NOVEMBER. 273 



colours the flowers may be possessed of, they should l)e i)crfectly 

 distinct, and disposed in stripes, broadest at the edge of the petals. 

 Each petal should have a due proportion of white, i. e. one half, or 

 nearly so, which should be perfectly clear and free from spots. 

 Bizarres, or such as contain two colours on a white ground, are 

 esteemed preferable to flakes, which have but one, especially when 

 the colours are remarkably rich, and very regularly distributed. 

 Scarlet, purple, and pink, are the three colours most predominant in 

 the Carnation ; the first two are seldom to be met with in the same 

 flower, but the last two very frequently." 



The same author says, " A Florist that raises six new Carnations 

 in his lifetime may be considered fortunate." How has Dame For- 

 tune, then, lavished her bounty upon the two amateur Florists, Messrs. 

 Puxley and May, whose flowers form the plate alluded to above ! 

 The former gentleman must have enjoyed the success of half-a-dozen 

 lives at least, for his career has not only been brilliant, but continued 

 through a long series of years ; nor shall I err much in awarding to 

 Mr. Puxley the merit of raising more good flowers in his time than 

 any other individual. His liberality also is only equalled by his per- 

 severance and determination to obtain first-rate varieties, of which 

 the following is a brief list : Armada, Emperor, FalstafF, Howard, 

 Lionel, Prince Albert, Robert Bruce, Saladin, Gil Bias, Jenny Lind 

 (see plate). Queen Victoria, Princess Helena, Perfection, Crusader, 

 Mars, Madame Sontag, Princess Royal, Prince of Wales, President, 

 Lady A. Peel, Dr. Solander, and others. 



Mr. May's victories are of more modern date, and for the short 

 time he has pursued the art, it would be impossible to find any one 

 to surpass him. A large portion of his finest varieties are the pro- 

 duce of two or three seasons only, — a career unprecedented beyond 

 doubt. 



Unlike Mr. Puxley, Picotees have also claimed Mr. May's atten- 

 tion ; and as the raiser of Sebastian, Ann Page, Constance, Jessica, 

 Juliet, Portia, Viola, Phoebe, and others, he occupies no mean place. 

 As the raiser of Bolingbroke, Hotspur, Caliban, Duncan, Edgar, 

 Mercutio, Owen Glendower, Poins, Cardinal Wolsey, Justice Shal- 

 low (see plate), Tybalt, Antonio, Ariel, Lorenzo, Romeo, Tymon, 

 and others, he holds a most enviable position indeed amongst Car- 

 nation raisers. 



I have heard it asserted that a grower of both Carnations and 

 Picotees could never expect to obtain good seedlings, on account of 

 the intermixture of their pollen where the two flowers are cultivated 

 together. Now this doctrine has proved only empty theory, for Mr. 

 May has had the most marked success ; and further, I have heard that 

 gentleman say, that in his batches of seedlings, the seed was always 

 true from the sort saved, whether Carnations or Picotees ; and the pro- 

 duce was always distinct, and so kept by him until blooming time. 



With much pleasure I thus register my thanks to these raisers, 

 in return for the delight I have experienced in the cultivation of 

 their beautiful productions. 



Hollovmy, October 1850. John Edwards. 



VOL. III. NO. XXXV. Z 



