482 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



April, 1914 



Some Desirable Perpetual 

 Carnations. 



Messrs. Kirey Bros., of Camper- 

 down, Victoria, have very kindly 

 sent us the following interesting 

 notes on the flower which they 

 ha\-e so succcssfullv made their 

 special studv. We have no doubt 

 that what they write will pro\e 

 helpful to many of our readers. 



If, in Shakespeare's time, as I'er- 

 dita declares, the carnations were 

 " the fairest flowers of the sea- 

 son," one is incltined to wonder 

 what Perdita would say of the 

 carnations of to-day, and whether 

 a cflimpse of some of our modern 

 beauties would not have sent her 

 post-haste for the "dihWe" (which 

 is no reference to the character of 

 Perdita' s " patron saint "), where- 

 with to " set slips of them." Great 

 improvements have been made in 

 manv of our garden flowers of late 

 years, but it is doubtful if any 

 one of them has had rnore atten- 

 tion bestowed upon it than the 

 carnation, or wdth more gratifv- 

 ing results. Though we have still 

 verv far to o-o before perfection is 

 attained, and doubtless it be 

 pos.sib]e to sav the same thing 

 generations hence, vet any consid- 

 erable advance on the road to 

 that goal gives cause for gratifi- 

 cation. 



With the great increase of in- 

 terest in the question of carnation 

 imTtrovement, and the consequent 

 multiplication of varieties, it is notl 

 surnrisin'/ that manv with limited 

 requirements should find the selec- 

 tion of suitalde varieties p formid- 

 able undcrtalsinc-. Therefore we 

 trust that a few brief notes on 

 some of the m'ost prominent vari- 

 eties in a collection of several 

 hundrpd carnations, selected fr/>m 

 the standpoint of general utilitv, 

 will prove of interest to your 

 readers. 



KALGOORLIE HOTEL 



HINDLKY STREET. 



CHARLES HONES, Proprietor 

 (Late of Theatre Royal Hotel). 



Good accommodation for Country 

 visitors. Tariff, 25/- per week ; 

 4/6 per day. 



Beds, i/G per night. Meals i/. 



New varieties of this year may 

 seem out of place in an article of 

 tills kind, and we would prefer to 

 keep to those which have proved 

 their 1 claim to the title of standard 

 varieties, but a few of the novel- 

 ties are of such outstandinsr merit 

 as to demand attention. Promin- 

 ent among these is " Miss Edith," 

 a very fine white perpetual which 

 originated in the garden of a well- 

 known Brisbane carnation fancier. 

 We do not know what reputation 



Mrs. G. H. Tver slake " bears 

 among your S.A. readers ; but N. 

 S. Wales and Victorian growers 

 imite in bearing testimonv to its 

 splendid qualities. Of the three 

 varieties which have been obtained 

 as sports from it, namely, " Robt 

 Williams," H. Gazzard," and 

 "Kerslake's Yellow," we would se- 

 lect the last named as the most 

 desirable on account of its lovely 

 color, which, combined with the 

 large size and exquisite form of the 

 flower and the vigorous habit of 

 growth which all the family pos- 

 sess, makes it indispensable in the 

 smallest collection. It is not long 

 since we were badlv in need of 

 both white and yellow selfs in 

 smooth-edged or " show " per- 

 petuals. " Kerslake's Yellow,'' 

 splendidlv supplied the want in 

 vellows, and now, stranrrely enough, 

 it has supplied the white self also, 

 for " Miss F-lith " is a. pure white 

 sport from this variety. We see 

 no reason why it should not have 

 as great a future as its distin- 

 gui.shed parent. 



For the benefit of those who 

 have not STown the carnations, 

 " Mrs. G. H. Kerslake " and its 

 " sports," it should be said that^ 

 thev are hot as perpetual flower- 

 infT as, .say, the American carna- 

 tions, or as some of our free- 

 bloominw' Australian perpetuals, 

 and this is sometimes made cause 

 for complaint. But the carnation 

 fancier is fortunate indeed who can 

 afford to leave anv of them out of 

 his collection on that accoimt. Be- 

 fore leaving them we might say 

 that, of the two needing descrip- 

 tion, " Robt. ^'^'Hlinnrs '' is a rich- 

 colored fancv of an orange ground 

 color, barred with brisrht red or 

 scarlet. " H. Gazzard " is a white 

 ground fancy, pencittled with rose. 



Another very promising new car- 

 nation we must mention is 

 " Galicia," a large flowered yellow 

 ground perpetual having an excel- 

 lent calyx and vigorous habit of 

 irrowth. It resembles closely "Kers- 

 lake's Yellow" in all but color, be- 

 ing a seedling from that variety. 

 Of the new carnations from New 

 South Wales, which we tested last 

 season, "Gold Lace," and " Isabel- 



la " stand out ahead of anythiag 

 else. "Isabella" belongs <to the de- 

 corative section, being a fin® larg» 

 crimson self with fringed petjds 

 and a strong calyx. "Gold Lace," 

 on the other hand, is of the 

 smooth, clean-cut show type, and 

 possessing qualities which make it 

 a good " all-round " carnation. The 

 coioiir is yellow, striped with scar- 

 let. We recommend tliis as a per- 

 petual which will appeal to keen 

 exhibitors. 



There is another of this year's 

 carnations which we must not for- 

 bear to mention, for it is a 

 sport from "Enchantress," namely 

 " Washington." In fact, if there 

 were a dozen new sports from En- 

 chantress we should have to notice 

 them all, for we join with growers 

 all over the world in describing 

 " Enchantress " and its " sports " 

 as the finest of all the Ameiiican 

 carnations. This latest sport is 

 a pink self of a color midway be- 

 tween that of " Rose Pink En- 

 chantress " and the " Mrs. Law^ 

 son " color. The rest of the " En- 

 chantress " family are, " Helen 

 Gould," silvery pink, pencilled with 

 carmine " Rose Pink Enchant- 

 ress," salmon rose ; and " White 

 Enchantress." All have the same 

 large flowers and excellent consti- 

 tution of the original variety, and 

 are all worthy of a place in the 

 smallest collection of American 

 Perpetuals. 



Havingi commenced upon the 

 American carnations we will note 

 vei~v briefly a few other standard 

 varieties which should not be 

 overlooked when making a selec- 

 tion. " Beatrice Jean " and 

 " Othello " are two excellent crim- 

 sons, while in whites there is a 

 choice between " White Perfection" 

 and " WTiite Wonder." White Won- 

 der is reckoned by some growers 

 as the better of the two, but we 

 still prefer the older variety. 

 " vScarlet Glow" and "Beacon" 

 are two scarlets of first-class qnal-, 

 ity. The latter should not be al- 

 lowed to bloom in the spring, but 

 be reserved for autumn and winter 

 flowerincf. There are many good 

 pink selfs, but beside those of the 

 " Enchantress " family we will 

 just' mention ; — " Mona," bright 

 rose pink " ; "May Day," salm.on 

 flesh " ; " Salmonia," deep sal- 

 mon " ; " Mrs. T. W. I/awson " and 

 •(•IMrs. C. W. Ward," cerise. A very 

 fine white ^ound perpetual in this 

 section is " Winsome " ; colour 

 white, with deep rose penciUings. 

 With us it gives an unusual per- 

 centage of larce, beautifully form- 

 ed flowers. " Glendale " is sin- 

 other of the same type. 



