224 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGHST. 
[ OCTOBER, 
distinct, having a pink marking, bizarred with marone. No. 1 is the deepest in 
colour, but is not nearly so much to my taste as No. 2, which has a beautifully- 
formed petal, very distinctly marked on a clear white ground with a pale pink, 
bizarred with delicate marone. Altogether it is quite a lady’s flower. John 
Keet is a grand rose-flake, beautifully marked with rose on a pure white ground, 
the petals possessing great substance and smoothness. It reminds me of the old 
and famous variety, May’s Lorenzo. 
As I have already stated, with one exception, my Picotees were all novel, and 
it was with no little interest I watched their expansion. Truth compels me to 
add that my eager expectations were not fulfilled, and had my experience been con¬ 
fined to my own garden, I should have remained a disbeliever in any progress in 
this class. Fortunately, my visit to the Royal Nursery, and subsequently to the 
North, dispossessed me of this feeling, and I saw enough to assure me that I 
must attribute to accidents of season and of culture what before-time I had 
feared indicated retrogression. 
The Red-edged class was in great force, the broad edges being especially 
remarkable. But for an occasional slight suffusion of colour into the white, 
the first in place, as in honour, was the Princess of Wales , but Leonora was so 
good, the solid marking breaking off so distinctly from its lovely ground of white, 
that she was a worthy competitor even of the Princess. J. B. Bryant , which at its 
opening seemed somewhat to lack refinement, improved greatly upon acquaintance, 
and deserves a place in every collection. Mrs. Dodwell , as I have already said, 
fully maintained the repute with which she was introduced to the Picotee-grower 
twenty years since, a strong proof of the excellence of stamina in this variety. 
Light reds were not so good; neither Mrs. Hornby , Mrs. Bower , nor Mrs. Keynes 
came up to my ideal of a light edge, though each had points to make them in¬ 
dispensable to the cultivator ; but I subsequently saw Mrs. Hornby at the Royal 
Nursery so distinct, and Mrs. Bower in Yorkshire in such character, .that without 
attempting to define their respective places, I can declare each to deserve high 
encomium. In the narrow or medium edges, Wm. Summers , a flower of Mr, 
Simonite’s, was quite to my taste—all that is desirable in quality, form, and 
formation of petal. Two other heavy-edged reds I saw, in first-rate character, are 
Peeress (Turner), a variety much in the way of, and doubtless a seedling from, 
King James, but a great improvement on that good old variety, indispensable for 
the home stage ; and John Smith (Bower), a seedling, apparently, though different 
in colour, from the Princess-Alice strain, good alike for exhibition and home use. 
In heavy-edged Purples, Alliance , Chanticleer , and Norfolk Beauty , three 
varieties raised by Mr. Fellowes, are distinct and good, and should be in every 
collection. Had Norfolk Beauty the fine white ground and substance of petal 
(it is very stout) of Mrs. Summers, it would leave nothing to be desired. As I 
saw Mrs. Summers in the North, I find it difficult to give the palm to either, so 
nearly are their claims to pre-eminence balanced. I venture to predict that 
whoever succeeds in crossing these varieties will be richly rewarded in the issue, 
