10 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 5, 1882. 
pyramids there was tall slender vases of scarlet Pelargonium, 
Selaginella, and grass; and outside this central arrangement 
were the dessert dishes intermingled with more tall vases of the 
dark rich flowers of Julie Lagrav^re Chrysanthemum, which light 
up so well, Lycopods, and grasses ; all the tall vases being con¬ 
nected by a light chainwork of Selaginella cassia. From the 
chaudelier there was a central globe of the large white flowers of 
Chrysanthemum Fair Maid of Guernsey, and outer globes of scar¬ 
let Pelargonium ; Selaginella, Maidenhair Fern, and dried spikes 
of Briza minima beiDg used in all the globes. The flowers were 
tastefully arranged ; the colours blended well, and the effect was 
rich and striking, but yet it was not quite satisfactory. There was 
too much of it, so many vases were used, hence the failure ; for 
that is the only safe term to apply to that which is not entirely a 
success. 
The next night there was a very large fish globe upon the 
centre of the table, with another globe a size smaller above and 
below it. The middle globe was elevated 3 inches above the 
cloth by a block covered with crimson plush, and the others only 
2 inches. Large Fern fronds were made to droop over the sides 
of the globes and rest upon the cloth, due care being taken to 
have them far enough apart to afford glimpses of the clear 
transparent water, the colours used in the globes being rich 
crimson, white, and pink. Outside the globes there was a line 
of tall slender vases of pink Pelargoniums and Maidenhair Fern, 
connected by a chain of Selaginella. The chandelier had an inner 
wreath of white Chrysanthemums and Maidenhair Fern, and an 
outer wreath of long branches of blossom and foliage of Passi- 
flora princeps lightly intertwined in graceful loops. This design 
was simple, elegant, and a decided success. 
In church decoration cut flowers are indispensable, except per¬ 
haps at Christmas, when berried Holly and other evergreen shiubs 
reign supreme. In the decoration of a church in November for 
its consecration Chrysanthemums played an important part. All 
the window sills were carpeted with moss. There were three 
east windows. The central one had an erect wooden cross 38 inches 
high, and it was dressed with the pure white flowers of Fair Maid 
of Guernsey and small Fern fronds, plenty of damp moss being 
bound about the flower stems. Each of the side windows had a 
monogram I. H. S. sketched and enlarged 27 inches high from an 
old copy of the Journal, and cut out of wood with a fret saw to 
stand erect; the I. and H. being of white flowers, and the S. 
of scarlet Pelargonium and Bouvardias. Two other chancel 
windows had a double triangle and a Maltese cross in a circle of 
scarlet Pelargoniums and white Chrysanthemums. Each of the 
other windows had a different variety of Chrysanthemum. The 
flowers were very fine, and they were laid singly along the front 
and around the sides of the window sills 3 or 4 inches apart, 
with a cluster of flowers in each corner, but none upon the 
middle of the sill, which was thus made to represent a green 
carpet with a coloured border. The font had a fringe of picked 
fronds of the daik green Fern Lastrea dilatata, which has kept 
wonderfully fresh this winter, around the basin, which was filled 
with large white Chrysanthemums and the pretty fronds of Lastrea 
recurva. Eight clumps of Violets and Maidenhair Fern, three 
bunches to a clump, with Chrysanthemums between the clumps, 
were arranged upon a carpet of moss around the base of the font; 
this answered very well. At Christmas the same font had a simple 
floral cross of white Marguerites and very small fronds of 
Lastrea recurva standing erect upon a carpet of moss laid upon a 
lid fitted into the top. It was the first time of using the Mai- 
guentes for such a purpose, and I was much pleased with the 
effect, which was certainly lighter and more elegant than could 
have been obtained had Camellias been used. 
The plumes of Pampas Grass have been commended for church 
decoration, but I have not found them of much use, for the simple 
reason that they are so very effective. Group a few plumes 
together in any prominent po-ition, and they will “ kill ” every¬ 
thing else. You cannot subdue them. They need not, however, be 
entirely discarded, and often serve to brighten many a dull corner 
into life and beauty. In the decoration of a chancel the choir 
pews were not treated in the usual manner, but were left bare of 
wreaths or evergreen of any kind. Boxes were made to stand 
along the bottom of the front pews, but only large enough to hold 
enough moist sand to keep plants and flowers from drooping pre¬ 
maturely. These were filled with an arrangement of Ferns, bold 
clusters of Chrysanthemums, and Pampas Grass, of which shoots 
were selected with foliage of moderate length and arranged in the 
sand in imitation of miniature plants, with "just one plume kept 
low down among the gracefully drooping grass. The front of the 
boxes and surface of the sand were concealed with moss. The 
Ferns used were plants of various sizes of Lastrea recurva, always 
beautiful, but especially so at thi3 season of the year, when its 
lively green hue and elegant frondage stands out conspicuous 
amidst the bareness and decay of winter.— Edward Luckhubst. 
