232 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Dec. 13th, 1884. 
Tie JIlmatiim’ Harden. 
Seasonable Work in the Garden. —Considering 
the fine open season we have experienced, we may 
presume that all additions to the stock of fruit-trees 
or small fruit-bushes, and any alteration that may 
have been deemed necessary with regard to the 
existing stock, have by this time been effected, if not, 
the sooner these alterations are carried out the better. 
Fruit-trees cannot be planted with greater advantage 
than at the fall of the leaf, as if deferred until sirring 
any chance of a crop of fruit will be imperilled. Every 
opportunity should be taken while the weather is fine 
to turn up the ground from whence crops have been 
removed, either by ridging, or rough-digging, so that 
it may get sweetened and pulverized by wind and 
frost. By this means also many of the insect pests 
which trouble the cultivator will be destroyed. 
Bemove all weeds and decayed vegetable matter 
from the surface of the ground about to be turned in, as 
nothing so much encourages the production of insects 
as the practice of digging in green vegetable matter. 
There are two ways by which this refuse may be 
disposed of, one by collecting it with leaves and other 
matter into a heap to rot, and when rotted it may be 
mixed with a little quick-lime and dug in as a manure 
in the usual way. The other and more satisfactory 
way of disposing of garden refuse, is to make a fire of 
the various prunings and reduce the whole to ashes, 
which may at once be spread on the ground, or better 
still, if kept moderately dry until spring, they will be 
found useful in many ways when small seeds have to 
be sown. 
The pruning of all fruit-bearing trees and bushes 
should now be carried out, and when the Gooseberry 
and Currant bushes are pruned, add manure if con¬ 
venient or necessary (and it is not necessary every 
year), and let the ground be forked and left as rough 
as possible. The spade should never be used for this 
purpose, as it is impossible to dig with the spade 
without causing injury to the roots. The Raspberry 
may be looked upon as one of the most useful of small 
fruits, and is deserving of greater attention than it 
usually receives from amateurs and cottagers. It likes 
a rather cool, rich soil, in a rather sheltered position, 
where it can be permitted to grow without its roots 
being disturbed. The ground between the rows of 
canes should never be either dug or forked up, but 
after the old canes have been cut out and the young 
ones tied up, a dressing of good well-rotted manure 
should be spread over the ground, and a little soil 
spread over the manure to prevent it being blown 
about by the winter winds, or scratched about by 
birds. 
There are many ways in which Raspberries are 
grown and trained, but the simplest and the best plan 
we have in view, is to plant them in rows 18 ins. apart 
from plant to plant, and if more than one row is 
desired place them 5 ft. apart. Let them be tied to a 
trellis, which may be either of strained wire or lath- 
strips fixed to stakes. If the canes are weak when 
planted cut them down to the height of 1 ft., to 
encourage strength for the following season; on the 
other hand, if the canes are strong leave them from 
2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 ins. in length, and such canes will often 
produce fruit the first season after planting. When 
the canes get well established, they may be left to the 
height of 5 ft., and after the fruit is gathered, it is 
well to go over them and cut out all those which have 
borne fruit and to tie the young canes up in their 
places. This will materially assist the ripening of 
next year’s bearing canes. The pruning may be 
carried out as soon as the leaf falls, selecting three 
or at most four of the strongest canes from each root 
to be tied to the trellis, when this is done take a 5-ft. 
rod in one hand, and cut each cane by it, so that 
when finished the whole may have a neat and work¬ 
manlike appearance.— G. T. 
— ^ —- 
A new Society, called the Wilts Horticultural, has 
been formed in Salisbury, and it is proposed to hold 
the first exhibition on or about the 20th of August 
next. The show will be a general one, and prizes to 
the amount of £170 will be offered for competition. 
FLORAL DECORATIONS. 
What —a wedding without flowers, Mr. Editor 1 
Well, I cannot but express my surprise at the state¬ 
ment which recently appeared in your columns, 
because I and many other gardeners would be severely 
censured if we had not plenty for the dinner-table 
every day, and an abundance on all festive occasions. 
