14 TUE FLORIST. 



PICOTEES. 



It is now some years since that, by the advice of my medical at- 

 tendant, and from debiUtated health, I exclianged a clerkship in the 

 City for a similar position in one of the midland towns ; and as this 

 gave me comparative scope, a long pent-up feeling burst forth, and I 

 speedily became engrossed in the pursuit of floriculture. Carnations 

 and Picotees more especially attracted my notice ; and as there is a 

 very general opinion that these flowers require excessive attention, I 

 will briefly state how, consistently with my regular duties — of ten 

 hours' close application, — I contrive to attend to my collection, not 

 large certainly, but embracing 500 pairs, and am enabled to occupy 

 a respectable place amongst my brother cultivators. 



It is not my purpose to write an essay on their management, the 

 soil in which they should be grown, or the structures in which they 

 should be wintered. These have been often described, and I can 

 add nothing to the excellent directions of the Florist. Light, air, 

 cleanliness, and siceet loam, with old manure and leaf-soil, forming a 

 free but rather unctuous compost, are the desideratums for the Carna- 

 tion and Picotee ; and any structure which will give the former, or 

 compost which will realise the latter, will supply all that is required, 

 provided always that that attention which is necessary to insure 

 cleanliness be not withheld. To shew, then, how 1 give this atten- 

 tion, and to commence with the present time, November, let me 

 say that my plants are all potted, and in their winter quarters, that 

 is, common two-light well-glazed garden-frames. The pots, stand- 

 ing on a stage at a similar inclination with the pitch of the lights, 

 are on sawdust and sand. Abundance of air is given to the plants 

 when it is necessary to protect them from heavy falls of rain by 

 raising the lights on pantile-laths stretched from end to end of the 

 frames, both back and front. A free circulation of air is indeed 

 requisite at all times, except during cutting winds or severe frosts. 

 In this situation I have ready access to them, and at a glance detect 

 any which require the brush or the scissors. These, during the day, 

 when at home for the purpose of refreshment, I remove to the house, 

 and leave in any convenient spot till I return for the evening. And 

 now comes my practice and the secret of my success. The tea- 

 things being removed, and my wife with her maids around her en- 

 gaged with their sewing or other household duty, I place upon the 

 table my little potting-board (quite clean), and bring forth my trea- 

 sures. One of our party takes from the side-table " Shakespear" or 

 " Sir Walter Scott;" and whilst delightedly listening to these " men 

 for all time," I carefully examine and remove from my pots every 

 decayed or decaying leaf, or other extraneous and injurious substance. 

 Then brushing them free from dust, I look with delight upon their 

 vigour, and paint in pleased imagination their coming beauty. 



Now it is my Alfreds, now Mrs. Normans, then Justice Shallow 

 and Jenny Lind, which absorb my attention ; and anon it is Prince 

 of Wales or Mrs. Barnard, Lord Milton or Lorenzo, Ariel or Apollo, 



