THE QARDEHINQ WORLD. 
Floral Table Decorations. 
The English people, it is said, do not show 
the taste of our Gallic neighbours in the 
matter of floral table decorations. Mr. J. T. 
Curtis, who gave a lecture on this subject at 
the last monthly meeting of the Bristol 
Amateur Horticultural Society, observed that 
the hardier the flowers selected for this pur¬ 
pose the better would be the effect upon the 
tables. He urged on intending competitors 
the importance of taking care that all flowers, 
etc., intended for exhibition should be packed 
in a case dry, as flowers quickly bruised when 
wet, and would prove to be useless. 
S. Leathley, Hon. See. 
Teaching the Children. 
The Cardiff Education Committee, having 
sanctioned the attendance of the children from 
the various schools on Thursday morning, 
27th ult.—the second day of the Cardiff 
Flower Show—the Cardiff and County Horti¬ 
cultural Society made arrangements for giving 
two simple lectures to the children, the sub¬ 
jects being, “ What may be done in the garden 
by the young,” and “ Some habits of the busy 
bee.” These were well attended, and 
apparently much appreciated. This seems to 
us to be a good idea, and worthy of being 
imitated by other societies. 
Harry Gillett Sec. 
Ihe Way to Face a Deficit. 
“ The deficit amounts to £11 19s. lid., as 
compared with £7 7s. lid. last year, but we 
hope that, given a fine day and good luck, to 
wipe this off.” Thus Mr. Geo. Freeman, 
C.C., president of the Horley and District 
Horticultural Society, who occupied the chair 
at the adjourned annual meeting of the 
society on the 19th ult. We regret the society 
should be confronted by this deficit, but if 
the plucky spirit in which Mr. Freeman spoke 
is shared by the other members of the execu¬ 
tive, we do not doubt they will soon command 
the success they deserve. 
Lewes and District Chrysanthemum Society. 
By the kind invitation of the Rev. Sir 
George Shiffner, Bart., and Miss Shiffner, 
about thirty members of the Lewes and Dis¬ 
trict Chrysanthemum Society visited, on 
July 14th, Coombe Place, and inspected the 
beautiful gardens, which are under the 
management of Mr. J. Adams. The chief in¬ 
terest was centred in the Carnations, in the 
cultivation of which Miss Shiffner has earned 
a reputation which extends beyond the county 
borders, and which is being constantly added 
to by further successes at shows. The collec¬ 
tion of blooms made a handsome display ; 
there were also many fine specimens of Ferns. 
After tea, the silver c.up which has been won 
by Miss Shiffner for Carnations two years in 
succession was handed round, and duly ad¬ 
mired. The day’s pleasant outing was 
brought to a conclusion by an exciting cricket 
match. 
E. H. Hallett, Hon. See. 
Much in Little. 
The National Sweet Pea Society have 
applied for permission to hold their annual 
show at Ulverston next year, and there is 
every probability of this being granted.-On 
the 19th ult. the members of the Yeovil 
Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Association 
had a pleasant outing, visiting Forde Abbey 
and the extensive gardens of Cricket St. 
Thomas House, near Chard, the residence of 
Mr. F. J. Fry, where Mr. and Miss Fry enter¬ 
tained the party to tea on the lawn. 
Diary of Shows and Meetings. 
August. 
7th (Bank Holiday)—Richmond Horticul¬ 
tural and Industrial Society (show); 
Atherstone H.S. (show); Basing¬ 
stoke H.S. (show); Headington H.S. 
(show) ; Clewer H.S. (show); Mans¬ 
field H.S. (show); Newbury H.S. 
(show); Prescot and District H.S. 
(show and annual meeting) ; Shirley, 
Freemantle, and Millbrook H.S. 
(show); Lichfield H. S. (show) ; Whit¬ 
ley, Monkseaton, and Cullercoats 
Floral and H.S. (show, two days) ; 
Sparkhill and District Amateur H.S. 
(show, two days); Warwick Amateur 
Cottagers’ H.S. (show) ; Westerham 
H.S. (show) ; Woburn District Cot¬ 
tage Gardening Society (show); Up¬ 
ton and District H.S. (show) ; Totnes 
United Friendly Societies Horticul¬ 
tural and Cottage Garden Exhibi¬ 
tion ; Cranfieild Cottage Garden and 
Allotment Flower Show ; Lough boro’ 
Garden Holders’ Association (show) ; 
Wells and District Cottage Garden 
and Fanciers’ Association (shew ): 
King’s Norton Floral and H.S. 
(show); Ide Hill Gardening Society 
(show); Eaton Bray Cottagers’ and 
Allotment Holders’ Society (show); 
Crediton Cottage Garden and H.S. 
(show); Widnes H.S. (committee 
meeting) ; Ramsey (Hunts) H.S. 
(show) ; High Wycombe H.S. (show); 
Mappleton Green H.S. (show). 
8th—Seaton Carew (Durham) H.S. (show); 
Northfield and District H.S. (show); 
Society of Jersey Gardeners (monthly 
meeting); Biddenden Cottage Gar¬ 
deners’ M.I.S. (monthly meeting). 
