1S76. ] 
THE CAENATION AND PICOTEE.—CHAPTER VII. 
147 
The raising of seedlings is the opening-up of a new world, a world of sensa¬ 
tions, surprises, delights. Every step is a new enjoyment. But it must be borne 
in mind that amongst Carnations and Picotees, as with all things in nature, no 
advance upon existing beauty will be obtained, save by a resort to the best types 
for parents, and by their judicious employment. On few subjects have greater 
errors been made than on the subject of raising Carnations and Picotees from 
seed. In my young days, the late Mr. James Dickson gravely put it forth that 
“ seedlings could only come good when of a similar class with the parent.” How 
opposite to the “ logic of facts ” this theory was, let me show, by referring to the 
origin of Venus, heavy-edged rose Picotee, raised by the late Mr. Headly, 
and described by me in 1853. “ From the same cross with King James (two 
heavy-edged red Picotees) and from the same pod of seed. Another of those facts 
to which I have repeatedly adverted as utterly subversive of the foolish notion, 
propagated a few years ago, that only the same class could be produced ‘ good ’ 
from any given parent, and as if to confound confusion, Mr. Headly remarks, 
when kindly sending me the information, ‘ I had only one pod of seed, and 
from it raised fine flowers of nearly every class of Carnatiotis as well as Picotees.’ 
If these flowers could not sport, indeed, I should like to know how the present 
classes originated; and if our present colours have been vouchsafed to us, may we 
not hope for as great an addition to the shades now in existence ? What is to hinder 
the realisation of buffs, yellows of every shade, from bright lemon to dense golden 
hues, orange, fawns, pinks, roses, scarlets, crimsons, chocolate, lilacs and purples, 
puce, and plum, and peach ?” I know of no reason to hinder this desirable reali¬ 
sation, and I have cited this one of many facts to explode a very foolish, but very 
obstinate delusion ; but I must guard my reader from indiscriminate crossing, 
nevertheless. 
In Picotees I recommend that the parents be always of the same class of 
colour, though I never hesitated to marry light-edged to heavy, or heavy to light; 
and in Carnations I should think it most desirable to keep Scarlet Bizarre to 
Scarlet Bizarre or Scarlet Flake, Crimson Bizarre to Crimson Bizarre or Pink 
and Purple Bizarre ; and in the Flakes, though purple and rose combine advan¬ 
tageously, I should sedulously avoid admixture with scarlet, having observed that 
the progeny of such crosses were, scarcely without exception, dull and mongrel 
in colours and quality. 
But I must hasten on. I shall be writing for some who will be fired with 
emulation and the desire to enter the arena of competition, and my work will be 
incomplete, unless I offer a few words on the best mode of setting up and judging 
collections. In my experience, I have rarely met a brother florist who could not 
with a close approximation to accuracy determine the merits of an individual 
bloom; yet when it has come to the determining the merits of a collection of 
blooms, and the proper mode of “ setting up ” or composing such a collection, so 
as to obtain the greatest possible effect, many have appeared to me to be help¬ 
lessly at fault. 
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