i8 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



cultivated in Scotland and the North of England out in 

 the open garden ; the best I ever saw were grown in 

 cottagers' gardens in the Tyne Valley. Cultivators allow 

 the layers to be well ripened and rooted before planting. 

 I wrote to one of the best growers at Swalwell near New- 

 castle-on-Tyne, asking him to give me particulars of the 

 treatment which produced such beautiful flowers. He said 

 that the ground was enriched with manure obtained from 

 the cattle market in Newcastle, that the manure was dug 

 in three months or more before planting to a good depth ; 

 5 or 6 inches of soil being placed over the manure. The 

 second week in November is the best time for planting, 

 but there is no hard-and-fast rule in the matter. The 

 most important point is that the layers should be healthy and 

 well rooted at the time of planting. They require careful 

 cultivation, but, if this is given them, they grow vigorously. 

 The late Mr. E. S. Dodwell stated, in one of the nume- 

 rous papers he wrote on this type of Carnation, that the 

 average life of a variety was about fifteen years. My ex- 

 perience amongst all classes of Carnations is longer than 

 Mr. DodwelTs, and my conclusions are scarcely the same. 

 Take, as an illustration, the variety Admiral Curzon, a scarlet 

 Bizarre ; it is well known to every cultivator and exhibitor 

 at flower-shows of this class. The variety was raised by 

 a gardener named Milwood at Derby in the year 1844, and 

 it is not only still vigorous, but it was awarded the prize 

 offered for the " Premier " bloom in the Bizarre Carna- 

 tions at the National Carnation and Picotee Society's Show 

 (Southern Section) in 1909. Admiral Curzon has been 

 grown and propagated from layers year by year for a period 

 of sixty-five years. It defies competition ; attempts have 



