The Carnation in Town. 133 
XII—THE CARNATION IN TOWN: 
It has been proved by all classes of cultivators 
that the Carnation can be grown with success in 
towns, even if not to the same perfection as in the 
country. Some even describe it as delighting in 
the smoky, filthy atmosphere of large towns, but 
that view of its lkings is scarcely correct. The 
probabilities of its success as a town flower are 
better expressed in the words of the late Shirley 
Hibberd in a lecture delivered to the National 
Carnation and Picotee Society in July, 1881:—“ It 
is an interesting and somewhat remarkable fact that 
the Carnation and its several relations, as Pinks, 
Picotees, and the lke, endure with patience the 
smoke and dust of great towns. Mr. E. S. Dodwell 
has put the capabilities of the flower in this respect 
to the severest test imaginable, for he brings forth 
from year to year the most perfect blooms, taking a 
fair share of the prizes, as in the memorable year 
1850; and his garden is favoured by a railway com- 
pany with a perennial shower of black night and 
day the whole year round.” 
Mr. Dodwell at that time had a garden at Clap- 
ham where he grew the show Carnations and 
Picotees with which he figured as one of the two 
ardent florists who took all the leading prizes at 
Slough and Derby where the two first shows of the 
National Carnation and Picotee Society were held 
in 1850, the year of its foundation. Show Carna- 
tions and Picotees of the old florists’ type are 
usually regarded as amongst the most difficult to 
cultivate. Mr. Dodwell found the yellow ground 
Carnations the most troublesome in his garden at 
Clapham, but this was only a repetition of Hogg’s 
oft quoted statement that the yellow Picotee was 
a delicate exotic.” Hogg lived at Paddington 
MeTeen: 
Mr. Martin Rowan lived for many years in the 
same district of London as E. S. Dodwell, and being 
an ardent florist and a successful competitor, grew 
the same class of flowers. Mr. Rowan said that 
while the Rose, and other old favourites, were being 
