spiraea venusta, 
both herbaceous and tree Paeonias, Lychnis chalcedonica, Lupinus 
polyphyllus and varieties, Aconitum lycoctonum, A. Napellus 
and varieties. For covering stumps, the everlasting Sweet Pea, 
Clematis Jackmanni and Honeysuckle, Clematis Vitalba, Hop 
or climbing Roses are all suitable. By way of caution it may 
be added that it is very easy to overdo planting flowers on grass. 
As a rule they look much better, and indeed thrive better, in 
nooks in front of tall shrubs than in isolated positions with 
nothing round them but grass. When shrubs are small it is not 
only admissible, but a good arrangement, to plant flowering 
plants freely amongst them. But this and kindred matters I 
must leave for the present.— Sylvanus. 
WHAT IS AN AMATEUR? 
Me. Dodwell appears to feel himself intensely maligned by a state¬ 
ment that has been made describing him as a nurseryman. But why he 
should be so irate is a question not easily determinable by unprejudiced 
people who are so constituted as to be able to calmly consider the whole 
matter. Is not the trade of a nurseryman an honourable calling ? It is 
usually so considered, and several persons with whom I have spoken are 
simply astonished at Mr. Dodwell’s conduct. The whole question 
appears to me to lie in a nutshell. Has or has not Mr. Dodwell issued 
a priced list of Carnations with the object of selling them ? If he has 
done so, does not this constitute him a nurseryman ? If it does not, what 
does ? Is it necessary for a man to prove that he has made a profit by 
trading to be classed as a nurseryman 1 Assuming for the purpose of 
argument that Mr. Dodwell has sold Carnations to a very large extent, 
is he then properly eligible for competing in classes for amateurs,” and 
winning the lion’s share of the prizes with flowers from what, if he 
publishes a priced catalogue, is to all intents and purposes a trade col¬ 
lection 1 These are questions of undoubted public importance, and the 
connection of Mr. Dodwell’s name with them arises from the sheer 
necessity of the case, and it is certainly not mentioned now with the 
object of causing the slightest inconvenience to a person with whom I 
have never had the opportunity of speaking. Suppose we substitute the 
word “ dealer ” for “ nurseryman,” and I presume Mr. Dodwell will 
scarcely deny that he is a dealer, wherein is his position altered ?— 
Neutkal. 
SPRING FROSTS AND THEIR EFFECTS. 
We have clearly proved the value of even the slightest covering for 
fruit trees in a season like the present, ordinary tanned netting of 1-inch 
mesh (double), fastened to a coping standing slightly out from the wall, 
proving sufficient to preserve a fair crop of Peaches and Nectarines with 
the temperature at 22°. Another Peach wall, on which the top courses 
of brick recede from the line of wall, has suffered severely, it being a 
difficult matter in this case to keep the netting clear of the trees. 
Apricots, Cherries, Plums, and Pears are all gone. In a climate where 
such severe frost is possible during the spring months it is absolutely 
necessary that some protection should be at hand for all the last-named 
fruits, as well as for Peaches and Nectarines, that we may avoid the 
disaster of April 23rd. Where there are long stretches of wall it will te 
