444 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
{ December 12, 1878. 
Keep the plant close and well shaded for a few days until it 
is well established and shift it on as required, using the soil 
of a richer character than that employed for smaller plants. 
Two parts of turfy loam, one of well-decayed cow manure, and 
one of peat or leaf soil with a liberal addition of charcoal and 
sand, will be a suitable compost; the pots to be well drained 
and a close watch must be kept for insects, as they speedily 
mar the beauty of the plants. By the methods of culture here 
detailed Draczenas may be propagated speedily and be grown 
quickly and well. 
Those commencing the cultivation of these plants will find 
the following a good selection :—Amabilis, Baptistii, elegant- 
issima, hybrida, Goldieana, one of the most distinct ; terminalis, 
terminalis alba, Frederici, Mooreana, imperialis, Taylorii, Bar- 
Tonii, and gracilis—A SOUTHERN GROWER. 
DRESSING CARNATIONS AND PICOTEERS. 
As the notice which you inserted from me was the com- 
mencement of the discussion which has continued for some 
weeks in your columns, I should like to again advert to it. In 
doing so I cannot but regret that personal feeling has been 
introduced into it. I attacked nobody, imputed no unfair or 
dishonest practices, and Iam sorry that the tone of some of 
the communications has been characterised by a certain amount 
of bitterness. I must again repeat that I have no personal 
interest in the matter. I have grown in one way or another 
these flowers for a great many years. I never exhibited but 
one stand, and that was, as I have said, to show what undressed 
flowers were. It is immaterial to me who wins; indeed other 
matters call me far away at the time of the exhibition, so that 
Iam not likely even to see it, and the opinions which I venture 
to express are only intended for the good of floriculture. 
Whether I am right or wrong in them I must leave for others 
to decide, but I am glad to find that an increasing number 
seem to agree with me, and on all sides [ hear that the dis- 
cussion will do good. Let me say it has done me good, for it 
has enlightened me a good deal on the subject of dressing. 
In the first place we now understand that there are pro- 
fessional dressers who will undertake the duties of man milliner 
for those who have neither the ability nor time to manipulate 
their own flowers. Might it not be as well, if the system is to 
go on and flourish, that their names should be advertised ? 
The tyro would then know where to go, not merely, as he may 
now do, for the tools by which it is to be done, but also for 
the artist who can use them. 
Then it has come out that there are different styles of dress- 
ing. I was talking the other day to one of the exhibitors and 
a very good grower and dresser of these flowers, when he 
expressed his surprise at the position which one of our southern 
growers occupied, and he attributed his inferior position en- 
tirely to his mode of dressing. He said, ‘I have always 
thought his style of dressing—that of bringing them up full 
to the centre, the best ; but the winning flowers were dressed 
much more flatly. I was told this was the northern style, and 
as I believe the judges were northerners it is easily accounted 
for.” Of course this is a matter which cannot be helped ; the 
fancies of judges are manifest in most exhibitions, and exhi- 
bitors have to take account of it. Only the other day I heard 
one of our very best poultry judges say he had given up judg- 
ing, for he would not stand the whims and caprices of those 
who set up standards which he could not agree with. And so 
it would seem that exhibitors of Carnations and Picotees must 
not only be able to dress or get others to dress their flowers, 
but even then it will be a lottery as to who shall win, just as 
it is to the exhibitor of Dorkings whether the judge likes a 
dark or light-coloured bird. ; 
There haye been various attempts during the discussion to get 
off into side issues—to attempt to class the dressing of these 
flowers with the thinning of Grapes or arranging the growth 
of pot plants. This is really too good, and can only deceive 
the very simple; the truth being that this practice is, in the 
extravagance to which it is carried, totally different both in 
principle and detail from that to which any other flower is 
subjected. Then, again, a great deal has been made of the 
question as to whom the merit of a prize is due, the grower or 
the dresser. This was merely a secondary matter, and was 
asked more in fun than seriously : my wish was certainly to 
keep the discussion on the main lines. 
T have read nothing that in the least degree alters my views. 
