THE FLORIST. 281 



CARNATIONS AND PICOTEES. 



My grandfather (writes a respected correspondent) was a 

 florist in the old and true sense of the term, and occupied a 

 pretty cottage, with just the right kind of garden attached. 

 Often have I heard my father speak of it, and the picture he 

 drew is still fresh in my memory. It was situated on a little 

 eminence half embowered in trees, overlooking the public 

 road, which passed the garden-gate, and commanding a view 

 of the " winding Thames" in the distance. But it is of the 

 cottage and garden I am about to speak ; for my grandfather 

 was one of Flora's fondest devotees. Trim was that garden 

 in every part, and well was the cottage hung with Nature's 

 most elegant drapery. In the first place, the Honeysuckle — 

 not your fine Honeysuckles which grace the sides of villas 

 now-a-days, but the well-known fragrant hedge Honeysuckle — 

 occupied a prominent place. Then there was the monthly 

 Rose, which was continually yielding its pink blossoms ; the 

 blue, or rather deep purple, Clematis, than which, in its sea- 

 son, nothing can be more handsome ; and finally, towards the 

 close of the year, the Virginian Creeper clothed the walls 

 in a garment of glowing red. But the decoration of the cot- 

 tage formed the least part of my grandfather's care. His 

 garden was his chief hobby ; for he was, as I have before said, 

 a florist in every sense of the word, and had his Bear's Ears, 

 his Polyanthuses, his Ranunculuses, his bulbs, his Stocks, his 

 Tulip-bed, and his Carnations and Picotees. But how poor 

 were the latter compared with the Picotees and Carnations 

 of the present day ! What if he had seen your last and pre- 

 sent plate ! — for a sight of which I thank you. Science had 

 not then so successfully investigated the laws of nature as 

 she has done now. He, honest man, knew nothing of the 

 chemical composition of soils, though he had compounded 

 many, and was considered a first-rate cultivator in his day. 



At a future time I may bring before the notice of your 

 readers some of his class, who are to be found here and there 

 in our rural villages. In the meanwhile, I wait with interest 

 Mr. Turner's teaching ; for on your correspondent something 

 of the mantle of my grandfather has descended. 



VOL. II. no. XXIII. 



