186 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ August 28, 1884. 
the back of the bouquet next the moss, and cover the stem over with 
some more wet moss ; I then sprinkle the flowers and Ferns well with 
water, and then shut down the lid, which is as air-tight as possible, and, 
treated thus, flowers and Ferns will keep fresh for days. If I want to 
send a bouquet by post I put moss enough in the box to raise the 
bouquet, when laid on it, nearly level with the lid when shut down ; and 
across the face of the flowers I lay a piece of cotton wool, which keeps 
them from rubbing against the lid. 
“ Coat flowers I like associated with fronds of Maidenhair Fern, that 
is if the flower is an indoor one. What, for instance, looks so elegant 
with a Gardenia as a bit of Adiantum cuneatum, the bright green spray 
of which sets off white blossoms of all kinds to much advantage ? The 
coat flower to which was awarded the second prize at the Birmingham 
Show before mentioned, consisted of a small spray of red Combretum 
backed with a frond of Maidenhair. There are numlers of flowers 
suitable for such an arrangement as this ; but care should be taken that 
such as are selected are good specimens of their respective kinds, and be 
a little shrouded in the Fern, as many coat flowers I have seen were quite 
spoiled by having only one spray of Fern, against which was laid the 
flower—the latter, under such circumstances looking hard and stiff. Now 
had there been another small piece to fill up the space at the base, and a 
tiny bit drawn across the flower, the effect would have been much en¬ 
hanced. This should always be done if the flower is of a bright or 
glaring colour. I always like to see a Eose with a leaf belonging to 
itself behind it, and a few sprays of the young brown-coloured growth 
around it. Such an arrangement may seem easy to manage, but this is 
not the case, as the Eose leaf must be wired, and that is one of the most 
difficult of all things to do properly. Take a Eose leaf and lay it face 
downwards on a table. It will then represent a stem with two or three 
small leaflets on each side and one at the top. Down the centre of each 
of these small leaves or leaflets is a comparatively thick midrib, with 
slighter ones branching off from it. Take a piece of fine wire and pass 
it through the leaf (always selecting the top leaflet first) under one of 
these slight ribs, and bring it up on the opposite side of the ribs. Subject 
two or three of the ribs to this operation, always keeping close to the 
centre rib ; in fact work as if you were sewing through the leaf, having 
the long stitches, if I may so call them, on the wrong side, and it will 
take great care and practice to keep them from being seen on the right 
side. The wire should be cut off at the top, so as not to let it appear 
above the point of the leaf. The other part should be drawn down the 
long stem, and given a twist here and there ; but take care to keep the 
wire from being visible. The little side leaves should be treated in the 
same manner, the only differenee being that the wire is cut off at each 
end, and not brought down the long stem like the top one. To do all 
this well takes some little time and trouble ; but a Eose leaf if not 
mounted as just described, is liable to get out of shape, and to hang 
down; if wired, however, it keeps stiff and can be bent back and 
arranged according to fancy, just as one would adjust an artificial 
leaf. 
“ It has lately become the fashion for ladies to wear small bouquets 
in the front of their dresses or jackets. These are similar in every way 
to those just described, except that they are at least a full size larger ; 
the directions, therefore, given for mounting ordinary button-hole 
bouquets will suffice for those worn by ladies.” 
THOUGHTS ON CUREENT TOPICS. 
I AM in arrears with my thinking, and shall be again. Some¬ 
times I have something else to think about besides “current 
topics ” in the Journal, and there will always be a risk of some 
of them ceasing to be “ current ” by the time my thoughts on 
them are stereotyped in its pages. 
An article on page 135, August 14th, on “ spoiling trees and 
shrubs,” set me a-thinking. I happen to have had something to 
do with planting trees and shrubs, and hardly dare venture to 
indicate how many scores of thousands have passed through my 
hands; but I can see thriving plantations of timber trees now 
that I placed in position many years ago, and 1 have the satis¬ 
faction of 1 no wing that the acres of land occupied by them have 
not been “ wasted,” and just because the trees have been syste¬ 
matically thinned. 
While thinking over the article of “ A Northern Gardener,” 
a paper came to hand in which it was stated that in IScOtwo 
hills of an area of about 800 acres, of almost no agricultural 
value, on the property of Lord Cawdor, in Scotland, were planted 
with Fir and other trees, and, after successive thinnings, the sale 
of which realised large sums, the remainder of the wood was sold 
off for the sum of £10,000. The sums realised for the wood on 
this waste land during the fifty years are stated to be equal 
per acre to the return from the best arable land in the country. 
