718 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



information on the history of the Picotee, and the method of cultivating 

 it and the Carnation under glass and in the open garden. 



" Carnations for Exhibition and a Year's Work in the Garden " is 

 treated by the late Mr. Richard Dean, and the operations for each month 

 of the year are indicated in a concise form. 



Mr. H. Thomas strongly recommends the Carnation for town gardens, 

 and is so enthusiastic that he avers " the Carnation seems to relish the 

 smoke of a large city." He advises planting in March, but does not add 

 that they ought to have been established in small flowerpots before 

 planting them out. 



Mr. Herrington, of the Florham Farms, Madison, New Jersey, con- 

 tributes an excellent paper on the American Carnation, and the gist of 

 it seems to be that the American Carnations do best in America. He 

 saw some of the best of the American Carnations exhibited in the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's Hall in February last year. Such flowers, he adds, 

 " would not have been accepted as a gift by even the street flower- sellers 

 of New York." The fine flowers sold in New York and other populous 

 centres in America, to the extent of a hundred million blooms or more 

 annually, are grown on benches planted out in a depth of 4^ or 5 inches of 

 soil. A point new to us in Mr. Herrington's excellent paper is the method 

 of judging adopted by the American Carnation Society. New varieties pre- 

 sented for certificates must score 85 out of 100 points before they can obtain 

 an award. The points are as follows : Colour, 25 ; size, 20 ; stem, 20 ; form, 

 15 ; substance, 10 ; calyx, 5 ; fragrance, 5 ; total, 100. If one may criticise 

 here, a good calyx and fragrance should have more points, which should 

 be deducted from the points given for size and stem. If colour appro- 

 priates a fourth of the points, fragrance ought to have 20 points. 



There is a long chapter on diseases of the Carnation, the insect pests, 

 &c, and the best way to treat them. 



There are delightful engravings of the Pink as a rock-garden plant, 

 the Pink for edgings to borders, and as cut flowers for vases, with full 

 instructions to amateurs as to the treatment from seed, and from cuttings 

 or " pipings." 



Mr. Henry Correvon writes very fully of the Pinks of the Alps, describ- 

 ing no fewer than 84 species and varieties of species. No one who 

 takes an interest in these charming flowers can do without this book, for 

 the instruction it gives in the culture of the plants, or as a work of 

 reference as to the specific forms of the genus Dianthus. 



"The Scented Garden." By F. W. Burbidge, M.A., V.M.H. 8vo., 

 90 pp. (John Lane, London.) 2s. Gel. net. 



Certainly the best book that has yet appeared upon the subject. It 

 consists, in a greatly expanded form, of a lecture delivered by Mr. 

 Burbidge before the Royal Horticultural Society in 1898, and its pages 

 are brightened up by a few excellent reproductions of beautiful flower- 

 photographs. Not that it requires much brightening ; for, as all who have 

 read any of his works know full well, Mr. Burbidge not only knows all 

 about flowers, but has the gift of being able to describe them all in 

 veritable flowers of speech. Here in this little book you may find all 

 about fragrant leaves as well as fragrant flowers ; the theory and processes 



