July 12, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
17 
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I ! 
FLORAL DECORATIONS, j 
3 -+- J 
I 'd LOWERS are more extensively employed for decorative pur¬ 
poses in civilised countries at the present time than has ever 
been the case before, and amongst the Anglo-Saxon race on both 
sides of the Atlantic the increased attention paid to floral decora¬ 
tions has been most remarkable within quite recent years. In 
London alone the enormous quantities of flowers employed daily 
can scarcely be imagined, even by those who frequent Covent 
Girden Market, and to whom the thousands of boxes sent in from 
the provinces and the Continent at all times of the year afford a 
familiar sight. From the itinerant street purveyor's Roses or 
h ittonholes at a penny each, or the modest 6d. and Is. posie3 of 
the shops, to the elaborate bouquets or wreaths which the fashion¬ 
able florists retail at a guinea and upwards, there is every gradation 
in merit and value to meet all tastes and purses. Growers complain 
that price? are low, but tho purchasers increase in numbers, and 
flowers are no longer regarded as a luxury solely within the reach 
•of the affluent. The majority are content with a simple vase or 
two decked with flowers and foliage to be renewed as frequently as 
means pertnit, and arranged as gracefully as the character of the 
material allows. In the homes of the wealthy floral decoration 
has, however, developed into an art of considerable importance, and 
whatever ingenuity can devise or tasteful skill can execute, to 
increase the diversity of attraction, is in demand. 
Few of the leading exhibitions are deemed complete unless 
classes are specially devoted to floral decorations, and some societies 
have wisely appropriated a goodly share of their funds to the 
encouragement of what is invariably one of the most interesting and 
popular departments of a show. Not only do they furnish an 
important attraction, but they are also educational to a great extent, 
as amateurs who engage in such work for pleasure, and gardeners 
who include it amongst their duties, can always learn something at 
an exhibition where competition is keen in the floral classes. The 
value from this point of view depends to a great extent upon the 
care and consistency with which the awards are made, as some kind 
of guide is ihen furnished bath to exhibitors and visitors. Of 
course as much latitude a? possible must be allowed, and any 
attempt at restricting exhibitors within narrow limits would utteily 
defeat the objects in view, restrain originality, and induce a stereo¬ 
typed style that is most to be avoided. Still, adjudicators ought to 
Le able to determine some broad principles and adhere to them, as 
for instance wfflether simplicity or elaborateness, lightness or 
massiveness, are preferable. It is too often apparent that fancy 
rather than judgment decides these matters, and consequently 
dissatisfaction frequently and naturally arises. 
The largest and most important exhibition of floral deco¬ 
rations in the metropolis is that held by the Royal Botanic 
Society in connection with their Evening Fete in the Regent's 
Park Gardens. This is one of the events of the London season, 
and though the gathering for the present year, held last week on 
the 4th inst., was not favoured by the best of weather, it attracted, 
as it invariably docs, a large number of visitors. The large 
marquee employed for the Summer Shows was devoted to the 
table decorations, hanging baskets, groups for recesses or fire- 
olaces, and groups of plants or cut flowers from various nursery¬ 
men ; the long approach tent being occupied with bouquets, stands 
of flowers, &c. About twenty tables were displayed in the two 
No. 420. — Vol. XVII., Third Series. 
classes f >r them, and it can be imagined that considerable diversity 
of taste prevailed amongst so many, which was still further accen¬ 
tuated by a corresponding diversity in the awards. Some exhibitors 
had endeavoured to merit recognition by a light and graceful stjle 
of dressing the usual plain glass trumpet vases, others loaded 
the tables with massive crystal or china vessels, the flowers evi¬ 
dently constituting a secondary consideration. The simple unpre¬ 
tentious style was well represented by a table that did not secure 
a prize, wreaths of crimson, white, and yellow Roses lightly thrown 
on the cloth surrounding a basket of Roses and Stephanotis, with 
wicker-covered pots of Rhyncospermum jasminoides and Fern at the 
ends. One table, which gained the first prize in the class, was 
pleasingly decorated with Moss Roses, a few yellow Roses, Odon- 
toglossums and Adiantum fronds, but there were rather too many 
stands, and it was marred by a curious piece of artificiality. Four 
small plain glass lamps had wire circles surrounding the chimneys 
upon which were laid Fern fronds and Roses as a shade. They 
were, however, quite useless for this purpose, as when the lamps 
were lighted anyone sitting at table would have had the glare fu’l 
in their eyes, and the heat caused the Ferns to shrivel and the 
flowers to wither in quite a painful manner. An unusually heavy 
arrangement was placed second to this which can only be commended 
for the fact that the few flowers employed, chiefly Carnations, 
harmonised well. The light, graceful, and cloudy Gypsophila 
paniculata was freely employed in several instances, as were also 
the orange, yellow, and white varieties of Papaver nudicaule, with 
Aquilegia chrysantha, and two excellent arrangements of these 
flowers, with Lygodium scandens and Adiantum, were contributed, 
one gaining the third prize for Mrs. Sperling, and the other in M:. 
Chard’s best style, being passed by the Judges. The whole of those 
referred to were laid for desseit, and the selection of the fruit 
added materially to the beauty and finish of the arrangements. 
The ordinary dinner tables without dessert were somewhat 
similar in characteristics and the flowers employed, but the winner 
of the first prize (Mr. W. C. Buster) displayed some originality in 
arrangement. In the centre was a tall glass trumpet vase con¬ 
taining at the top a few small white Campanulas, two or three pink 
Begonias, Gypsophila, and Asparagus plumosus ; at the base the 
white vaiiety of Gladiolus Colvilli, double pink Ivy-leaf Pelar¬ 
goniums and Fern fionds. Two light side arches w r ere covered with 
Asparagus, a few similar flowers to those in the vase, and a rich 
velvety wreath of Cissus discolor, small glasses being filled with 
Roses and Pancratiums. In the arrangement of flowers and foliage 
for a sideboard English and Spanish white and yellow Irises were 
general favourites in stands or bowls, while one exhibitor gained a 
prize for a “ floral lyre ” of Marguerites, pink Carnations, Adiantum 
and Fittonia leaves—rather too much of an artistic curiosity for 
many tastes. 
The bouquets w r ere numerous, and represented all gradations 
between the most elaborate and the most simple. One was selected 
as the best ballroom bouquet that possessed the merit of an in¬ 
formal arrangement, but there was an undue display of w ire and a 
want of finish that detracted from its merits greatly. Odonto- 
glossum crispum, Gladiolus Colvilli albus, Roses and Carnations 
were the principal flowers. Several of the other bouquets were pre¬ 
ferred by many visitors to this, both for the material employed and 
the general finish—two essential points. The flowers for a biidal 
bouquet cannot be too pure, and however well they may be arranged 
the effect is spoiled if what may be termed the machinery is too 
plainly exposed. The second prize bouquet was better in both 
the respects mentioned, Pancratiums, Eucharis Mastersi, Roses, 
Stephanotis, and double Tabermemontana constituted the principal 
flowers, wdiich were placed together in a natural and free manner 
but not quite so irregularly as the first. Why another fine bouquet 
of the same character svas passed unrecognised it would be hard to 
determine. 
The most interesting class in this section was that for a ball- 
No. 2076.—Vol. LXXIX., Old Series. 
