304 
THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
34x22 inches ; the frame of this was also of moss, the 
corners being decorated with Japanese honeysuckle and 
brilliant maple leaves; the centre was a crescent of 
lilies, roses, gladioli, with other flowers of slight forms. 
The hand-bouquets (the ones which obtained first prize) 
were enormous, being twelve or more inches in diameter and 
ten inches in height. One of them consisted of Perles des 
Jardin and the other of Mermet roses, each being tied 
with broad ribbon to match the color of the flowers. 
The bride’s bouquet, as well as that for the corsage, 
was of the Niphetos rose and lilies-of-the-valley. A fu¬ 
neral design, representing a very large heart, laying flat, 
with an anchor of ivy leaves leaning on the point and a 
chain of purple immortelles, with links three inches long, 
was also worthy of notice. 
* * 
The show of coniferous plants and evergreens at the 
American Institute Fair will be continued until the sec¬ 
ond week in November, when the grandest and largest 
display of chrysanthemums ever seen in this country will 
be inaugurated. The specimens of these beautiful flow¬ 
ers will include hundreds of plants in pots and several 
thousands of cut-flowers, and will embrace a very large 
assortment of different species imported from Japan, 
China, France, Germany and England, as well as home¬ 
grown seedlings, the whole forming a show that cannot 
fail to be a great attraction and of great instructiveness. 
* 
* }fc 
The Exhibition of the Queens County Agricultural So¬ 
ciety was a very successful one, and spoke well for the 
management. All departments were fully represented, 
but a description of the fruits and flowers will be of most 
interest to the readers of The Floral Cabinet. 
The display of fruit was very large and creditable to 
the county. Apples and pears were seen in great va¬ 
riety and of fine growth. The native grapes were very 
fine, and kept the exhibitors busy answering the many 
inquiries as to the merits of the different kinds, and a 
marked improvement was observed over exhibits of pre¬ 
vious years. 
A very noticeable feature of the fair was its floral dis¬ 
play, and, to regular attendants, was a marked improve¬ 
ment in its different departments—that set off to the am¬ 
ateur particularly so. The plants in pots were better 
grown and in greater variety. 
But in the department of designs and bouquets was to 
be seen the greatest advancement. A few years back the 
monstrosities called designs were most lamentable exhibi¬ 
tions of how beautiful flowers could be debased. We re¬ 
member a framework three feet at the base and perhaps 
four feet high, surmounted by a series of hooks and 
points which, by a gentle push, revolved on a pivot, to the 
great pleasure of the designer. The flowers were all tied 
closely, no green, a simple mass, with no harmony of 
color, and only showed what patience could accomplish. 
At another^time a cradle was shown—-a mass of flowers 
—perhaps as an indication that designing was yet in its 
infancy. Bouquets were made by providing yourself first 
with a basketful of all kinds of flowers, a stick and a 
string. You were to start at the end of the stick and tie 
on a top flower, then keep putting on flowers and wind¬ 
ing the string, enlarging as you proceeded, until your bas¬ 
ket was empty. A row of green was fastened at the 
base, standing at right angles to the stick, and you had 
your bouquet, as full of beauty as though cut from tur¬ 
nips, and about as graceful. But such arrangements are, 
I trust, things of the past, and in their places we have de¬ 
signs that show both taste and skill. 
Those who saw the beautiful designs of a year ago will 
not soon forget their exquisite grace and beauty, and can¬ 
not help but have learned from them that it is not masses 
of flowers that tell, but the tasteful arrangement of them. 
This year the same hands finished a frame of autumn 
leaves and ferns with a facing of moss ; within this was 
a crescent of flowers so gracefully arranged that at a 
distance the whole might easily have been taken for an oil- 
painting. 
Another beautiful arrangement was a vase or urn of 
graceful shape, covered with gray moss, and fastened on 
its side was a cluster of flowers and ferns that would put 
to shame the finest painted pottery. 
The bouquets and vases of fine flowers and ferns were 
also arranged with taste and grace; no crowding and 
massing, but things of real beauty that would grace any 
occasion. N. H. 
* 
* * 
Rosa rugosa, the Ramanas Rose of Japan.—There 
seems to be a strong disposition on the part of the rose 
growers, both in this country and in Europe, to call this a 
new rose, and to entirely ignore its first introduction into 
this country, which was about 1844, it having been 
"brought here by Commodore Perry on his return from 
Japan after negotiating a commercial treaty between this 
country and that. At Queens, Long Island, on the 
grounds of the late Mr. Manice, there is a large clump of 
it growing from the plants originally sent by Commodore 
Perry, who also brought to this country at the same time 
the Polygonatum giganteian, var. Macranthum , which 
has since been brought out as a novelty. 
* 
* * 
Cosmos.— This is an exceedingly interesting tuberous- 
rooted perennial, with flowers not unlike those of a single 
dahlia, and will thrive with precisely the same treatment. 
It may be also grown as an annual by starting the seeds 
in the greenhouse or window-garden in February, and 
plant out as soon as the ground is warm and dry. It 
grows to the height of four feet, is much branched, each 
branch bearing a flower at the apex. The petals are 
eight in number, about two inches in length. There 
can be but one objection to this plant for the border; that 
is the period of its flowering. It does not come into 
bloom until about the first of October; consequently its 
period of beauty in this latitude is short, although it will 
stand as much frost as the chrysanthemum, for which it is 
a fitting companion. It is a more delicate and graceful 
plant, as well as a more imposing one. Thus far we have 
only known it to be grown as an annual, but if the roots 
were kept over winter, the same as the dahlia, we think 
it would come into bloom much earlier, possibly as early 
as the dahlia. We have seen but two species under culti¬ 
vation, and they probably truly represent the whole family. 
These are C. bipinnata, with purple flowers, and C. parvi- 
