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 
