704 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Decembeb 15, 1888. 



groups. The National Chrysanthemum Society might 

 fitly comprise such classes in its schedule of prizes 

 for 1889, only that the schedule appears to be already 

 sufficiently bulky. B. D. 



The Yellow Picotee and Carnation. 



A notion prevails that these choice plants are 

 more difficult to cultivate than other varieties of the 

 Carnation and Picotee. Probably years ago this 

 might have been the case ; and even in recent years 

 some varieties have been found with a delicate con- 

 stitution, while others are more robust. My own 

 experience extends to something like thirty years, 

 and within those years the earliest known to me, 

 which I was also able to cultivate, were Prince of 

 Orange (Perkins) and Ascot Yellow (Standisb). 

 These two varieties I obtained at one time, and the 

 first named was an illustration of a vigorous growing 

 variety, and one which kept up its vigour until now ; 

 whereas the Ascot Yellow, though vigorous at first, 

 speedily declined, and I believe it has now gone out 

 of cultivation. 



Some fifteen years ago Mr. Charles Turner, of 

 Slough, raised about 250 seedlings from Perkins' 

 Prince of Orange. It was a sight not soon to be 

 forgotten to see that lot of seedlings in flower, and a 

 selection of them was sent out, after being exhibited 

 in capital form at the various London exhibitions. 

 I allude to them because we obtained a number of 

 the best varieties when they were sent out, and had 

 a good opportunity to study their character as 

 regards constitution. Most of them were vigorous, 

 but a few were not so, and very difficult to increase. 



Seedlings have been raised from the vigorous 

 growing varieties, and an advance has again been 

 made, both in quality of the flowers and vigour of 

 constitution. The point for raisers to attend to is to 

 raise plants that will grow well out-of-doors, and 

 make useful border plants. The varieties of fifty 

 years ago were weakly constitutioned, as we learn 

 from Hogg, who writes, in his Practical Treatise, 

 that "The yellow Picotee is at all times a difficult 

 flower to grow in this country, on account of our 

 moist atmosphere and long winters. The Dutch 

 florists have bad success with it for the same 

 reason." Hogg gives a coloured plate of a yellow 

 Picotee in his treatise ; but it is a fringed edged 

 thing, flaked with crimson, and well marked with 

 red lines. An earlier plate of a true yellow Picotee, 

 raised by Hogg, is figured in the Floricultural Cabinet 

 for the year 1835. It is named Publicola; the 

 ground colour is deep yellow, with a heavy scarlet 

 edge, but those early plates are not very truthful. 

 Many varieties were grown by Hogg, all of which 

 are now lost to cultivation. 



A grower in the Midlands, of the name of Smith, 

 greatly improved the yellow Picotee after the death 

 of Hogg. Mr. Simonite and the Rev. P. D. Horner, 

 who saw the flowers when in the raiser's hands, have 

 told me that they possessed the best qualities of the 

 white ground varieties, but in some instances were 

 of a paler yellow than Hogg's strain is represented 

 to be, owing to his crossing with the best white 

 ground forms to obtain quality of bloom. My own 

 batch of seedlings of the Prince of Orange type I 

 need not say anything about, because they have been 

 exhibited so frequently, and have been grown in our 

 own garden, and also in Mr. Turner's nursery at 

 Slough. Mr. Dodwell is sending out no fewer than 

 fifty-one varieties this season. I have not seen any 

 of them, but as far as I can make out they are nei- 

 ther flaked Carnations nor edged Picotees. They 

 will doubtless be grown somewhere else next year, 

 and we shall be able to criticise them. I merely 

 mention them because they are in existence, but it 

 is surprising if such a large number are sufficiently 

 distinct from each other. 