This may be owing to my density of understanding ; but I 
would observe that it is no argument to say that a practice is 
old. So are a great many things that would be more honoured 
in the breach than the observance. Is it not better, even 
although it be old, to see whether it cannot be altered? It is 
evident that there are some varieties which can be shown 
without dressing, that have long pods which do not split, that 
are not overcrowded with petals half of which have to be 
abstracted before the flower is presentable. Let raisers set 
themselves to give us such flowers as Edith D’Ombrain and 
others of a like character. Let it not be said it cannot be 
done. “Cannot” ought not to be in a florist’s vocabulary, 
and when I recollect what has been done in other flowers I am 
sure it can be in these. I remember when first it dawned on 
; Chrysanthemum exhibitors that an incuryed flower was the 
thing to aim at, and I recollect what dodges used to be resorted 
to in order to twist into that form flowers that had some incli- 
nation to it; and now we have, as the result of the hybridisers’ 
efforts, flowers so completely incurved that they are a complete 
ball. Then, again, I remember when the Gladiolus was first 
shown, that it was evident that the best style of flower was 
that where all the flowers faced one way and were not winged. 
Here too I remember the dodges which were resorted to and 
recommended to effect this; and now—well, in some of Mr. 
Kelway's latest seedlings the flowers so completely face one 
way, and are so closely packed into one another, that you can 
hardly get a pencil in between them. Some of us ridiculed 
the plan of showing in those days, even placing them in Yucca 
leaves or running pieces of wire behind them, and we were 
“sat upon’ for so doing; and now we have our revenge. 
People would no more think of doing these things than of 
showing them upside down. It may be—I may not see it— 
but Iam equally sure that the time will come when persons 
will look back with a smile to the days when they were obliged 
to torture and manipulate the Carnation and Picotee, and in 
a newer race of flowers see that which we are now contending 
for carried out. 
One result of this discussion is pleasant to me as an old 
florist. I never again expected to see a communication from 
so old and able a florist as Mr. Slater, one who knows more 
than anyone living of the past history of Auriculas, and Car- 
nations, and Picotees, and whose name was at one time so 
prominently before the public. I see that in the calm-of an 
honoured old age he has still some enjoyment in the thoughts 
of the past, one of the pleasant things connected with the pets 
we cherish and love.—D., Deal. 
LAWN SAND—PETROLEUM STOVES. 
I TRIED the effect of lawn sand some five years since. A 
small quantity was procured for experiment, a piece of grass 
carefully measured, and the sand weighed and applied strictly 
according to the instructions. In a few days both grass and 
Daisies appeared to be killed, but the grass soon began to grow 
again very luxuriantly ; so much so that if allowed to grow 
for a week the machine could not cut it, and being also of a 
very dark green the patch presented a remarkable contrast to 
the rest of the lawn. What few Daisies, &c., appeared to 
escape the first dressing were afterwards treated to an extra 
pinch, and the result was considered a great success ; but the 
following spring on the piece so treated the grass was as poor, 
and I believe poorer, than on any other part of the lawn, and 
the Daisies as plentiful and rampant as ever. 
A question is often asked about heating greenhouses by 
means of petroleum stoves. Four years since I was asked to 
look after a house newly erected. Seeing no means of warming 
I inquired what was going to be done. I was told a paraftin 
stove was ordered. I expressed strong doubts as to its efficacy 
and safety, but was overruled, and it duly arrived and was put 
into use. The plants soon began to look yery sickly. I blamed 
the stove. The lady believed that one stove was not sufficient 
for the size of the house, so another was procured, and that 
completed the failure, for by Christmas there was not a green 
leaf in that greenhouse except on a few Ferns and Primulas, 
which did not seem much affected. 
The stoves were then banished, a small coil boiler and some 
piping introdueed, and in a yery short time the plants put 
forth new leaves, and it once more looked like a greenhouse, 
to the great satisfaction of all concerned.—J. J., Lancashire. 
MEDLARS. 
In Dr. Hoge’s valuable “Fruit Manual” three Medlars are 
descr bed; the Broad-leayed Dutch, Nottingham or Narrow 
