268 THE FLORIST. 



now proceed to notice a few of the new varieties. In Picotees there 

 was a large addition of fine flowers. Mrs. Hoyle, the heavy red 

 shown so fine at York last season, was again produced in excellent 

 order, winning three out of the six prizes in this class. It was second, 

 however, to Sultana, a large flower \\ith a fine large smooth petal. 

 Mrs. Dodwell, another heavy red, although rather thin, possesses first- 

 rate quahties. Mrs. Headley, a medium red, neither heavy nor fight, 

 is a noble flower ; large and fuU, without being confused in the centre, 

 and very smooth. There was an abundance of good flowers in this 

 class, recently so deficient. Heavy edged flowers of good quality, in 

 each class, we were pleased to observe, are becoming more numerous. 

 The first stand in Class A. had eight flowers hea\^ly marked, yet with 

 clear white, and without spots or stripes, thus giving a richness to the 

 collection. Too many light edged flowers, however good, are not 

 effective. In heavy Roses there were Lady Grem^le and Mrs. Drake, 

 two beautiful flowers, and Hoyle's Alice, a great improvement on 

 Venus. 



Of heavy purples there was nothing particularly striking. Mr. 



Dodwell had several very pretty and promising flowers. No. 15 we 



thought the best. In light reds, Mrs. Kelk took the lead, and is a 



very nice flower, of full size and great substance. In light purples 



Haidee took first prize, and must still be classed as one of the very best. 



Finis (May) is a fuller flower and very good, of the same class. Mrs. 



Keynes exhibits fine quality, being very smooth and evenly niarked, 



but rather too thin. In fight roses there was nothing new. Ariel was 



the only one that came near that old but favourite flower Mrs. Barnard, 



the latter taking the premium prize as the best Picotee exhibited. 



There was a very promising fight rose edged Picotee, exhibited from 



Birmingham, raised by Mr. Robert HoUam. There did not appear to 



be any improvement in yellows, Conrad being stifl the best. Of 



Carnations there were some good additions ; the premier prize for the 



best bloom was awarded to Holland's Mr. Ainsworth, a scarlet bizarre 



of first-rate quality, which we think wiU prove a better flower than 



Curzon. The plants we grew were received about Christmas, not a good 



time, yet the bloom in question was produced from them. First-rate 



as this flower is, the prize should have been given to King John, 



one of Mr. May's rose flakes, a decided beat on Garland, being two 



shades deeper in colour, and a little more cupped, and as large as 



the old favourite. The bloom of this shown in the winning stand was 



unquestionably the finest specimen exhibited, without a fault in its 



marking. Mr. Puxley's new flowers were very conspicuous ; Sifistria, 



Omer Pacha, and Captain Butler (aU three scarlet bizarres) were 



remarkably fine flowers. 



Morgan May, a pink bizarre, took the first prize in its class, and is a 

 fine thing. Hope and Wilfiam Catleugh are two promising crimson 

 bizarres. Of scarlet flakes there were several; Exit, Defiance, 

 Christopher Sly, IMarshal St. Amaud, and Victoria Regina, these are all 

 new of this class, and were shown good ; they stand in quality, in our 

 opinion, as they are placed. In purple flakes we noticed but little new. 

 Royal Purple was the best Mr. HoUand had several blooms of a well 



