1875. ] 
CARNATIONS AND PICOTEES. 
225 
and live long upon the tongues and in the memories of florists. Alliance is a fine 
narrow-edged heavy, with great breadth of petal; and Chanticleer, remarkable for 
its broad band of bright colour, most effective for the home stage, will often be 
found of great use for the back-row of a twelve on the exhibition-table. Light- 
edged purples with me were sadly behind the superb flowers I had once grown, 
but this, as I have already said, appeared to be due to the accidents of the season 
or culture. Mrs. Little, suffering from a chill in early spring, never recovered 
the robustness requisite to produce a really fine specimen. Mary was so suffused 
with colour at the back of the petal, that the ground was lavender rather than 
white ; and Ganymede , chaste and pure as it was, lacked the size and breadth of 
petal a leading flower must possess. Yet each of these varieties, even as seen in 
my garden, were interesting; they fell off only in the splendour and magnificence 
of bloom I had been accustomed to get from Amy Robsart. In the North I found 
Mary , Ann Lord , an unnamed seedling of Mr. Simonite’s, and another of Mr. 
Bower’s, with all the characteristics of that fine old variety, and gladly recognised 
that my brother florists had not gone back in their vocation. 
In the rose and scarlet-edged class, I grew Empress Eugenie and Mrs. 
Allcroft in light edges, the latter a seedling from, and a decided improvement 
on, the Empress ; both good. Ethel (Fellowes), medium-edged rose, very bright, 
and very beautiful. Juliana , a heavily-edged scarlet, the best of its class. Mrs. 
Fordham , rose, medium edge, large and full, the centre petals a little too crowded 
and too small, yet nevertheless a most attractive variety; and Obadiah , the 
latter a heavily-edged scarlet, but sadly too serrated on the edge of the petal to 
please me. To these in the coming season I shall add Edith Dombrain (Turner), 
rose, heavy-edged, occasionally apparently inclined to bar, yet nevertheless indis¬ 
pensable; Miss Wood (Wood), medium, sometimes a heavily-edged scarlet; Regina 
(Fellowes), rose, heavily edged ; Fanny Helen (Niven), a variety I saw in the 
North, small, but very pleasing, a bright rose ; and Mrs. I^ord (Lord), heavy 
rose edge, the colour rather too faint, but of good quality, and without the 
slightest spot or bar. Other flowers I saw fine in the North were a light-edged 
red seedling (Clara) of Mr. Bower’s, very distinct and promising. Mr. Bower 
had also a beautiful rose-flake, a splendid variety, worthy to contest pre¬ 
eminence with John Keet. At Manchester, Mr. Simonite had in his stand a 
very beautiful light-edged red (the same variety taking first prize in its class), 
a light purple, and a narrow-edged heavy rose, the latter as shown pale in colour, 
but faded apparently from age. Mr. Lord showed two seedlings—No. 24, a 
narrow-edged heavy purple, since called Alice , a variety from which I anticipate 
great things ; and No. 14, bright rose, heavy edge, very pleasing and promising. 
At the same place I noted a scarlet flake, new to me, Clipper (the raiser’s name I 
did not get), which I think is likely to be inquired for ; and Annihilator , S.F. 
(Jackson), as shown in the first stand of three, deserved high encomium. 
At the Royal Nursery which I visited on the 26th July, a few days too late 
to see the flowers at the culminating point of their beauty, I noted, in addition 
