470 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



APRIL 6. 1S99. 



tham to remain out very late in the 

 fall, else they may get somewhat 

 chilled. 



No special compost is required, the 

 chief point being to give the plants 



nourishment enough, and a light loam 

 that has been liberally treated with 

 old cow dung usually gives a good re- 

 sult. W. H. TAPLIN. 



FRAGRANCE. 



Fragrance is an unstable, but very 

 desirable article. It is almost impos- 

 sible to imagine a beautiful flower 

 without fragrance; involuntarily we 

 hold the flower to our nose in order to 

 inhale its fragrance, and feel disap- 

 pointed at its absence. We admire and 

 appreciate fragrance as much in a fine 

 flower as we do a fine flavor in a lus- 

 cious fruit, especially if of such a 

 spicy, invigorating, pleasing character 

 as that natural to the carnation. 

 Everybody deplores the lack of frag- 

 rance in many of our best new va- 

 rieties, but still color and form seem 

 to reign when accompanied by size 

 and a strong stem. It is quite natural 

 to lament this lack of fragrance and 

 upbraid the seedling grower for losing 

 sight of this very pleasing and import- 

 ant quality. We often hear the com- 

 plaint that very large overgrown fruit 

 lacks in flavor, and this gives us the 

 key why the majority of our large 

 flowers lack in fragi'ance. In my opin- 

 ion, in this instance, it is due to the 

 high culture, the removing from its 

 former environs, which impairs frag- 

 rance. 



I remember when a boy my father's 

 garden was bordered on one side by a 

 stone wall in which holes were left for 

 fence posts. The fence was never 

 built, and in these holes we planted 

 some common, old-fashioned clove or 

 feather pinks, (Dianthus plumaris) 

 noted for their strong clove fragrance. 

 These plants did not grow as luxuri- 

 antly as those planted in the border, 

 nevertheless they made large plants, 

 hanging over the wall from two to 

 three feet, with a very dense short- 

 jointed growth, small leaves and 

 medium-sized flowers, but exquisitely 

 fragrant, while the others in the 

 border showed the advantage of cul- 

 ture, having much larger flowers, but 

 were not so fragrant. We find this 

 old but rather scarce pinkish feather 

 variety the most fragrant of pinks, 

 while some of its descendants, with 

 much larger fiowers, have lost in that 

 quality. For the same reason our 

 wild strawberries are more strongly 

 flavored than the cultivated ones, and 

 why should not this also be the cause 

 for the lack of fragrance in our new 

 varieties? 



While in all other directions we 

 have made great improvements, in 

 this we encounter an insurmountable 

 snag, and all efforts to improve frag- 

 rance in the line with the other quali- 

 ties result in retrogression. I sin- 

 cerely hope that my ideas may be er- 

 roneous, and an improvement can be 

 made by infusing new blood from 

 strongly scented varieties; it cer- 

 tainly will be worth trying. Still. I 

 hardly think it advisable to make the 

 backward movement in connection 

 with the feather pink, arriving at the 

 starting point after a series of evolu- 

 tionary improvements. Albertini is 

 one of ttie strongest scented varieties 

 we have, and having an admiration 

 for that variety I used its pollen very 

 freely for furtlier crossings. With a 

 few exceptions I found its odor in 

 most cases missing in its progenies. 

 There is no rule without exceptions, 

 and so once in a while we find a 

 strong-scented variety among our 

 seedlings, but less and less as we ad- 

 vance in the other qualities. 



As fragrance is such a desirable 

 quality, it deserves full consideration 

 in a new variety on the exhibition 

 table, for I have not yet seen or 

 heard that fragrance has been ac- 

 quired where nature in the first place 

 refused it. Fragrance being such an 

 unstable article, flowers being more 

 fragrant at one time than another, 

 may perhaps be the cause of a variety 

 not receiving its full credit in this 

 particular. 



I again repeat that in new varieties, 

 color, form and fragrance should re- 

 ceive flrst consideration and be given 

 over half of the possible one hundred 

 points, while in standard varieties 

 cultural skill should receive more 

 recognition, and size, stem, calyx and 

 substance be given the majority of 

 points. But of these in my next. 

 FRED DORNER. 



AMERICAN CARNATION SOCIETY. 



Carnations Registered. 



"Alma," by Casper Aul. Cleveland. 

 Ohio. Color, dark, pink; two shades 

 darker than Scott. Flower of good 

 size and substance with slightly 

 fringed edge, calyx never bursts, stem 

 strong, stiff and wiry, 20 to 24 inches 

 long. An early bloomer, plant stalky, 

 bushy, with flne, dense foliage, 

 healthy, robust grower, holding the 

 foliage well above the soil. 



"Belle Bute," by James Aldous & 

 Son, Iowa City, Iowa. Color, pink; 

 flower three and one-half inches, per- 

 fect form, full center, stem 30 inches 

 long; stiff as steel wire, perfume ex- 

 quisite. Habit of plant, good; a free 

 bloomer and with no incumbrance of 

 heavy foliage, the same being narrow, 

 thick and of a dark color. 



"Miss Helen Gould" and "Clara Bar- 

 ton." by Kretschmar Bros,, W. Nyacl?, 

 N. Y. Helen Gould in color, similar 

 to Apple blossom and Clara Barton, a 

 crimson rose. 



"Oregon," by E. G Hill & Co.. Rich- 

 mond, Ind. Color, pink. 



"Brilliant" and "Superior," by E. 

 McConnell, Sharon, Pa. "Brilliant" 

 in color, near the shade of Tidal 

 Wave, much brighter flower, very 

 large and well formed, stem good. 

 Plant vigorous and healthy. "Su- 

 perior." Color, duplicate of Day- 

 break, flower averages large, with 

 good stem. Plant a strong, healthy 

 grower. ALBERT M. HERR. 



Lancaster, Pa. Sec'y. 



CORRECTION 



In Mr. Dorner's notes in last issue, 

 page 44S, it should read: "When a 

 Daybreak can be grown to a size of 

 four inches, as it has been claimed, or 

 a grower can mount Bradt so it will 

 stand like an American Beauty rose, 

 these are cultural attainments, and 

 should be more recognized in standard 

 varieties." The sentence was made 

 to read "these are cultural attainments 

 which should be more recognized, etc." 



BOUGAINVILLEA SANDERIANA. 



I had this little photograph taken 

 and I now dedicate it to the many 

 virtues and ability of W. K. Harris, 

 who not only can break clay birds, 

 but breaks the record on growing any 

 plant to which he turns his hand and 

 poetic mind. He once told somebody 

 (an interviewer) that planting out in 

 summer was no way to grow this flne 

 plant. The photograph was taken on 

 March 26. The group consisted of 

 seven plants, four in front, and three 

 in the rear rank stood on 6-inch pots. 

 The plants are in 6-inch pots in which 

 they have been since last September. 

 My method may not be the approved 

 way to grow them, but "the proof of 

 the pudding is in the eating." The 

 picture shows a great many flowers, 

 yet it gives one but a faint conception 

 of the quantity of flowers and buds 

 that are really on the plants. They 

 are actually one mass of expanded 

 and unexpanded bracts. 



The plants are tied in different 

 shapes on wire stakes. They are 

 about two feet above the pot and the 

 same in diameter. They were propa- 

 gated from young growth in Febru- 

 ary, 1897, plunged in a frame in 4- 

 inch pots during the summer, cut 

 back hard in May, 1S98, and planted 

 out in the open ground in good, deep, 

 rich soil during summer, in which 

 they made a strong growth; lifted 

 end of September, and potted into 6- 



