262 THE FLORIST. 



the better. My practice is, to commence the/brc/??y of themin March, 

 by making up a bottom heat of leaves, in which tlie plants are plunged. 

 As my object is to grow them for cutting the blooms, and not for the 

 plants merely, I place a spadeful of leaf-soil under each pot, for the 

 roots to penetrate. i\Iy pit has a hot-water pipe at the back, and a 

 dung lining in the front. We start with 60° of temperature, and as 

 the Hower buds swell increase the heat to 70°, watering the plants with 

 liquid manure, and syringing them overhead frequently ; when the 

 blooms open, the pit is slightly shaded. The plants, if healthy, will 

 produce a vast number of blooms, and will continue producing them at 

 the points of the young wood as long as you can keep them growing. 

 After flowering I allow them to become dry, and I then take up the 

 plants, cut in the roots, and repot them in good peat, loam, and sand ; 

 the bed is then forked up, and the plants replunged, keepmg them close 

 for a fortnight. When the roots take hold of the new shift, more air 

 is given, and the plants are encouraged to grow, stopping very strong 

 shoots. By September they will be established, when the pots should 

 be lifted and placed on bricks. At this season you may fully expose 

 them in very fine weather by day, to ripen their wood, keeping them 

 rather dry at the root. When the wood is fully ripened they may be 

 wintered in a flued pit or spare Vinery, where there is a temperature of 

 45° or 50° ; and in March treat them as described above. 



S. 



NORTHERN COUNTIES' CARNATION AND PICOTEE 



SOCIETY. 

 This Society held their exhibition at the Botanic Gardens, Old Trafford, 

 Manchester, on the 17th of August, when three silver cups were 

 competed for. As will be seen, the exhibitors from Derby had the 

 honour of canning off all three cups. In addition to the prizes given 

 by the Northern Counties' Society, the council of the Botanical Society 

 gave prizes for Hollyhocks, Roses, Pansies, Asters, and Marigolds. The 

 show, taken as a whole, was large and of very excellent quality. The 

 display of Carnations and Picotees was much more numerous than at 

 the Society's exhibition last year ; and those qualified to judge were of 

 opinion, that in size, marking, and general growth, the specimens were 

 of a high order, although not so large as those grown in the south of 

 England. The Carnations and Picotees shown by Mr. Dodwell, and 

 the collection of 18 by Mr. John Bayley, were fine specimens of superior 

 culture, being large, very pure in the white, and finely marked. 



We subjoin the awards for the principal prize : — Carnations and 

 Picotees, collection of 24, 1st, a silver cup, Mr. Dodwell. The collec- 

 tion consisted of the following flowers : — Carnations: Seedling (Dodwell), 

 Admiral Curzon (Easom), Black Diamond (Haines), Squire Meynell 

 (Brabbin), Lorenzo (May), Squire Trow (Jackson), Christopher Sly, 

 Lord IMilton (Ely), Ariel (May), Premier (Millwood), William IV. 

 (Wilson), Lord Goderich (Gill). Picotees : Mrs. Norman, Alfred, 



