258 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
{ October 3, 1878, 
borders, filled at the back with Rhododendrons and in front 
with a great variety of succulents, including the following :— 
Semperyivum canariense, 8. arboreum variegatum, S. umbili- 
cum, and §.serrulatum, very tastefully and effectively grouped. 
The beds on this terrace extend at intervals the whole length 
of the Palace, and have been very fine indeed, but many of 
them are damaged by the frequent displays of fireworks held 
near them. 
The following Pelargoniums are favourites at the Palace :— 
Mrs. Turner, deep pink ; Triomphe de Stella, scarlet ; Waltham 
Seedling, scarlet ; Gloire de Corbenay, pink; Lady Kirkland, 
deep rose ; Bonfire, scarlet ; Amaranth, and Christine. Black 
Douglas is the best bronze-foliaged variety. Ageratums Lady 
Jane and Countess of Stair are both good and useful. 
The plants in the tropical stove are looking very healthy, 
and the plants throughout the Palace are in admirable condi- 
tion, the Tree Ferns being particularly good. Chrysanthemums 
in large numbers will eventually produce a display well worthy 
of a visit by the lovers of this useful plant. In conclusion I 
believe I can safely say that the grounds never looked better, 
and that in Mr. Thomson the Crystal Palace Company have a 
most efficient manager well worthy of this fine place—W. J. O. 
DRESSING CARNATIONS. 
Ir is quite according to my nature that I should write wild 
of any subject, but I do not see that I am so wild of the mark 
as Mr. Douglas supposes. 
I believe gum has been used before now, if not in Carna- 
tions, at all events in other flowers. Mr. Douglas says that 
dressing is not requisite for the Rose. He is right; it is not, 
no more is it for the Carnation. I think a clever operator 
might dress to advantage several Roses. Etienne Levet, for 
instance, is a Rose no one cuts without misgiving; it is so 
beautiful on the tree when half opened ; but we all know that 
in a short time its petals are so few that it will show an eye. 
If, however, we could close the eye up like Beauty of Waltham 
does for herself, then we should have no eye seen in her also. 
“D., Deal,” has proved that it is quite possible for an un- 
~ dressed Carnation to beat a dressed one by telling us how Mr. 
Rudd, a most excellent florist from the north, won the premier 
prize with a bloom cut and exhibited as grown. Then why 
should we have this stilted unnatural form of exhibiting these 
lovely plants ? 
Mr. Douglas says he has never seen a bloom when dressed 
so altered that he should not have known it. Well, 1 can only 
say that Mr. Charles Turner told me that an exhibitor of Carna- 
tions left his stand for a short time, during which he dressed 
his flowers. On returning, the exhibitor admired the blooms 
exceedingly, and asked whose they were. The answer, ‘ They 
are your own,”’ sent him into a seventh heayen of delight. 
Some people, I know, can grow Carnations but cannot dress 
them, and are obliged either not to exhibit or to show them 
undressed. It has been hinted to me that Mr. Douglas him- 
self either cannot or does not dress all his Carnations, but 
calls in the aid of an expert dresser before exhibiting at the 
great shows. If this be the case, {0 whom should the prize go 
—to the grower or the dresser? As dressing seems to be the 
sine qua non of exhibiting, it would seem as if the dresser 
should have it; but if a more natural state of things existed 
then the grower would of course take it. 
With regard to a letter signed ‘‘A GILLYFLOWER,” I have to 
‘express my gratitude, not only for the kind way in which 
your correspondent treats my remarks, but also for the liberal 
offer he makes me. Of course I shall most gratefully accept 
any planis he is good enough to send me, yet at the same time 
I do not see my way toshowing Carnations. 
Imust now answer some questions which “ A GILLYFLOWER”’ 
puts tome. Heasks, “Does not ‘WYLD SAVAGE’ dress the 
Rose at all?” Most certainly not, is my reply. ‘Are the fine 
flowers he shows the natural growth of the half-starved stunted 
plants which are grown in his garden?’ Most decidedly they 
are, just as they are cut from the plants. ‘Does he add a 
leaf or two, sometimes a bud, to his flower?”’ Never, I reply ; 
if I did so I should be cheating, and even if I escaped de- 
tection should be breaking one of the laws of Rose-showing. 