That coincides exactly with my experience, though it does 
not date back anything like so far as l820, yet long enough to 
have shown by actual sales that carefully planted and well- 
ma aged plantations, regularly thinning out the Larch nurses, 
have been fully as pi'ofitable to the owner as has the well-farmed 
arable land surrounding the woods. That is a fact that I some¬ 
times like to think about, and others with wasted woodlands 
might perhaps do worse than think about it too. 
It is the same with shrubs, so far as the wasting of the land 
is concerned, for they are not planted wdth a view_ to profit. 
They either are, or ought to be, planted with the object of im¬ 
proving in character yearly, and imparting beauty to the grounds 
they were intended to adorn. When they fail in this the ground 
they occupy is to all intents and purposes wasted. Mistakes in 
planting and after management of trees and shrubs have been 
going on year after year. The evil grows slowly, almost stealthily, 
and often becomes of serious magnitude before it is fully 
recognised. _ 
I WILL conclude for the present with one more thought on 
this subject—namely, the conviction that there is at the present 
moment a greater number of spoiled and spoiling trees and 
shrubs in British woods and gardens than could have been seen 
at any time during the past half century. So much for the 
boasted “ advance ” that has been made in arboriculture and the 
management of shrubberries and pleasure grounds. There has 
been too much toying with carpet bedding and such like frip¬ 
peries, while the permanent occupants of parks and gardens are, 
in instances innumerable, a reproach to all concerned. 
I THOUGHT when I read the article above noticed that I had 
never been so completely “ taken in.” I am obliged in this 
instance to class myself among the other clever men who pride 
themselves on their power of piercing the veil and settling to 
their satisfaction the identity of every individual under whatever 
signature he writes. “ Didn't I tell you,” said one of the know¬ 
ing ones some time ago at a flower show, “ that now poor Honey- 
man is gone we shall hear no more from ‘ Northern Gardener ? ’ ” 
yet just when I had about acquiesced in the melancholy decision, 
the lost man springs to the front at a bound. Why cannot we 
have more of the outpourings of his matured mind ? It is, hov/- 
ever, something to know he is with us yet; we only want to hear 
from him of tener. For instance, he might tell us how fruit trees, 
Yines, and other things are spoiled. I think that is not half a 
bad thought. Will he “ bite ? ” 
Another thought that is uppermost in my mind is of more 
recent birth. The parent of it is the reports of the trials at 
Chiswick as published on page 17G last week. The thought is 
this : Hero is a great Society, with a great experimental garden 
at Chiswick, supported by “ Fellows ” all over the country, and 
this laid and puzzling “report” is thought good enough for 
distribution. It is not good enough for me. 
We read from time to time of the “good work” done in the 
Society’s Gardens, and of the “valuable experiments ’’ conducted 
there. No doubt all that is true. But where are the records? 
and of what benefit is the “work” if it is only known to the 
few persons who can look in and see it for themselves ? 
I HAVE asked my “governor,” who is a “Fellow,” if he 
receives any special reports, and am answered in the negative. 
I have asked him to write to the Council on the subject, but I do 
not think he will be at the trouble of doing so; he says I had 
better “ write to the Journal.” Well I am writing in a manner 
and over a signature that will perhaps surprise him, and he, at 
least, will get to know who “Thinker” is; but that is of no 
consequence. _ 
What I think is of consequence, and I know others think 
the same, is that full particulars of the Chiswick trials should 
be made known in some form or other to the horticultural world. 
If it were not for an occasional “Yisitor” publishing what he 
sees, we in the country should know nothing. Are there^ no 
records of trials kept ? If not, I think the work of the Society 
is not completed. If there are such records, where are they ? 
Are they, as an “Old Scribe” said last week, “put into a 
drawer ? ” and if so, of what use are they there ? I think I hear 
a chorus of rejoinders—“ What, indeed ! ” 
But to the report itself. We have certificates awarded to 
plants and Potatoes, but no descriptions of the varieties 
honoured. That perhaps is not a matter of great moment; but 
we have got from certificates to “marks” without a word of 
explanation. This system of “marks ” is, T think, a new notion, 
but we might have been told what the marl s mean. Putting a 
“black mark” against a man or an article is not usually con¬ 
sidered a recommendation, and two black marks are worse than 
