The Jersey City news., 1899-03-03


Iacteristic! design of color and raised pasfe'
such as one sees in their crossed stitch en-
broidery. These are more interesting IMAM
beautiful but they are certainly unique.
Then there are cups and saucers WIN
winter landscapes. hunting and fesuVe
scenes These have an ornate border OF
gold and enamel.
Enthusiastic amateurs are hunting out
pieces of this choice Russian china from
any possible source and copying them as
odd pieces for cabinet or china closet us-
play They are so sumptuous IN erect
and SO much more imposing than the
tedious pieces of flower work which is
oftentimes scarcely more beautiful than
the sets purchaseable for nominal sum.
Russian enamels are growing more and
fashionableeach season and command var
ions degrees of price. depending upon the
place they are purchased
Americans especially amateurs, have
! not taken hold of this charming work as
they should yet there are a few pieces
made here which are scarcely distin-
guishable from the originals from which
they were copied Nothing can be more
pleasing than the work which is now i'm
ported from Russia.
The latest importations are antique in
shape, bowls and lbon-bon holders. having
I a curved and impressive handle, every
! inch of which is most elaborately decor
ated with scrolls. The scrolls have an out
| line of gold wire, and are of enamel,
which is shaded with fine lines of color
after the enamel has been fired This is
on rough surface of gold, and is indeed
rich. Here again we can apply that same
! idea to china. But unless the technique is
perfect, we will fall short of the effect.
One is impressed with the accuracy of
drawing and the perfection of detail.
So
| Some little time ago, as an inducement
| to orchid hunters, an advertisement ap-
| peared in the Indian papers offering fl 900
| for a living specimen of the .lost or
! chid,r known in the botanical world by
| by the awe-inspirng title of Cypripedium
| Fairrieanum. The "lost orchid twenty
| years ago was cultivated by connoisseurs
| in some profusion in Great Britain, and
could be bought for a guinea plant, but
| then it vanished, owing to the lack of
proper fertilizer and its value correspond
ingly advanced with its rarity. This is not
| the first occasion when a flower has van
"Fleur, de Paradis' was lost for seventy
! years, and a specimen owned by Lord
Howe was valued at over 800 guineas.
| The most notable English collections of
orchids include those made by Baron
| Shredder and Sir Trevor Lawrence. The
formers collection is said to have cost
f40 900. while the latter's outlay is cal
/ culated to have been but $4,000 less. On
| one occasion the Baron sold a solitary
! specimen for 1885, while Sir Trevor mad
| the felicity of refusing an offer of SOC
| guineas for plant of his.
| Though not plant, it may be men
toned here that the cabbages grown on
a piece of waste ground bought by tae
French Government at the corner of the
Rue Colbert, in Paris, have cost some
thing like e60O heart. The plot pur-
/ chased for fs28 900 in 1880 for building pur-
poses has never been utilized for any
other purpose than the growth OF
twenty-three cabbages a year, which re-
| present the interest on the capital -ex-
| pended.
The palm that forms one of the chief
features of interest in Miss Helen Gould's
conservatory, at Tarrytown, N. Y, must
! be mentioned as one of the most valuable
plants in existence The plant is described
as not being so remarkable for elegance
! as for scarcity. In the world of science il
| is known as the ravena1a Madagascarien-
sis, but its best friends style it the "trav-
eler's tree because of its property
when properly tapped, of contributing q
stream of clear water to assuage the
thirst of the weary wayfarer. Miss
| Gould's specimen cost her $1,000.
Apparently to invent a popular flower
is about as profita BILE as turning out q
novelty that can be sold for penny fol
we learn that a New York florist paid
$4,000 for the sole right to the Michigan
! carnation known as the "Murella." Al
this rate every man possessing a few
square yards of garden and passion fol
invention will stand as good as chance Of
ammasing fortune as he who rejofces ir
a Klondyke claim
Orchids, however, have had rivals Sc
far as price is concerned, in tulips, nota
ably during the tulip craze in Holland, il
the seventeenth century. 1t is recorded
that in 1889 120 tulips, with their offshoots
sold for sum equal to over f62 each
while one root of the .'Viceroy,' sold a
Amsterdam for e2,6OO When matters go
time that legislation should intervene
and a law was passed against over $50
being paid for a root, and even then {
"Semper Augustus fetched f460 with 6
carriage and pair of horses.
49,
A beautiful feature of the silken EN-
broidery used as applique work to trim {
ball gown or dinner toilet is that tn,
leaves are allowed to hang from thei
stems loosely, as they would wer
real flowers used as a garniture. Th'
stems are applied" carefully and as th'
roses and leaves are of "raised work. thu
effect is very good if the colors are ma
tural. But the dropping leaves swingin:
loose are very artistic indeed. The ros
being heavier, must be stayed" to th
satin with stitching, invisible of course
The cut-work raised silk embroidery /:
soft coloring is a thing of beauty, mucl
more effective than an application of soli'
embroidery would be. 1t costs fourteei
dollars a yard, and shows to best advant
age over colored lining to get contrast
| If YOU question both tailors and dress
| makers as to collars, they will say tina
excelsior is still the cry in that direction
By constant wear of very high neck
bands, women are destroying all tn
beauty of their throats and giving thei
heads stiff, naughty poise. A fair shar
l. ~11,