THE CINERAKIA AND ITS PROPERTIES. 
dulness -which belongs to it, would, if transformed to shining glossy note paper, really, or at least com- 
paratively, look rich and lively. The consequence of this peculiarity about the texture of the petals, 
is that unless the colour he very dense and bright in itself, there is a good deal to be deducted from 
the value on that score. The most brilliant self-colour is but a dull affau' compared to the tipped sorts. 
This is the real cause of so many dull looking varieties, and led us to the consideration of improve- 
ments. To make a truly fine Cineraria, we must have a white ground ; for, strange as it may seem, 
it will be recognised at once upon consideration that although a rough and spongy surface is 
iinfavourable to colours, it is the reverse with white — no white is more pure than that of some 
of the Cinerarias, and the addition of an edge is all we desire. The pm'ity of the white renders any 
colour a good contrast, 
^■^'"^ _ 
but the most striking 
are crimsons and blues, 
for, in all their vai-ious 
shades of denseness and 
paleness, they are desir- 
able. The edging, how- 
ever, should be even, it 
should justform an even 
band of colom- all round 
ahke, and leave a well- 
defined circle of white 
sm-rounding a disc of 
some determinate co- 
loiir. Too many discs 
are large in proportion 
to the flower, and being 
neither black nor yel- 
low, look when devel- 
oped, a sort of dirty 
grey. There is a want 
of distinctness and of 
contrast in such, which 
many ordinary growers 
lose sight of. 
A flower to be strik- 
ing, then, should be 
white on the ground, 
distinctly banded with 
a dense colour or shade 
of some kind , the greater 
the contrast the better ; 
and it should have a 
small black, or dark 
colom-ed, or bright yel- 
low disc. Of the many 
Cinerarias we have seen — we may say many thousands — but few strike us as first-rate things. The discs 
of many are too large ; the flowers of many too small ; the colour- too dull ; the petals too roagh ; and a vast 
majority of those which ordinary certificate-makers think fine, are by no means deserving of notice. The 
petals should be smooth, and of a velvety or a glossy texture. There should be no ribs nor puckers. The 
bloom shoidd naturally lay as flat as a shilling ; and, if they deviate at all it must bo by cupping rather 
than reflexing. But there arc other points of no small consequence in the construction of the Cineraria, 
the foliage should spread and show an even surface of green, and above this, the flowers shoidd 
form an even sui-face of bloom, the flowers setting edge to edge, and not, as in too many, making a 
heterogeneous bunch, one above another-. All these points should strike a good judge at once — the 
perfect model should be in his mind, and the deficiency of anything that is before him should be 
apparent. The distinction of a fu-st and second-class flower should be well understood. If a Cineraria, 
then, has a white ground, is cu'cular on the edge, that is to say, above the average chcular, with the 
ends of the petals fi-ee from notch, and with a distinct edging of colom-, the flowers opening flat, and 
71^== ~ 
DIAGRAM OF A PEItFECr CINERARIA, 
