384 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  21,  1897. 
DECORATIVE  WORK. 
{^Concluded  from  page  343.) 
One  If  els  soraewliat  diffident,  although  recognising  the  imitortance, 
table  decoration  bears  in  relation  to  a  gardener’s  work,  in  approaching 
this  part  of  our  subject,  by  reason  of  tlie  excellent  practical  articles  so 
frequently  to  the  front  concerning  it,  but  some  margin  may  remain  for 
the  inclusion  of  a  few  hints.  Circumstances  alter  cases,  and  tastes 
which  have  to  be  catered  for  vary  considerably  ;  yet,  generally  con¬ 
sidered,  there  are  a  few  sinn>le  ethics  which,  in  practice,  seldom 
disajipoint,  and  may,  on  the  contrary,  charm  those  who  have  suffered 
from  an  emharras  des  riches,  resulting  from  heavy  and  laboured 
desigii.s.  Simplicity,  li'.;htness,  gracefulness  are  within  easy  reach  o( 
all,  yet  not  all  are  able  to  disassociate  the  rich  and  rare  in  tlie  way  of 
tlower.s,  toliage,  or  plants  from  their  object,  hence  ideas  are  apt  to  trend 
in  the  one  direction. 
For  instance,  at  a  flower  show  wdiere  some  half  dozen  tables 
com])ete  1  for  the  honours  in  this  particular  class,  the  lirst  prize  was 
justly  awarded  to  a  competitor  who  came  last  into  the  held  on  the 
eventful  day,  and  certainly  had  the  least  material  to  work  with.  The 
judges,  I  know,  had  a  bad  quarter  of  an  hour,  for  their  decision  was 
“  bad  at  least,  such  was  the  verdict  arrived  at  by  the  third  prizeman, 
who  himself  point-judged  his  display  in  order  to  gain  some  salve  for 
wounded  pride  from  his  fellow  sufferers.  “  Third  prize,  indeed,  for 
a  grand  lot  of  Orchids  against  a  lot  of  wild  rubbish  put  up  by 
Miss - ;  and  three  hours’ hard  work  against  her  thirty  minutes’ 
stic'ing  up  without  any  trouble.”  However,  the  general  public 
endorsed  the  judicial  view,  and  that  which  the  most  are  plea.sed  with 
may  be  generally  accepted  as  the  most  pleasing. 
’Phe  secret  of  success  with  the  prizewinner  appeared  to  rest  in  a 
liberal  addition  of  nodding  Grasses  in  bloom  springing  naturally  from 
a  loose  and  light  arrangement  of  Ox-eye  Daisies,  which,  cut  with  long 
stems,  were  inserted  m  a  central  bowl  of  wet  sand,  small  trumpet 
vases  filled  with  similar  flowers  and  Grasses  being  placed  at  intervals 
on  the  table.  A  great  deal  of  time  is  often  needlessly  expended  in 
strained  and  laborious  effort,  as  was  the  case  with  our  third  prizeman, 
and  this  over-anxiety  not  only  misses  its  mark,  but  virtually  perverts 
the  marksman’s  vision.  Time  and  labour,  and  even  choice  material, 
count  not  in  these  cases,  they  are  often,  in  fact,  deirimental  to  the 
chief  object. 
When  a  gardener  is  pushed  to  e.xtremities  by  reason  of  scarcity  of 
m  iterial,  or  of  time,  he  often  makes  a  hit  in  the  right  direction.  In 
carrying  out  a  series  of  table  decorations  extending  over  a  certain 
jteriod  of  entertaining,  the  desire  is  a  laudable  one  to  afford  as  much 
variety  as  possible  by  distinctly  contrasting  arrangements  of  form  and 
colour  on  successive  nights.  To  this  end  many  of  our  wildlings  in 
their  season  lend  themselves  admirably.  Having  seen  some  of  the 
happiest  effects  produced  at  a  pinch  by  such  means,  one  would  impress 
upon  beginners  at  the  v/ork,  who  are  apt  to  look  upon  common  things 
wuth  contempt,  the  general  benefit  to  be  obtained  by  taking  a  broader 
view  ol  the  subject.  Gardeners  are,  of  course,  initiated  into  this  work 
at  their  embryo  stage,  and  not  a  few  seem  chained  down  to  copying 
the  examples  of  early  days.  From  one  place  in  particular  wdiere  table 
decorations  were  of  the  heavy  and  formidable  type,  young  men  went 
forth  to  carr}’’  the  same  doctrines  into  practice  in  their  own  jiarticular 
sphere  of  work;  so  much  was  this  the  case  that  a  gentleman  who 
moved  much  in  society  said  he  “could  trace  the  effect  of  the  Blank 
Hall  system  wherever  one  of  the  pupils  had  been  planted  out.” 
