150 
FLORICULTUEE. 
it was, however, very small, and, as might be expected, after five months' voyage, in a very 
delicate state. It was immediately potted in a 60-sized pot, filled with a compost of 
equal parts of loam and peat, with a small quantity of silver sand, and placed in the 
plant-stove, where it made little progress during the winter ; as the spring advanced, 
fresh signs of life were apparent, and several shoots were sent up from the base of the old 
stem. I then repotted it, using the same compost as before, with the addition of a little 
rotten cow-dung, and placed it in the Orchid-house (the temperature of which ranged from 
65° to 70° Fahrenheit), where it grew rapidly, which convinced me that a moist heat was 
favourable to its growth. 
About the beginning of June, the plant began to show its flower-buds, and on the 
15th of July I had the gratification of seeing the first flower open, (a description of which 
is fully given in your " Magazine of Botany," vol. xiv., t. 267). I considered it a very 
handsome species, and accordingly exhibited it at the Horticultural Society's Meeting at 
Chiswick, on the 1 7th of July, where it w^as awarded the Silver Banksian Medal, Dr. 
Lindley and Mr. Gordon being the judges; it had then only three flowers open. It 
received its final shift about the middle of August, from a 12 to a No. 4-sized pot, from 
which time it has been literally covered with flowers ; and, from its close habit, forms a 
very handsome bush ; it was much admired by all who saw it, up to the beginning of 
October, w^hen we handed it over to Messrs. Knight and Perry. 
FLORICULTURE. 
By John Dickson. 
Carnations and Picotees. — The present time being a busy one with all cultivators of 
the above-named favourite flowers, I am anxious to contribute my mite of information 
to the general stock of floricultural knowledge, more particularly as to the manage- 
ment of the Carnation tribe, which not only involves a greater share of interest at this 
season, but likewise tests the patience and perseverance of the admirers of these flowers. 
To those amateurs who purpose the exhibition of their plants at the ensuing shows I 
especially address myself, knowing full well the care and attention requisite to the 
production of good blooms. The observations I have thrown together on this subject are 
the result of long experience. Condensed to meet the views of the conductors of the 
*' Magazine of Gardening and Botany," they may be relied on implicitly ; as the whole of 
the practice given, has been put in requisition a hundred times, and I think I may venture 
to assert with more than usual success. I shall presume that the plants are all potted 
into their blooming pots, and placed on the stage, and the stakes properly arranged, in 
readiness to have an elongating shoot attached to them so soon as circumstances seem to 
render it desirable, and this point requires careful supervision, as the wind often does 
considerable damage where any neglect in this matter occurs. So much of the business 
being completed, I would next direct the attention of my amateur readers to the best 
means of increasing the size of their blooms. A good show flower should measure at least 
from two inches and a half to three inches in diameter, the latter size decidedly the more 
preferable. In order to effect this, some skill and much patience is necessary in removing 
the buds of many varieties. Should this operation be postponed beyond the proper time, 
it induces a weakness in the plant that prevents the remaining pods from becoming 
strong or healthy, and amateurs find too late they have thus lost the chance of being able 
to exhibit a bloom of an otherwise valuable variety. In offering instruction to others, I 
invariably reconsider what I wished to learn when I first became a cultivator of this race 
of plants ; one item is strongly impressed on my memory, and that is the difficulty with 
which growers discover those varieties that will carry one pod, or two, or three, for 
exhibition. To remedy any evil of this kind among my readers, I will give the names of 
the plants that will carry the above numbers, believing that such information cannot but be 
acceptable to every tyro in the art of Carnation and Picotee cultivation. 