The subject of floral decoration is one that might be 
most profitably discussed at this season, if only for 
the benefit of the young men in the bothy, on whom 
a large share of this kind of work now usually devolves. 
The golden rule should be to use as few colours as 
possible—say, never more than three—and one of these 
should be green, whether it be the green foliage of the 
flowers that are being used, fern fronds of whatever 
kind, scented-leaved Pelargoniums, or evergreen trees 
or shrubs. 
In setting up centre-pieces, epergnes, or trumpet 
vases for the dinner-table, and vases for the drawing¬ 
rooms, &c., lightness should always be kept in view, but 
to attain this end mean-looking flowers should not be 
employed. The best way of securing this desirable object 
is always tohave at hand some kind of grass or feathery- 
looking flowers, to relieve the more stiff and massive 
kinds, such, for instance, as Lobelia cardinalis (which is 
most beautiful this mild autumn), towering above that 
spotless white Chrysanthemum, Elaine ; or, failing the 
Lobelia, Schizostylis coccinea is an excellent compeer. 
The latter, though it closes at night in the ordinary 
way, like the Crocus and some other plants, opens 
and looks as gay under artificial light as though the 
sun were shining upon it. 
Of course, every season brings its own particular 
kind of flower, so that it is necessary for us to note 
the most striking effects at each particular period. 
From this time onwards many parties are held for 
shooting, and at very few of these would the employer 
be satisfied with simply a centre vase on the table, so 
that some other devices have to be arranged. A 
number of small standard and also low glasses, suitably 
arranged as to colour, will do very well for one night, 
but it would be very monotonous to place these in the 
same way every night, if the party is to last five days 
out of the seven, so that some fresh arrangement 
must be made each night. Suppose we take first for a 
round or an oval table, a tall trumpet vase with no 
branches, and simply a low flat dish at the base. The 
stem of the glass should be draped with some suitable 
creeper, such as the climbing fern, Lygodium seandens, 
a green shoot of the blue Passion-flower, Passifiora 
coerulea, or the yellow Honeysuckle, Lonicera aurea 
reticulata. The base of the vase should be filled with 
some suitable flowers arranged low, so as not in the 
least to obstruct theviewacross the table, and the margin 
be fringed with fern fronds, resting on the cloth. The 
trumpet should be made up of rather tall and spray¬ 
like flowers and fern, so as to look as light and elegant 
as possible. Few or many of these glasses, as men¬ 
tioned above, according to the size of the table, would 
make a pretty arrangement for one night. 
The next night the centre stand or trumpet might 
be removed in favour of an elegant plant of either 
Kentia australis, Geonoma gracilis or Cocos Weddelli- 
ana, or any other handsome palm; the ball of which 
should be surrounded with fresh green moss, and the 
outer edge of the low dish or circular board, which we 
use, may be fringed with leaves remarkable for the 
beauty of their autumn tints, such as the Liquid- 
ambar or the Virginian Creeper while in season; or 
the leaves of the common bramble, Rubus fruticosus, 
which latter remains good till very late in the year. 
In the event of not having a suitable palm the centre 
vase may be used, and for the top of the same, the 
following autumn berried-plants would be found 
useful with suitable foliage. The common Gladwin, 
Iris foetidissima, which is common in the woods in 
many parts of the south of England; the skewer 
wood, Euonymus europaeus; and the winter Cherry 
or Physalis Alkekengi, make suitable subjects for 
decoration in winter. 
The third night the centre-piece or trumpet stand 
might be used again, with four triangle pieces of 
cardboard cut according to the size of the table, and 
dressed, two with scarlet, and two with white or 
yellow flowers. The base should first be covered with 
some fresh green moss, then fringed with Maiden-hair 
fern, Adiantum cuneatum, and the moss neatly 
covered with flowers, for two, yellow Chrysanthemum 
or white Primula would suit, and for the other 
two, scarlet Pelargoniums and Poinsettias are-well 
adapted. These should then be laid point inwards 
towards the centre vase, and so that the points touch 
the centre. The whole to have a fringe of Maiden¬ 
hair fern, and to be filled in as neat as one would 
fill a carpet bed in the flower-garden, and when com¬ 
pleted, form a Maltese cross. 