9th—Charing H.S. (show); Great Marlow 
H.S. (show); Undercliff (Isle of 
Wight) H.S. (show); Newport (Mon.) 
and District Gardeners’ M.I. Asso¬ 
ciation (annual meeting); East 
Anglian Horticultural Club (monthly 
meeting) ; Sheffield Chrysanthemum 
Society (monthly meeting) ; Notting¬ 
ham and. Notts Chrysanthemum 
Society (monthly meeting) ; War- 
grave and District Gardeners’ M.I. 
Association (monthly meeting). 
10th—Widnes H.S. (show); Nuneham (Ox¬ 
ford) H.S. (show); Barford, Sher- 
bourne, and Wasperton H.S. (show) ; 
SS. Philip and James and St. Mar¬ 
garet’s (Oxford) H.S. (show); Wo¬ 
king H. Association (monthly meet¬ 
ing) ; Alsager and District H.S. 
(committee meeting); Studley H.S. 
(monthly meeting); Brechin H.S. 
(annual meeting). 
11th—Ambergate Cottage Garden Society 
(monthly meeting) ; Weybridge and 
District H.S. (monthly meeting). 
12th—Kirkoswald H.S. (show); Leeds Pax¬ 
ton Society (weekly meeting); Hud¬ 
dersfield and District Chrysanthe¬ 
mum S. (monthly meeting) ; Thorn¬ 
ton Heath and District H.S. 
(monthly meeting). 
Germs in Vegetables. —A metropolitan 
medical officer says that vegetables that are 
eaten raw, such as Lettuce and Watercress, 
are a positive danger to the public when grown 
on land fertilised by sewage; many outbreaks 
of typhoid fever and other diseases have been 
traced to them. 
August S, 190S. 
Popular Flowers 
AT READING. 
A Visit to Messrs. Sutton & Sons' 
Establishment. 
June and July are interesting months in 
which to pay a visit to' the establishment of 
Messrs. Sutton and Sons, Reading, if you 
wish to see a great variety of annuals and 
other hardy flowers in full bloom. Many 
people who can pay a visit are delighted with 
the prospects of the trial grounds from the 
windows of railway carriages, as they are car¬ 
ried along on either side of the grounds by 
two different railway companies. Those who 
actually cultivate flowers will not be satis¬ 
fied without a closer inspection. Masses of 
flowers may, or may not, be pleasing to the 
eye, according to their colour, because the red, 
crimson, and deep orange flowers are certainly 
very dazzling on a hot day in bright sunshine 
at close quarters. 
On this occasion we do not intend to speak 
of these extensive sewings and plantations for 
the production of seed, but will give our atten¬ 
tion to certain interesting old-fashioned 
flowers, most of which are hardy. There are 
two distinct strains of Petunias, characterised 
by large and small flowers respectively. We 
should not attempt to direct the likings of 
readers in either direction. Those who like 
large flowers, however, would be pleased with 
the Leviathan strain, which bears flowers often 
6 in. across. The centre of this flower is often 
beautifully veined like a Salpiglossis. 
All of the flowers we shall mention are 
grown in the open air. A novelty in the way 
of Nasturtiums is that nanfed Ivy-leaf, which 
has golden-yellow fringed flowers of great 
beauty. The leaves are more or less deeply 
cut, reminding one of the leaves of the Ivy. 
We believe it is a selection from Tropaeolum 
majus. Digitalis Primrose Yellow is also' a 
novelty with primrose-yellow flowers, but 
otherwise like the common Foxglove. The 
tubular flowers have a few greenish brown 
spots, otherwise there is no distinction be¬ 
tween it and our British plant. It would 
make a beautiful and distinctive contrast with 
the purple, white, and spotted varieties. 
The Giant Thrift is a plant of remarkable 
vigour, with stems about 2 ft. high, and large 
heads of pink flowers, which last three weeks 
in water. Interesting in its way was a planta¬ 
tion of the Yellow Bedstraw (Galium veruni), 
a British plant, which is really very hand¬ 
some when grown in light and rather poor 
soil, as it flowers most profusely, and the 
yellow flowers have a strong and agreeable 
scent that can be detected at some distance to 
the windward of the plants. A picture of this 
in conjunction with the blue-flowered Vicia 
Cracca makes a very handsome and uncommon 
picture, and those who would try it for them¬ 
selves should select a rockery for the experi¬ 
ment, as the soil may be made to suit the 
plants, and keep them dry at the roots. 
A large plantation of Sweet-williams was 
extremely interesting on account of the re¬ 
markable number of varieties to be found in 
this beautiful, old-fashioned flower. The 
Auricula-eyed strain is characterised by a dark 
crimson zone round the white eye, and the 
edge also white. A very bizarre blending of 
colours is to be found in Harlequin, the 
flowers, of which first open white, and gradu¬ 
ally turn to a rose, red, and crimson, all these 
shades being found in one head. Pink Beauty 
is also a very beautiful variety, and seedlings 
from it give scarlet varieties as well as pink. 
The scarlet may be described as similar to 
that of the Carnation named Grenadin. 