During  this  season  of  the  year,  when  high-coloured  foliage  abounds, 
seasonable  displays  of  such  can  vie  with  the  flowers  that  have  lied, 
and,  what  is,  perhaps,  less  understood,  pleasing  and  distinct  variety 
can  also  be  given.  It  is  as  well  in  all  cases  that  our  decorator  should 
note  the  effect  of  his  work  under  artificial  light,  by  a  critical  survey  at 
the  last  moment,  when  he  should,  to  obtain  the  best  idea  of  it  from 
the  eye  level,  temporarily  seat  himself  in  various  positions.  Plant 
groups  in  this  phase  of  decorating  are  peculiarly  liable  to  the  error  of 
overcrowding.  Gardeners  are  prone  to  lament  the  time  now  absorbed 
in  this  kind  of  decorative  work,  and  not  without  reason ;  but  where 
the  matter  is  left  to  their  own  discretion  they  are,  1  think,  often  to 
blame,  good  as  the  motive  may  be.  8uch -instances  have,  at  least, 
come  under  notice,  and  not  only  been  noticed,  but  privately  remarked 
bj'  their  employers,  who  out  of  consideration  for  their  feelings  are  loth 
to  carry  the  matter  farther. 
Many  ideas  spring  from  what  one  has  seen  during  a  long 
experience  of  our  subject.  Now  and  again  one  notes  where  a  happy, 
though  probably  accidental,  break  has  been  made  in  ordinary 
routine,  and  I  often  think  that  if  our  decorative  hands  were  a  little 
more  daring  much  might  be  done  in  many  ways,  a  few  of  which  I 
have  ventured  to  suggest.  One  of  the  most  imposing  displays  I  have 
ever  seen  in  connection  with  the  closing  part  of  our  theme  was  at  the 
obscqui' s  of  a  high  dignitary  of  the  Church.  White  flowers  were  at 
a  premium,  so  heavy  had  been  the  tax  imposed  U2)on  gardens  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  when  at  the  last  moment  a  lady  begged  for 
something  as  a  token  whereby  to  express  her  respect  it  was  not  | 
without  some  misgiving  that  a  handful  of  Bougainvillea  sprays  was 
.suggested.  However,  they  were  accepted,  and  simply  twisted  into 
wreath  form  without  any  addition  tp  their  flowers  or  foliage.  As  the 
funeral  car  slowly  wound  its  way  along  the  distance  of  a  country  road 
heaped  with  a  mass  of  floral  emblems,  this  bit  of  unique  colouring  was 
one  of  those  happy  hits  I  have  endeavoured  to  describe.  In  decoi'ative 
work  our  young  gardeners  have  a  field  open  to  them,  which  is  as 
practically  unlimited  as  the  subject  is  inexhaustive. — Decora. 
BOTHY  CUSTOMS— ON  DUTY. 
Relative  to  “A  Young  Gardener’s”  inquiry  about  the  rules  or 
customs  governing  the  leisure  hour  in  bothy  life,  the  matter,  as  stated, 
whilst  being  one  which  directly  concerns  himself,  is  not  wi  hout  its 
indirect  bearing  upon  the  lives  and  duties  of  young  gardeners  generally. 
Moreover,  the  qui  stion  is  broad  enough  to  include  head  gardeners,  for 
in  the  body  corporate  of  gardening  “  head  ”  and  “  hands  ”  must  act 
in  harmony  for  the  good  of  the  whole.  Were  it  the  case  that  clearly 
defined  rules  not  only  existed,  but  were  generally  accej'ted,  that  would 
close  the  question,  or  limit  it  to  those  exceptional  instances  for  the 
guidance  of  which  an  established  precedent  could  be  quoted.  In  one 
sense,  the  broadest,  this  is  not  so ;  we  may  regard  each  and  every 
garden  as  a  little  kingdom  in  its  own  way,  affected,  no  doubt,  to  some 
extent,  by  certain  cosmopolitan  customs,  but  not  sufficiently  so  to 
infringe  upon  that  autonomy  which  is,  and  likely  to  be  for  long 
enough,  the  best  for  the  purpose. 
If  it  is  possible  to  find  two  things  exactly  similar,  or  two  cases 
strictly  parallel  (a  philosophic  question  which  has  been  philoso¬ 
phically  negatived),  it  is  not  in  gardens,  in  gardening,  or  in  gardeners 
such  are  to  be  looked  for.  I  would  ask  “  A  Young  Gardener  ”  to 
extract  a  moral  from  the  above,  which  doubtless  his  good  intelligence 
will  have  no  difficulty  in  doing. 
