GLENNY ON THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 
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Perfect Petal. 
Imperfect Petal. 
GLENNY ON THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 
TnE Carnation and Picotee are of the 
most favoured and favourite class of florists' 
flowers. In addition to their beauty, which 
is almost without equal, they have a fragrance 
possessed by no other garden beauty, and 
only rivalled by that of the rose. In form, 
they are rich, and in colour, and in the dispo- 
sition of the colour, they are, perhaps, supe- 
rior to all others. That they are capable of 
improvement, cannot be denied ; because the 
very best and most perfect may be excelled, 
if we can command the improvement which 
the model or standard suggests, and which, on 
due consideration, the most prejudiced of the 
old florists, who arc wedded as it were to 
some of the present varieties, must admit 
would be perfect if attained. The principle, 
however, of the plan upon which the pro- 
perties of florists' flowers are laid down, is 
such, that the most persevering of our florists, 
amateur or professional, can hardly hope to 
attain perfection, although they are obliged to 
admit that, if it were attained, it would be the 
climax of beauty; and the only objectors 
found their objections on the hopelessness of 
attaining it. The present race of Picotees 
far excels the best of a few years ago ; and 
there is a good deal to say in behalf of a 
standard which comprises all the properties 
that can add to the beauty of the present 
good varieties, all of which, the very best of 
which, have some distinguishing deficiency, 
although some are much better than others. 
The splendour of a first-rate bloom of cither 
a Carnation or Picotee, is, as we have said, 
hardly to be excelled by any garden beauty ; 
■17. 
and up to a certain point of excellence, they 
are less uncertain than many other florists' 
favourites ; but it is only up to that certain 
point. It is more rare to get a grand bloom 
— that is to say, any thing extraordinarily fine, 
than with many other flowers which are in 
general much worse. Take the auricula, 
the tulip, the dahlia, the pink, and many 
other flowers, and we find it frequently diffi- 
cult to get any thing like a fine show-bloom, 
even among a great many ; whereas we have, 
known, in a favourable season, a man to cut 
twelve blooms off twenty-four plants of Car- 
nations and Picotees, and such as to make an 
average stand. The flower, up to an average 
quality, is nearly inimitable ; although those 
who grow a large collection will always have 
more chance of obtaining specimens above 
the average. In short, we may say that, with 
care, there will hardly be found any of a good 
selection, that are not good enough to add 
beauty and variety to the assemblage, al- 
though they may not be all we could wish for 
show ; their fragrance adding not a little to 
their value. There are few flowers that can be 
grown moderately well so close to London, 
or any other metropolis, and, therefore, 
scarcely any one that is so extensively culti- 
vated within the influence of smoke. It is 
quite certain they will flourish even where 
the air is too dirty and smoky to show their 
colours properly. In such cases, there is only 
one help, and that is, to bloom under glasses ; 
but of course nothing will preserve them so 
clear as they would be in the pure open air of 
an open country. In choosing your collection 
