SOME AMATEUR CULTIVATORS 7 



the " etc., etc." The growers acted according to the know- 

 ledge they possessed, but as they gained further experi- 

 ence, these stimulating manures were gradually discarded, a 

 better system of culture was adopted, and, year after year, 

 new varieties of better quality were added to the lists. 



After the middle of the nineteenth century, a larger 

 number of amateur cultivators, stimulated by the exhibitions 

 of Carnations and Picotees, commenced to raise seedlings. 

 These cultivators included Norman of Woolwich, E. S. 

 Dodwell of Derby, the Rev. Charles Fellows, Ben Simonite 

 of Sheffield, Lord of Todmorden, and Thomas Bower of 

 Bradford ; but it is important to observe that not one of 

 these attempted to do more than raise Flakes, Bizarres, 

 or white-ground Picotees. The raisers frequently obtained 

 exceedingly good self-coloured flowers amongst their seed- 

 lings ; but in most instances they were thrown away like 

 undersized fish in the fishermen's nets. 



The practice of exhibiting the flowers on cards had 

 already become general. They were carefully dressed ; all 

 the petals were spread out on the cards with the aid of 

 tweezers ; but the art of dressing was not to be learned by 

 every one. The greatest adepts at it began by first under- 

 standing the best flowers to select, next the proper arrange- 

 ment of colours, especially in the case of the Flakes and 

 Bizarres ; so strict were the judges, that if a single petal in a 

 Bizarre did not contain the two colours well defined, it was 

 a disqualification. 



Hogg, in his book on the Carnation, which was first 

 published in 1820, gives elaborate instructions for dress- 

 ing, and adds that one "Christopher Nunn, of Enfield, 

 Middlesex, a noted florist in his day, was eminent for his 

 skill and dexterity in dressing Pinks and Carnations for prize 