The addition even of a leaf will disqualify. ‘The Rose must be 
shown as grown. “Does he tie the flowers up with a piece of 
twine or bast, and cut the same just before leaying the stands 
for the judges to go over?” Ihave never done such a thing 
in my life. I have never even brought a Tea Rose up toa 
show with a piece of bast tied round it, though I am aware 
some exhibitors do this; but if I did I should not be dressing 
in the way a florist dresses a Carnation. I never heard of a 
man dressing a Rose beyond removing a dead petal. 
“A GILLYFLOWER”’ certainly makes out a very strong case 
for dressing ; he almost claims for it the old Latin rule, which 
says that which has always been done, which is, done by all 
people, and done everywhere, must be right. But all this 
does not in the least degree detract from our point, which is 
that the custom is a barbarous one and ought to be disalloweé 
for the future—WYLD SAVAGE. 
NECTARINES. 
Your correspondent “ A KITCHEN GARDENER ” has, on 
page 200, communicated practical notes on the Nectarine, but 
I ditter from him in some of his remarks. First, I think the 
Nectarine must be placed second to the Peach, not that it is 
less hardy, for I think it much hardier than the Peach, but 
that the fruit is not nearly so much esteemed. I am seldom 
asked for a Nectarine, but Peaches are always wanted. If 
again we adopt the advice to put up light houses to grow these 
fruits in, an idea I strongly support, I would plant it with 
Peaches rather than Nectarines, especially if the fruit is grown 
for sale, as the former would make double the price the latter 
would, A good Nectarine isan agreeable change to a Peach, 
but I never heard it spoken of as its equal. A 2-feet deep 
border would do well in a heavy wet soil, but in a high dry 
situation I would say 3 feet. 
And now as to varieties. Lord Napier is really the best. It 
is a fact I cannot account for, but here Hlruge is most disap- 
pointing. Ihad thought it the best for some twenty years, but 
of late I have found it inferior. Hardwicke Seedling is good 
in all points, and earlier than Elruge. Violette Hative is fair ; 
but let me name a substitute in that noble Nectarine Balgowan. 
This is altogether the best Nectarine grown except Lord Napier, 
and the two together cannot be beaten inany way. Balgowanis 
later than Violette Hative, with more the growth of the White 
Nectarine—strong, clean, and handsome in foliage and fruit. 
It is a free bearer, and I have seldom seen mildew on it, or in 
fact any of the ills Nectarines and Peaches are subject to. 
Pitmaston Orange, or rather Pine Apple, which is decidedly 
better flavoured, I would place third to the above two. New- 
ington I would not have at any price ; I simply consider it 
the worst Nectarine grown.—J. TAYLOR, Hardwicke Grange. 
THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 
CORDIALLY do I join with Rey. Canon Hole in applying for 
an interim injunction to restrain “WyYLD SAVAGE” from 
awarding permanent first and second prizes to our Rose 
friends Messrs. Baker and Jowitt before future exhibitions 
are eyen held, and I decline to shut out in any spirit of bump- 
tiousness all other competitors against ourselves for the 
assumed positions of third and fourth assigned to himself and 
me. ‘True, we find a considerable difficulty in competing 
favourably against Rose grounds in full bloom, when we can 
scarcely make up our stands because our Roses are not out. 
I at least feel also somewhat swamped by mere numbers, as 
with two thousand plants I contemplate those “who come 
against me with twenty thousand ;” but if we could equalise 
the conditions all the usual good exhibitors would do “aswell 
as each other, probably better,” as Lord Dundreary would say, 
then cultivation, judgment, and taste would tell. 
The true Rose-growing fraternity know well enough that 
those who take the highest prizes (especially if only at the 
early shows), are not, therefore, necessarily the best rosarians, 
Victory at Rose shows generally sides with the largest bat- 
talions of plants ; and whatever the general public may imagine, 
Bose-growers clearly understand that the contest is not one of 
superiority of culture as between different exhibitors, but 
merely a trial in which seasons, dates, distances, and numbers 
tell in fayour of some and to the disadvantage of others. 
For those who like myself grow comparatively few plants 
there is always this consolation, that when Goliath conquers 
David he has nothing to be very proud of, but when Dayid 
conquers Goliath he ought to be allowed to crow a little— 
EDWARD N. PocHin, Barkby Vicarage. 
I must decline further discussion with one who ignores the 
simple fact that we rosarians of the midland and northern 
counties cannot compete with the southern exhibitors at their 
early shows, and who sees no proof of this statement in my 
