fcr 



THE PINK 95 



stating at one of our meetings that he had known six 

 Pink shows to be held in Salisbury in one year. 

 There were many raisers of Pinks in those days, and 

 nothing was thought of any value that was not per- 

 fectly laced. When Thomas Hogg of Paddington 

 published his sixth edition of "Florists' Flowers" in 

 1839, he wrote a long article on the culture of the 

 Pink. He was a celebrated florist in his time, but he 

 states that " I am neither gardener nor florist pro- 

 fessionally, but that I commenced the cultivation 

 of flowers, in the first instance, with a view to amuse a 

 depressed state of mind, and reinvigorate a still more 

 sickly state of body." He was entirely successful, as 

 the fine blooms he produced and the excellent papers 

 he wrote on his favourite flowers abundantly testify. 

 Hogg gives a list of 154 varieties, after discarding the 

 names of many old ones. These 154 varieties have the 

 raisers' names attached, and these number ninety-five. 

 Think of it ! ninety-five florists, all in friendly rivalry 

 in endeavouring to improve the garden Pink, and 

 all working to obtain one distinct form of it. This 

 precious object had a pure white ground, a pink, red, 

 or dark red centre, with a lacing near the margin of 

 each petal of a similar colour. The old florists were 

 most exacting in their tastes, and rigidly excluded all 

 others. I raise a few hundreds of seedlings annually, 

 and there may be three or four, or perhaps if I 

 am fortunate, half-a-dozen, of these laced varieties. 

 Amongst the remaining hundreds there may be twenty 

 or more that have reverted to the single form, many 

 more semi-double, and a great many very beautiful 