Out of many hundreds of yellow ground varieties, 

 I have raised several that are decidedly flaked Car- 

 nations; but a flaked Carnation on a yellow ground 

 is a poor thing of decidedly sickly aspect when com- 

 pared with the lovely bizarres and flakes on white 

 grounds already in existence. I cannot say what 

 yellow ground flaked Carnations may be capable of 



in the future, but at present I am not much taken 

 with them ; and yet, if we may trust to the veracity 

 of a coloured plate of one in the old Horticultural 

 Register, vol. v., for the year 1835, the contrast of 

 colours in crimson and gold is very beautiful. What 

 we want is the rich yellow ground and decided 

 crimson flakes. The variety is named Rodger's 

 Unique Golden-crimson Bizarre. It was raised in 

 Kent, from seeds obtained from Brussels, and was 

 evidently of weak constitution, slow to increase, and 

 was soon lost to cultivation. They expected good 

 prices for choice flowers at that time, as this one was 

 sold at a guinea per pair. 



The yellow selfs are greatly valued as border 

 plants, and amongst a numerous family of them I 

 still think highly of King of Yellows, raised by Dr. 

 Abercrombie, and sent out many years ago from 

 Slough. The market growers tell me it is the best 

 to grow for cut blooms, as the petals do not curl up 

 in the rather impure London atmosphere, whereas 

 Pride of Penshurst has this serious fault. I find a 

 large number of yellow selfs amongst the seedling 

 Picotees ; but one yellow is very like another, and it 

 is only when we obtain one with persistent flowers 

 of the character of King of Yellows, or one of a 

 richer, deeper yellow, like Ernest Benary, that it is 

 worth while propagating them. Of course a raiser 

 of seedlings must be careful not to save too many of 

 them ; and unless he has a perfect knowledge of the 

 varieties already in existence, he is apt to think 

 rather too much of his own productions. 



Kaisers of seedling plants of any kind are well 

 aware that it is not difficult to raise varieties as 

 good as the parents ; the difficulty is to surpass the 

 parents and be also distinct in colour. There is 

 ample room for improvement in all the sections of 

 the yellow Carnation and Picotee, and whatever 

 diverse opinions may be held as to the decorative 

 qualities of the Picotee in preference to the Carna- 

 tion, or vice versa, there can only be one mind as to 

 the necessity of maintaining constitutional vigour in 

 the plants, so that they may grow freely out-of- 

 doors. One of the members of the Carnation Society 

 has told me that he has some yellow Picotees which 

 have a perpetual flowering habit. If we can get 

 them to produce flowers all the year round it will be 

 an unquestionable boon. As far as regards the cul- 

 tural requirements of yellow Carnations and Picotees, 

 I do not find them more difficult to manage than 

 others. There are weakly constitutioned varieties 

 in every section, but as a rule they pass out of ex- 

 istence within the next decade after they have been 

 raised, whether they are yellow or white ground 

 varieties ; indeed, I have found far more difficult 

 subjects amongst the white ground than in the other 

 section ; in fact, Ascot Yellow was the only one that 

 I could not keep life in, and it did not lack for 

 coddling in pots. It was a true perpetual bloomer. 

 The late Mr. Standish, of Ascot, brought it to one 

 of the winter meetings of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, where it obtained a Pirst- class Certificate 

 for its perpetual blooming habit. 



In regard to the general treatment and propaga- 

 tion of yellow Carnations and Picotees, I recommend 

 that they be propagated by layering if they are 

 intended to flower at the usual Carnation time, in 

 July and August. They also ought to be layered at 

 that date, and treated in the way recommended in 

 previous numbers. Those of a perpetual flowering 

 habit — or if they are not of that character, but are 

 intended to be forced — I recommend raising the 

 plants from cuttings in the spring months. They 

 may be propagated, as the cuttings can be obtained 

 from January to the end of April. They will strike 

 freely in a mild hotbed, or in a forcing-house. If the 

 atmosphere of the house is likely to be dry, the 

 cuttings may flag a little, and in that case they 

 ought to be covered by a bell-glass ; because they 

 will not be likely to make strong healthy specimens 

 if the cuttings are not kept in a plump condition 

 until roots are formed. The young plants should 

 also be potted off as soon as they are fairly rooted, 

 and be grown on while the weather is cold in a light 

 airy position in the greenhouse, to be inured to the 



open air while the weather is warm during summer. 