LILY OF THE VALLEY—HOME versus FOREIGN 
CROWNS. 
From notes in the gardening papers it would appear there are 
still people who consider it wonderful that home-grown Lily of 
the Valley can be forced as successfully as foreign-grown crowns. 
From experience with home-grown pflants for several years past 
I much prefer those prepared by myself to the best foreign pro¬ 
duce I have yet tried. This season the first flower spikes were 
cut in the middle of December from plants in pots which had been 
forced for several years back. All the forcing these plants had was 
simply placing them under the stage of a stove kept at a night 
temperature of 55° to 60°. The plants were covered and the soil 
kept moist, and when fairly growing were shifted on to the flow 
pipe which passes into a cooler compartment. Thence they 
were removed to the stages of the structure to finish. Imported 
roots would not grow under these conditions at this season. 
Another great point of the utmost importance to gardeners is this, 
that home-grown plants produce foliage as freely as flowers, 
though it takes a few days longer to develope it at this season. 
The great point is to keep the plants growing in a warm house 
after the flowers have been cut, to treat them liberally, and to place 
them out of doors in a sunny position during the summer. I do 
not find them succeed when planted out and again repotted, so 
keep them always in pots. The present is a good time to prepare 
plants for growing in pots. A sunny border should be selected, 
double-dug or trenched, and a dressing of G to ( J inches thick of 
good dung woiked in, mostly in the top spit. Then go to a bed of 
the plants and lift masses of them, breaking them up into clumps 
containing six to nine crowns, and plant the clumps 9 inches 
apart, having the rows a foot apart ; then cover 2 inches thick 
with decayed manure. If the summer be fine a crop of flowers 
will be obtained the next forcing season, when the plants should 
be lifted and placed in 7-inch pots. I use pure loam and bones 
alone for compost. The succeeding season these will produce mag¬ 
nificent spikes. I do not advise that these should be forced to 
come in sooner than the beginning of February.—R. F. B. 
ORCHIDS IN MIDWINTER. 
Happening to go to Chebea last week I made a very hurried 
visit to Mr. Bull’s famous establishment, where there is always 
something to l*e seen that is wmrth going for. Nor was this an ex¬ 
ception to the rule. One of those low long houses which seem so 
admirably adapted for the growth of Orchids, at any rate under 
his management, there was a magnificent collection of Odonto- 
glossum crispum (or Alexandras) in flower, and turning out of 
the foggy atmosphere in which London was enveloped, it was 
indeed a treat to see this mass of pure lovely blossom. Infinite 
was the variety; indeed no collection of florists’ flowers could 
exhibit a more marked one—some of purest white, others 
spotted more or less profusely, but not two of them alike. I hen 
there were some perfectly circular in form, others more or less 
angular, others in which the flowers were as closely packed to¬ 
gether as possible, others in which they were widely separated ; 
while here and there was one forming a most lovely wreath 
fitted to adorn the glossy hair of Beauty’s queen. Altogether a 
scene of surpassing loveliness. Amongst them was the new and 
remarkable Ondotoglossum mirandum with flowers of an olive- 
brown colour, with most peculiar lineal markings in the centre 
of the sepals. 
In another house was a very fine example of the remarkable 
Anthurium Andreanum, some of the spathes being quite as large 
as one’s hand— i.c., about 6 inches in length by 5 wide. It is a 
very grand plant; and although 1 question if it w T ill be as flori- 
ferous as the older form, Scbertzerianum, yet it will be quite as 
much appreciated. The persistence of the spathes is remaikable, 
some lasting for three months. 
There were, of course, as always here, many other plants—a 
number, for instance, of the pretty little pure white Masdevallia 
tovarensis, Lycastes, Cattleyas, &c., but these two groups were 
what struck me as being most enjoyable at this season.—D., Deal. 
Bottling Grapes.— Some late Grapes, Black Alicante for in¬ 
stance, have the bunch so close to the old wood that, no matter 
how closely the young wood maybe cut in, there is often not enough 
wood to insert into the neck of the bottle and allow of the bunch, 
hanging clear. In such cases the wood above the bunch may be in¬ 
serted instead, and it will be found to answer equally well, as we 
have proved. All fresh cuts should be dressed with Thomsons 
