30 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ Pbbeuary, 
symmetrical flower-heads than either of the other forms. The flgures are by no 
means exaggerated representations of the individual flowers which we examined, 
and of which some two or three dozen at least were sent to us.—T. Moore. 
LEE^S PROLIFIC BLACK CURRANT. 
4 Y experience of this Black Currant leads me to think it is the best variety 
Ih cultivation. It is very large and fine, a great bearer, and hangs a 
long time on the bushes.' When quite ripe, it is excellent for the dessert. 
There is a sort here very like it in every respect, which I have exhibited 
for many years at the local shows, and for which I have received many prizes, 
but I consider Lee’s Prolific to be a better variety. I would strongly recommend 
it to all intending planters, as I feel certain, under ordinary management, it will 
give satisfaction. When good varieties of fruits can be had, inferior sorts should 
never be planted, as they occupy the same space and require as much labour in 
after-management as good ones. Though the Black Currant will grow and bear 
well on any tolerable garden-soil, it does best on well-enriched land. After' the 
bushes come into regular bearing condition, they should annually receive a good 
dressing of rotten manure, which should be lightly dug in ; deep digging should 
be avoided, as the bushes form a great quantity of fibrous roots near the surface, 
which deep digging seriously injures.— M. Saul, Stourton. 
THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 
Chapter II.— ^What Varieties Should We Crow ?—Work for February. 
HE foregoing is an important question, and involves far more than may 
seem to lie on its surface. I well remember, when, many years since, I 
took up my residence on the outskirts of Derby, and there found oppor¬ 
tunity for the gratification of a taste engendered in my early boyhood— 
but of necessity repressed whilst I remained in the heart of this great city—the 
exceeding difficulty I found in getting information as to the best sorts in cultiva¬ 
tion, and the bitter disappointments I suffered by having inferior varieties palmed 
upon me. I can easily conceive, when I go back to that early experience, of 
floricultural careers of fairest promise utterly blighted from this cause alone. 
Happily the circumstances of that day and this are widely different. Then 
there was virtually no Floricultural Press, and little, if any, intercommunication 
among florists. Not one in a hundred knew anything of productions grown 
twenty miles from his own door. Now florists in districts widely separated meet 
frequently, opinions and practice are almost completely assimilated, varieties 
previously confined to a limited district are widely distributed, and more than all, 
we live in the light of a Floricultural Press, guided by men alike able and 
honourable, which, in diffusing sound information on all matters of fact and 
practice, guards effectually the inexperienced from evils which, in those earlier 
days, the young florist was especially exposed to. 
To enable me to say with the completest confidence what varieties we should 