For the fourth night the centre Palm may be used, 
surrounded with flowers and Maiden-hair fern fronds, 
the flowers in this case to be either scarlet and white 
or scarlet and yellow, mixed. Around that and 
resting on the cloth, should be placed four shapes of 
cardboard cut out in the form of a half moon, nicely 
fringed with fern fronds, and one nice row of scarlet 
Pelargonium blooms, small at the points and larger 
flowers towards the middle and tapering towards the 
other end again, and at the back another row of 
yellow Chrysanthemums arranged in the same way. 
all four of these shapes are arranged in this way, and 
in the open spaces between are put some saucers 
containing a good potful of Selaginella Kraussiana i 
in the centre of which is a good head of Poinsettia 
pulcherrima. 
For the fifth and last night we will take our trumpet- 
vase again, and having filled the top with suitable 
flowers, and dressed the stem with greenery, we next 
take eight triangles, four large and four small ones, 
and arrange them with then base towards the middle of 
the table in the form of a star of eight points. These 
are covered with moss and fringed with Maiden-hair 
fern, and four are filled with flowers of one colour and 
four with another. This, if care is taken to preserve 
the form properly, has a very pretty effect. Around 
the star, and towards the edge of the table, are placed 
several of the saucers of moss with a good head of 
Poinsettia in each. 
Of course, all the above may be modified according 
to circumstances. These decorations are what some 
call cloth-work, and what the ladies call cloth-garden¬ 
ing. Some object to it on account of the waste of 
flowers which it involves, as they cannot be put in 
water. But that does not affect us, as the work is 
never done till shortly before dinner commences and 
the decorations are removed again as soon as dinner 
is over to a cool cellar, where the flowers and fern 
fronds are put into water. If of no other use, these 
notes may be of service to some of the younger 
members of the fraternity, who may be hard driven for 
suggestions as to materials suitable for the purpose of 
decoration.— W. C. C. 
A GAY OLD BORDER SHRUB. 
Such is Althaea frutex, or Hibiscus syriacus. 
Imagine a dwarf and twiggy shrub, not unlike the 
common hedge Maple in habit as well as in shape of leaf, 
bearing flowers for two months or more in shape like a 
single Hollyhock, 4 ins. or 5 ins. across, and some idea 
may be formed of this showy shrub. It is a very old 
shrub, for it was cultivated by Parkinson in 1629. It may 
also be termed a forgotten shrub, as it has long been 
neglected; but to things with sterling qualities we 
often return with the “old love” intensified. So it 
would appear to be as regards this quaint but beauti¬ 
ful border shrub. “Where is the good old Altlnea 
frutex?” is now often asked, and it is being planted 
in isolated specimens, in groups and in hedges, as it 
is grown in Japan. It is a fine subject to introduce 
into the border with the stronger herbaceous things, 
and there are few, if any, that will outshine it during 
the latter end of summer. Immense bowl-shaped 
purple, yellow, and white flowers, mixed with shining 
foliage, are no mean things in August and September, 
and these have lasted well into October during the 
present fine autumn. If Lmnreus re-classed and 
re-named it as a Hibiscus, we should not give up what 
is truly a free-flowering hardy border subject, because 
there are other Hibiscuses which are not hardy largely 
grown under glass. Rather should it be otherwise, 
especially with those who have no glass ; but such a 
plea for it is, perhaps, not needed now that it is 
coming into favour. 
It is a native of Syria, and in the open-air of our 
climate grows 5 ft. high, but it flowers freely when 
only 18 ins. in size, or two years old. Gerard de¬ 
scribes it for us : “ The shrubbie mallowe riseth vp 
like vnto a hedge bush, and of a woodie substance, 
diuiding it selfe into diuers tough and limber branches, 
