142 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 18, 1892. 
G - It is intermediate in charact;rand habit between the parents, 
and I think will prove of good constitution. The plant now carries 
two flower-spike3 of three flowers each well above the foliage. 
The flowers measure in length 4^ inches, and the lip inches 
across. The sepals and petals are full, as in M. vexillaria ; the 
base of the petals is suffused with delicate rosy purple on white 
ground ; the lip is large and flat, bilobed in front, and of a delicate 
white colour, faintly veined with pink ; the base of the lip light 
chocolate, with twelve to fifteen radiating lines about an inch in 
length, of a deeper colour, while the three lines on the crest are of 
a reddish brown. We have grown this plant at the warm end of 
our Odontoglossum house, near the glass, and close to where we 
grow plants of Miltonia vexillaria, and it receives the same treat¬ 
ment as regards potting material, temperature, &c., which is given 
to Miltonia vexillaria. The plants should never be allowed to get 
dry, and yet care should be taken not to give them too much water 
while they are resting. The temperature should be kept at about 
60° night and day, or 55° in extreme cold weather, with free venti¬ 
lation. They should be moist continually, and the plants kept well 
up to the light, but not in direct sunshine.—W. Robinson, North 
Easton , Mass, (in “ Garden and Forest ”). 
CARNATION NOTES. 
The Carnation Manual. 
The publication of the Carnation Manual is an excellent idea 
admirably carried out. It is not a small pamphlet of a few pages 
in a paper cover, but a substantial volume well printed and bound, 
full of useful and interesting information. A reference to the 
chapters will give an idea of its character. The Rev. F. D. Horner 
opens with a preface, pleasantly written like all his work, Mr. 
Douglas follows with “Carnation Seed and Seedlings,” Mr. R. Dean 
discourses on “ Propagation,” Mr. Martin Smith on “ Border Car¬ 
nations,” Mr. Robinson on “ Carnations in the Flower Garden,” Mr. 
Herrington on “ The Culture of Garden Carnations,” Mr. Martin 
Smith gives a “ Calendar of Operations in Connection with Border 
Carnations,” Mr. Martin Rowan writes about “ The Carnation as a 
Town Flower,”Mr. J.J.Keen on “Carnation Culture for Exhibition 
in a Small Garden,” Mr. R. Sydenham on “ The Carnation in the 
Midlands,” Mr. B. Simonite on “ Dressing and Staging the Carna¬ 
tion and Picotee for Exhibition,” Mr. Keen gives a calendar for 
exhibitors, Mr. M. Campbell and Mr. R. P. Brotherston treat on 
“ The Carnation in Scotland,” Mr. F. W. Burbidge on “ The Car¬ 
nation in Ireland,” Mr. Douglas on “ The Yellow Carnation and 
Picotee,” Mr. Harry Turner on “ Tree or Winter-flowering Carna¬ 
tions,” Mr J. Jennings on “ The Culture of Winter-flowering Car¬ 
nations,” Mr. Douglas gives a calendar of operations with Trees, 
the Rev. H. H. D’Ombrain treats the flower retrospectively, Mr. 
Martin Rowan deals with “ Diseases and Pests,” and a selection of 
varieties is given founded on lists supplied by several leading 
growers. 
Here are dishes of Carnation fare that should satisfy any 
lover of the flower. There can be no attempt to criticise all, but 
we dip lightly into Mr. Horner’s chapter, and quote his words on 
the florists of the past and present :— 
“ In the retrospect of a long florist life, such as mine has well-nigh 
grown to be, I can see, amid grey memorials of many a veteran florist, 
the tiny footstones, as it were, of those who, though perhaps still living 
men, have yet as florists ‘died in their infancy.’ Not as lying here, 
shall we count those whose love for favourite flowers has outlived their 
powers to lend them ; or who, in the chances and changes of life, have 
no longer either time or garden space available. We look on men like 
these as with us yet; and times come round with flowers, and old friends 
meet over old favourites, and we feel we are not parted.” 
We also extract a portion of Mr. Martin Rowan’s warm praise 
of the Carnation as a town flower :— 
“ That the Carnation is second in beauty and interest only to the 
Hose is admitted on all hands, and a ‘ close second ’ to the Queen of 
Flowers its votaries may not unjustly claim for it. If Nature has denied 
to the Carnation all the sumptuous beauty of the Rose, she has bestowed 
on her to very lavishness the not less precious gift of variety ; for in the 
diverse qualities characteristic of the many classes of the flower—in the 
brilliance and force of the scarlet and crimson bizarres, the tenderness 
and grace of the rose and purple flakes, the delicacy and refinement of 
the edged Picotees, the rich colouring of the seifs, the picturesque and 
almost infinite contrasts of the fancy and yellow-ground flowers—we 
have a range of varied beauty hardly to be found in any other flower ; 
while with the Cloves we have, in addition to their rich hues, a fragrance 
of their own not inferior to that of the Rose itself. 
