MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 2S.) 



Propagating Tree Peonies dv Grafting. — The Paeony f moutan, &c. grow 

 very slowly when raised from cuttings, but when grafted on the tubers of herba- 

 ceous kinds they soon unite and grow vigorously. I have grafted fifty the past 

 season, and all have succeeded admirably. 1 performed the operatiun on Au- 

 gust 1st, taking up tubers from the common Pseony of the garden borders, cut it 

 through horizontally, taking about one-third its length oft'. I then cut out a 

 small triangular portion of the side, and formed the scion so as to fit it entire, 

 having only one bud above the tuber. After securing them with matting. I 

 clayed them up in the usual manner, and having potted, one in a pot, and placed 

 them in a hotbed frame, they soon united and have grown freely. I removed 

 them at the middle of September into a cool frame, where they now are doing 

 admirably. Juvenis. 



Criterion of a Carnation. — The calyx or pod should be long, firm, and 

 entire, and of sufficient substance to support. 



The petals should be thick, broad, and substantial, perfectly smooth, and 

 free from notch or indenture on the edge. The outside or guard petals 

 should rise gracefully above the pod, and turn in a horizontal direction, having 

 a gradual slight concavity, or disposition to cup, but not terminating in an ab- 

 rupt curl at the outer edge, the whole forming a complete circle. The interior 

 petals should rather decrease in size as they approach the centre, and each row 

 lie regularly and alternately arranged above the other, so as never to be crowded, 

 nor, on the other hand, to have a loose and gaping appearance ; in fact, the 

 spaces should be only sufficient to display the colouring distinctly. The number 

 of petals in a first-rate specimen should not be less than seventeen, three of them 

 being placed in the centre to form a crown, the whole will then, when well 

 arranged, produce. 



The form, when held on a side view, of the half of an oval or elliptic, and 

 having, when seen from above, a fine circular appearance. 



The colours, whether bizarre or flake, should be strong, brilliant, and distinct 

 throughout. 



The ground colour should be a 'pure white, free from speck, blotch, tint, or 

 tinge of any sort. 



The flakes should be broad and bold, commencing at the extreme edge, of a 

 proportionate width to the petal, running through to the centre, or so far as the 

 eye can discern, and diminishing in breadth as they approach to the centre in 

 the same ratio as the petal. 



The distribution of colours should be equal in every respect, in a flake not less 

 than three divisions on each petal, in a bizarre not less than five divisions, and 

 when properly arranged their respective and united beauties should be strikingly 

 apparent. 



Size not to be lost sight of, though not to take precedence unless the other 

 general properties be equal. 



OnTui.ips and Anemonies.— A certain contributor has said of the northern 

 florists that they are a century behind the southern ones. It seems to me, if not 

 a century behind, they are very much behind, for puffing up Tulips, a flower that 

 lasts about a fortnight, and then the beauty is gone for that year. I wonder 

 what southern amateur would pay pounds, or even shillings, whilst single 

 Anemonies can be purchased for so many pence, a flower with their lovely 

 arranged anthers, contrasting delightfully with their splendid and almost innu- 

 merable shades of colours, surpassing any Tulip in brilliancy. 



I for one beg of my brethren of the north not to fill so many pages of the 

 Cabinet for those outcasts of the south, but let them die a natural death. 



P.S. — As the Kentish contributor has not named a Camellia in his list, that I 

 saw in bloom, planted out in conservatory, in the collection of Mrs. Palmer, I 

 now take the liberty of doing so. Its name is Karnseana, which for magnificence 

 surpassed every Camellia 1 ever beheld. 



A Soutiila.nukr, 



