160 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOOIST 
[ July, 
most unfortunate it should fail in smoothness, hut so failing, it must be condemned to a very 
inferior place. A good grower. Very useful for bouquet purposes. 
Regina (Fellowes).—Another of the Shotosham Rectory Seedlings which I saw in good 
character at the Royal Nursery, Slough, in 1875, but, as in the case of Northern Star and 
Miss Wood, was prevented seeing it bloom in my own garden by the deft stone-throwing of 
an unlucky urchin from a neighbouring garden. A well-formed, medium-sized flower, with 
a pure white ground and a good heavy plate of rosy-buff, bright and smooth. Not so attrac¬ 
tive to my taste as Ethel, and not so free a grower, but if well grown, I should expect to find 
it very effective. First bloomed in 1871, sent out in 1875. 
Teresa (Simonite).—Light-edged rose. The nearest approach to a wire-edge yet 
attained in this very attractive class, with a finely-formed petal and lovely white ground, 
and when attainable, will, I think, be eagerly sought after. Unfortunately, despite his .skill 
and patience, Mr. Simonite cannot shield his pets from the “ murderous ” influences, as a 
friend, unhappily, only too truly describes them, of that ‘‘ black hole,” Sheffield ; and although 
Carnations and Picotees will not merely live, but thrive, where other flowers would dwindle 
and die, they are nevertheless very susceptible of such drawbacks to high cultivation, as Mr. 
Simonite has had much pitiful experience of, in the deterioration or death of many of his 
fine seedlings. Of late, I believe, some of bis pets have been passed on to Kirkby Malzeard, 
and with the advantage thus gained, I trust no long time will elapse before many of his fine 
varieties, so long looked for and longed for, will be ready for distribution to his brother- 
florists. 
A few remarks, in conclusion, may, perhaps, not unfitly be devoted to the 
consideration of the present position of these fiowers, as compared with that of the 
past, and to the determination of the question,—has their progress towards per¬ 
fection during later years been such as should satisfy those delighting in their 
development ? 
Canvassing during the early months of this year the respected treasurer of 
the Royal Horticultural Society for a subscription in aid of the fund for the 
special exhibition of these flowers, now shortly to be held, he replied “ he would 
give me a guinea with pleasure, for the Carnation and Picotee were ever his 
favourite flowers, and he would give anything to see them again as he saw them 
forty years since.” Mr. Webb is not alone, I am thankful to say, in his faculty 
of remembering vividly the beauty of the past, for it is of the mercy and beneficence 
of our Almighty Father that whilst our sorrows lose their sharpness and soften 
into sanctity, the “ thing of beauty,” the “ joy for ever,” grows brighter as the 
years wane, and the vista of the memory lengthens. But it would be a reproach, 
and a grievous one, did we, the florists of the present, stand still and merely seek 
to enjoy the work of our fathers. As Mr. Horner has so well said, in one of his 
admirable, I might fairly say, inimitable, papers on the Auricula :—“ Where our 
florist-fathers rested in the evening of their day is the point we start from in the 
morning of our own, and we should ever have this purpose before us in our floral 
pursuits—to leave something added, something better than we found. So, when 
shadows are long upon the grass for us in turn, and we come to lay the old gentle 
pleasures by, with that same feeble consent in which we part from friends who 
cannot stay, we may be able to say we have done somewhat for the future in 
these quiet ways, as the past has done for us.” This sets out a laudable ambition, 
and as a florist of matured years, able to remember many things during those 
forty seasons referred to by Mr. Webb, I have a great satisfaction in believing it 
will be recorded of the present generation that we have fairly fulfilled our duty. 
Considering, in the Carnation more especially, the large attainments of our 