 J. Douglas. 



Wintek-eloweeing Carnations. 



I think we may now safely get rid of the desig- 

 nation Tree Carnations as a kind of floral anachron- 

 ism, and employ instead the happier and more 

 fitting term, winter-flowering. The fact is that the 

 long, lank, drawn habit of growth that characterised 

 the Tree Carnations twenty-five years ago has quite 

 disappeared, and the new varieties constantly being 

 introduced are of a dwarf and free growth, and in 

 many cases do not exceed 2 feet in height, and are 

 even dwarfer. The tall habit of growth seen in past 

 varieties was caused to a large extent by improper 

 treatment : they were wintered in a warm greenhouse, 

 and summered in glass-covered frames, and so 

 induced to assume a lanky growth until it was 

 assumed to be a natural characteristic. I can re- 

 member winter-flowering Carnations 4 feet in height, 

 that produced three or four flowers only at the tips, 

 and the stems were naked, and quite devoid of any- 

 think like grass. 



The new varieties being sent out from Slough and 

 elsewhere show quite a new type. We have now 

 many fine varieties of dwarf, free bushy growth, 

 that put up several flower-stems, and that carry a 

 number of blooms undreamt of by those who knew 

 the winter-flowering Carnation in its early stages of 

 development. This is a decided gain ; any one has 

 only to visit the Royal, Nursery, Slough during the 

 winter to see how marvellously free of bloom many 

 of the new varieties are ; and Mr. Turner states he 

 can cut bushels of flowers during the autumn, winter, 

 and early spring seasons. 



The system adopted of planting out the seedlings 

 during summer is a good one ; and as compared with 

 the old plan of keeping them in pots, saves a good 

 deal of time and labour. The seed is sown in 

 Pebruary, or about that time ; it germinates in a 

 gentle bottom-heat, the plants, as soon as they are 

 large enough to handle, are pricked off, and finally 

 placed singly in pots, and then planted out in a well- 

 prepared bed in the open ground. Here the plants 

 grow freely and strongly, and throw up many flower- 

 stems ; in October the plants are lifted, potted, and 

 when somewhat established, carried into a house 

 where some artificial heat can be employed to assist 

 them in getting into bloom. 



It must not be supposed that anything like forcing 

 takes place. Air is given freely, except where it 

 might be hazardous to do so, and the artificial heat 

 applied is simply for the purpose of keeping the 

 atmosphere dry, and assist the flowers to expand. 

 Hundreds of flowers are cut from the airy, roomy 

 Carnation-house at Slough during the winter. 



The best thing to do with the plants after they 

 have gone out of bloom is to again plant them out 

 in the open, so that they can make young growths 

 from which to procure cuttings. By August there 

 should be plenty of these, and the best thing to do 

 is to pipe them as one would Pinks — strike them in 

 a bottom-heat, and by November have them rooted 

 and potted singly in pots to stand the winter. This 

 is much better than leaving it until spring before 

 cuttings are struck, as the plants are so much 

 stronger, and bloom earlier, and much more freely 

 in consequence. There is, I think, another advan- 

 tage about planting out for the summer. A little 

 seed may be obtained from the later blooms. 

 The summer flowering Carnations will sometimes 

 show a tendency to assume the winter flowering 

 character. I have an instructive illustration of 

 that tendency just now in the case of the fine yellow 

 self-coloured Germania. A strong plant threw up 

 five vigorous flower-stems, which bloomed in the 

 summer, and towards the end of the summer threw 

 up a third which has now developed three fine buds. 

 The grass was duly layered, rooted, and potted off, 

 and the old plant is now breaking out into growth at 

 almost every point. The plant is now under glass, 

 but whether I shall succeed in getting the flowers to 

 expand in an unheated house remains to be seen. 

 But this plant will giye me a good supply of pipings 