“With the townsman, indeed, the Carnation must hold not the 
second, but the very first place in his regard, for while the Rose—like 
Hiany another old favourite—refuses to dwell within the smoke circle, 
the Carnation will put on its best for us even ii the smallest of town 
gardens. The great manufacturing towns of the Midlands and of Lanca¬ 
shire and Yorkshire have all their knots of enthusiastic and successful 
cultivators of the flower. At Sheffield, in one of the worst of climates, 
Mr. Simonite has raised some of the finest varieties of Carnations and 
Picotees that we possess ; and all Mr. Dodwell’s finest seedlings, up to 
the time of his removal to Oxford a few years ago, were raised within 
ten minutes’ ride of Victoria Station. My own flowers are grown in the 
same locality, and, indeed, the bulk of the exhibitors at the great metro¬ 
politan and provincial shows are amateurs with town gardens, cultivat¬ 
ing their plants under all the citizen’s wonted disabilities of bad climate, 
cramped space, and scant leisure snatched from busy avocations of 
every sort.” 
We are pleased to learn that the Southern Section of the National 
Carnation and Picotee Society has been strengthened by a sub¬ 
stantial increase in members ; but it is not by these alone or 
educated florists alone that this excellent work will be welcomed ; 
it will find as its possessors most persons who grow and admire 
Carnations as garden flowers, for all will find it useful, and it 
promises to remain for some time the standard work on the subject 
to which it is devoted. 
Duchess of Portland. 
I am sending you flowers of this promising new variety of 
Fancy Picotee raised and shortly to be distributed by Mr. Joseph 
Lamb of Burton Joyce, Notts. It was shown by him at Leicester 
on August 2nd and received a certificate of merit. On the same 
day it received a similar award at Oxford, and at Birmingham on 
the 6th inst. a special certificate, and a similar award at the Notts 
Horticultural and Botanical Show on July 27th. On the card 
placed with the blooms shown at Leicester the raiser states, “It is 
a large flower of vigorous hardy constitution, good calyx, strong 
grass, and clove scented. I have been cutting flowers since the 
middle of February, in all ways it is doing well and proving itself 
of great merit with common treatment.” In a letter of hi9 now 
before me he says, “At Leicester the judges call it a Carnation, 
also at Nottingham ; at Birmingham a Fancy Picotee, also at Oxford. 
One old gardener calls it a Clove and some a Picotee. Who shall 
decide when doctors disagree ? ”—W. K. W. 
[It is not a true Picotee. The colour is on the edge, Picotee- 
like, but it consists of short, thickly disposed rose flakes, not a 
wire, and inasmuch as some of them run into the petals it might 
be classed as a Carnation. It is a flower of medium size and 
excellent form with good petals.] 
Carnations at Slough. 
It is natural that the footsteps of Carnation lovers should turn 
to Slough whenever an opportunity offers itself, for Mr. Turner’s 
great nursery there is a famous home for the noble flower. 
Imagine 4000 plants grown in pots, all the best, and many new 
varieties being included amongst them, and some conception may 
be formed of the extent, beauty, and interest of the display, but it 
must be seen to be fully appreciated. During the latter part of 
July and the early part of August the collection is magnificent. 
We paid a somewhat late visit, but were not too late to find a rich 
and brilliant display. 
The collection of florists’ varieties is large and complete, good 
examples being observable of such standard varieties as Admiral 
Curzon, Dr. Hogg, Robert Houlgrave, Squire Potts, Harrison 
Weir, J. D. Ilextall, Rifleman, Sarah Payne, William Skirving, 
Mayor of Nottingham, Lovely Ann, and Thalia amongst Carnations ; 
and of Dr. Epps, J. B. Bryant, Thomas William, Clara Penson, 
Zerlina, Edith D’Ombrain, and Favourite amongst Picotees ; but 
the Selfs, Fancies, and Yellow Grounds are a still richer display. 
These are growing rapidly in general popularity, and it is satis¬ 
factory to observe the sterling additions that are annually being 
made to their number. Of the choice varieties at Slough Countess 
of Jersey, a yellow ground, with light rose edge, is an admirable 
flower. Mrs. Arthur Barrett, which was certificated at the last 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, is an example of a 
type of flower that is rapidly springing up with closely disposed 
flakes along the edge in place of a wire of colour. As these are 
confined to the edge it can hardly be classed as other than a Picotee. 
It is a yellow ground, with scarlet edge, and extremely beautiful. 
Nellie Bath is another example, and is a yellow ground, with a very 
heavy crimson edge. It is a beautiful flower, and a great acqui¬ 
sition. Salamander and King of Scarlets are a pair of splendid 
seifs. The former is brilliant rose, the latter bright scarlet, and 
both are large, substantial, finely formed flowers. Duchess of 
Sutherland is a white ground, with a rosy pink flaked edge, 
breaking somewhat into the petals, so that it ought perhaps to be 
classed as a Fancy Carnation. It is a charming flower. Optimus is 
a new yellow ground Picotee, with light scarlet edge. Remem¬ 
brance, which was certificated on the 9th inst., is a lovely yellow 
ground, with light rose edge, and has a broad, smooth petal. 
