854 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 1, 
thrice mentioned name of Monsieur Henry de Vilmorin, in each 
case differently and in all inaccurately ; and that Hortus Kewiensis 
was allowed to “ pass ” is at least surprising, while the name of 
Mr. Donald Munro given as Mr. Douglas Munro is more surprising 
still. 
It would be tedious to point out all the imperfections. The 
reference to their existence is needed, and that may perhaps suffice. 
We give all credit for good intentions, but good judgment and good 
workmanship are essentials in the successful conduct of a Royal 
Society, or there is danger of too much being dene in one direction 
and too little in another, for the true interests of the Society, which 
we desire to see prosperous and strong. 
FORM - 
There is a sense in which form is employed which will not be 
touched on in the present article. I refer to the “ form ” which 
florists and plant growers strive for respectively in their flowers 
and specimens. Possibly the tone of what follows might be thought 
to condemn the work of both, and it may therefore be as well to 
say here that the point of view from which the subject is regarded 
precludes either praise or condemnation. The extraordinary strides 
which gardening is taking towards the purely decorative in con¬ 
junction with the artistic tastes of present everyday life brings the 
question of form increasingly to the front. We all have to study 
it, though no doubt there are those who do so without giving it the 
position which it is its right to occupy. Colour alone for a long 
period occupied the mind of the gardener, and he massed colours 
in blocks, or in contrasting lines in the garden beds and borders, 
and under the same principle, though with necessary modifications, 
employed flowers in greenhouses, and in vases and bouquets. But 
colour has been slowly and surely losing its supremacy, and in few 
gardens I should imagine occupies the absorbing position it did. 
We shall never expel bright and cheerful colours from our gardens 
and homes, but they must come to occupy the position of handmaids 
to form. 
It is indisputable that to-day we have a greater range of plants 
to select from than at any other period in the history of gardening. 
Hardy plants themselves form a host, which the worst equipped 
garden can freely employ : and where wealth abounds taste may in 
addition call in the help of tender plants almost without limit in 
their variety. If we first of all take into consideration the decora¬ 
tive plants of the garden we find them roughly divided into two 
sections, the one like the purple Heather spread over broad moors 
and upland ranges, distinctly carpeting plants ; the other, like Daffo¬ 
dils, rising in clumps from the daisied turf, the representative of 
form in plants. There is space enough and to spare for both sections. 
For broad masses of single Snowdrops and Winter Aconites in earliest 
spring; for Primroses, Polyanthuses, Squills ; for dwarf Bellflowers, 
Pansies, Sedums, Saxifrages ; for Lobelias, Calceolarias, Pelar¬ 
goniums, Paris Daisies, and Dahlias for these and many more. 
But besides these there are noble plants which must be seen stand¬ 
ing clear of all others, or springing from an undergrowth of 
spreading living green. Such we find in the numerous bulbous plants 
which flower in summer and autumn ; the commoner Lilies, 
Hyacinthus candicans. Gladiolus, Montbretias, Irises ; also Chrys¬ 
anthemums, tall Carnations, Hollyhocks, Japanese Anemones, 
Spirjea Aruncu.s, Sunflowers, tall CEnotheras, Lupines, Tritomas, 
Golden Rods, and many others. All these have a beauty of form 
apart altogether from the colour of their flowers, and to crush 
them into borders in graduated order from front to back is not the 
happiest method of treating them. The most glorious of all 
hardy flowering plants is the Hollyhock when allowed to carry five 
or six main spikes with branching side shoots, but if crushed up and 
tied together to allow other three or four tall growing plants room 
to perform their restricted duty the whole of its beauty is de¬ 
stroyed. Then how distinct in habit is the common Tiger Lily 
when allowed to grow in its own way, and a clear space left to see 
it all round. Among Irises, too, there is an infinite variety, from 
the grass-like ruthenica to the broad-leaved pallida. To hide the 
oeauty of form in any way is to lose one of their greatest charms. 
What charming plants are the Montbretias! Even without 
flowers they would be worth showing off, but with the flowers how 
beautiful their “ form.” Take the vast group of Gladiolus. How 
graceful the tall byzantinus ! And almost the whole of Lemoine’s 
earlier hybrids are most distinct in form. Then take the common 
Solomon s Seal set in a prominent position with nothing but dwarf 
plants round it, and what can excel for beauty of form its bending 
wreath of flowers in early summer or of beaded fruits in autumn ? 
We have no need to call in the aid of tender exotics when these 
and so many other plants with leaf and flower are ready at hand 
if properly arranged to yield a new form of beauty. 