It  is  a  habit  of  the  writer  to  impress  at  every  favourable  opportunity 
the  value  of  adaptability  to  circumstances  in  those  cases  where  circum¬ 
stances  are  beyond  control.  Some  time  since  I  casually  came  across  a 
little  book  for  business  men  entitled,  “  Tact,  Push,  and  Perseverance.” 
The  two  latter  virtues  seem  to  be  inseparably  bound  one  with  the 
other,  but  not  so  the  former.  One  sees  now  and  again  examples  of  the 
clever  gardener,  in  which  tact  is  conspicuous  by  its  absence,  and 
reading  between  the  lines  of  “A  Young  Gardener’s”  letter,  it  may,  I 
think,  be  from  the  want  of  a  little  tact  that  occasion  has  arisen  for 
his  questions,  which  shall  be  answered  as  far  as  ignorance  of  the  place 
and  parties  immediately  concerned  will  allow. 
Question  No.  1  is,  “May  I  ask  a  gardener  ,  .  .  if  it  is  the 
rule  to  consider  bothymen  to  be  always  under  control  ?  ”  This  is  the 
crux  of  this  question.  Yes  !  As  a  head  gardener  I  liked  my  lads  to 
feel  and  to  know  that  during  working  hours  I  was  their  master,  and 
afterwards,  in  the  leisure  hours,  that  I  was  their  friend.  As  a  master 
there  was  no  questioning  my  authority,  and  as  a  friend,  by  entering 
into  their  recreations,  their  studies,  and  sympathetically  aiding  them 
in  their  ambition  to  be  men,  they  were,  most  of  them,  I  am  i)roud  to 
say,  “  always  under  control.”  My  meaning  is,  I  think,  plain.  “A 
Young  Gai'dener  ”  was  “  startled”  as  he  was  going  home,  being  “  off 
duty,”  by  being  told  that  “  he  had  no  right  to  go,”  that  he  “  was  in  a 
bothy,  and  while  there  was  supposed  to  be  always  in  the  place  when 
he  was  wanted.” 
Passing  over  that  most  commendable  desire  to  “go  home,”  I  do 
not  attach  much  importance  to  this  apparently  despotic  supposition  of 
his  chief,  for,  doubtless,  there  was  some  underlying  reason  for  this 
arbitrary  rule,  supposing  that  it  is  the  rule  of  that  particular  place, 
which  I  very  much  doubt.  Head  gardeners  are  not  infallible,  and  the 
under  one  may  have  been  too  frequently  running  home,  which  betrayed 
the  former  into  a  hasty  interdiction.  The  young  clerk  who  asi'ed 
permission  for  the  third  time  within  a  few  months  to  attend  his  grand¬ 
mother’s  funeral  was  accorded  it  with  the  injunction  that  it  was  to  be 
the  last  time  of  asking.  The  moral  is  clear;  and,  I  think,  the  more 
our  boys  are  made  to  feel  that  the  bothy  is  like  a  home  the  less  desire 
they  will  have  to  run  from  it  at  every  opportune,  or  inopportune  time. 
t,)uestion  No.  2  ;  “  If  this  were  the  rule  of  the  place,  why  was  I  not 
told  of  it  when  I  came?”  With  what  has  been  advanced  there  is 
nothing  to  add  beyond  that  what  a  gardener  owes  to  himself  and  to 
his  men  is  to  have  a  clear  understanding  at  the  0ng<xgement  to  prevent 
any  misconception  and  subsequent  friction. 
Question  No.  3  concludes  “A  Young  Gardener’s”  letter.  It  is,  in 
fact,  a  satirical  supplement  to  question  No.  2,  where  the  troubled  one 
inquires,  “  Is  it  my  luck  to  be  under  a  kind,  generous  head  gardener  ?” 
I  hope  so,  young  friend ;  and  perhaps  you  will  hnd,  as  I  have  found, 
that  a  rough  manner  often  covers  a  kindly  heart.  Do  not  be  faint¬ 
hearted.  One  master  I  served  under  for  two  years  was  of  the  crusty 
kind,  and  I  knew  not  until  the  morning  I  was  leaving  that  so  well 
concealed  under  a  cold  reserve  was  a  warm  and  sympathetic  interest  in 
my  well'are  ;  and  what  a  pleasant  surprise  it  was  to  me  ! 
As  previously  stated,  I  do  not  attach  much  importance  to 