To hothouse plants very much the same remarks .apply. We- 
can pinch and train the Fuchsia, and make beautiful specimens ;■ 
but a freely grown young specimen allowed its natural bent will not 
yield for beauty of form. Then, what so graceful as well-grown 
pyramidal Celosias ? And Carnations, especially the strong-grow¬ 
ing kinds, such .as Comtesse de Paris and the M.almaisons grown 
naturally and without pinching, are most beautiful in form and 
adapted for decorative work. Or if we select Crotons, what a 
wonderful amount of beautj' of form in this one family. Tall 
single-stemmed plants of the Wiesmanni or Warreni class and* 
branched examples of the angustifolius group are not to be 
surpassed alike for richness of colouring and for beauty of form„ 
But in the case of these and of all other plants which have “ form”" 
every portion of each individual should be clearly shown. It- 
should never be forgotten that one perfect plant surpasses any 
number that are imperfect, and that it is wasteful to crush up good' 
plants for the sake of getting just so many into a group or decora¬ 
tive arrangement. This is one of the clearest principles. 
Touching now on “ form ” as applied to cut flowers, exactly 
the same remark applies here. If a gardener selects flowers whicb- 
have colour alone to recommend them he will always, no matcer 
how tasteful his arranging may he, fail in making a striking effects 
A few plumes of Pampas Grass, with leaves from the same plants- 
or with a few common Rushes intermixed, will make a most 
graceful centrepiece. A large vase will be nobly decorated with 
six or seven Arum spathes and a few Arum leaves. Small glasses- 
will be amply furnished with a few sprays of Lily of the Talley,, 
and a leaf or two of the same. Or what more ch.arming than any 
of the Narcissus ? three or four flowers if set in a wealth of their 
own leaves making a most beautiful picture ; and these are so 
amenable to forcing that a very great variety can be grown all 
through the winter and spring. Every one of these examples are- 
noteworthy, because they place “ form ” far in advance of colour. 
This is one great reason why Orchids are so vastly ahead of all 
other flowers for cut decorative purposes. A few Orchids judiciously 
used have an effect in rooms which no other flowers can compete- 
with. But a great deal can be done with the less attractively 
formed flowers. A round globular Dahlia or Chrysanthemum can 
be made to either spoil the effect of a large room or to enhance- 
the effect of the other flowers. Supposing we take a tall vase filled 
with Pampas Grasses in the way already noted, now select three,, 
five, or more Dahlias or Chrysanthemums (no matter how large the 
blooms), cutting in either case long stems with foliage, and set 
these round the outer rim of the vase, letting them stand quite 
clear, and drooping if they will, and if properly managed we secure 
a massive arrangement, and quite as beautiful in form as it was- 
previous to the addition of these lumpy flowers. 
It may be noted here that vases should receive the finishing 
touches after they have been set in their places. Sometimes a very 
slight change in the position of the flowers makes a vast difference 
on the effect of the whole. When very large masses of flowers are 
wanted there is almost sure to be a tendency of what is termed 
heaviness. A good plan is to put in all heavy flowers first, then, 
lighten the arrangement by adding those which have heauty of 
form, adding any graceful or beautiful foliage at the same time. 
Here again I have seen the addition of a few flowers, insignificant 
looking in themselves, be the making of one of these big groups of 
cut flowers. But, to reiterate what has been already said, “form ” 
is the great thing to study, perhaps more in cut flowers than in any 
other part of the gardener’s work.—B. 
NOTES ON FRUIT TREES—APPLES. 
(^Contimied from page 33G.^ 
Shelter. 
Whilst it is necessary to have an open exposure so that the 
trees may enjoy the full benefit of the morning and evening sun, 
as well as an inclination of the ground to admit of the sun’s rays 
acting with greater effect, and be the more sheltered from northerly 
winds, it is rare that the situation is sufficiently sheltered naturally 
as to not require artificial shelter ; but there are many slopes crowned 
by a wood or copse, and not infrequently these extend round to 
the north-east and on the opposite point to the north-west, and 
down the slope to the full east and west quarters respectively in a 
sort of amphitheatre-like shelter, leaving the points from east to 
west open to the sun, while the soil being good, as it generally is 
from the washing down of the richer parts of the higher ground, 
we have an ideal fruit ground already made. These already formed 
shelters are infinitely superior to any that can be formed by plant¬ 
ing trees for shelter simultaneously with the fruit trees, as the latter 
