1878 .] 
NEW PICOTEES.-SCARLET TREE CARNATION A ALEGATIERE. 
25 
belong to tlie group whicli originated in ker- 
mesina, the colour of whose flowers may be 
described as carmine-rose. The brightest of 
these is Scarlet King, which has flowers of 
a particularly brilliant tint, with yellow eye, 
and associated with the old-fashioned palmati- 
fi d leaves; while Sunrise, which is a fern¬ 
leaved sort, scarcely falls behind this in the 
delicacy of its rosy-salmon colouring. These 
grand varieties, it is said, come true from seed. 
Another near approach to scarlet has been 
raised at Chiswick, from seeds of M. Vilmorin’s 
strain. 
The system of culture practised at the 
Sparkhill Nurseries has been thus described: 
—The compost used is a mixture of burnt 
earth, stiff loam, old mortar, charcoal, very 
rotten cow-dung and leaf-soil, well mixed 
together, the roots having a great liking for 
the pieces of mortar and charcoal; this com¬ 
post does not necessitate much drainage, as it 
is sufficiently porous in itself. The crown of 
the plant is kept low down in the soil in pot¬ 
ting, as from this part are thrown out many 
surface-roots, which add much to their 
vigour. Seeds are sown at intervals from 
March until May, so as to insure a succession, 
the earliest batch furnishing the earliest 
bloom. Cuttings of special sorts are struck in 
the spring in a gentle bottom-heat. The plants 
are grown in a low span-roofed house, with 
ventilation at the sides as well as at the top, 
and in brilliant weather the light is subdued 
by a little shading, too much exposure being 
avoided. Careful watering is essential, and 
tepid water is always used, watering over the 
foliage until the plants begin to flower. Manure- 
water is used most carefully, for the roots are 
so sensitive that mischief is soon done from an 
overdose ; it is, however, used frequently, but 
in a very weak state, and always in a tepid 
condition.—T. Moore. 
NEW PICOTEES. 
[Plate 461.] 
f HE varieties of Picotee which form the 
subject of our present illustration, are 
the productions of Mr. Robert Lord, 
of Todmorden, and w T ill confer an additional 
lustre on a name already of wide celebrity as 
the raiser of Ann Lord, Mrs. Lord, Rev. F. 
D. Homer, and Minnie. 
Our friend Mr. Dodw r ell, in his “ Descriptions 
of the Best Varieties, Old and New,” published 
in our volume for last year, has given at pp. 
129, 131, and 158, a full account of the cha¬ 
racteristics of these beautiful sorts, and there 
the interested reader will find all the particu¬ 
lars he can require for the complete develop¬ 
ment of the beauty our artist has so success¬ 
fully delineated. The portraits were sketched 
under the supervision of our friend, and with 
reference thereto, with some of that enthusi¬ 
asm which readers of his papers may probably 
think characteristic, he writes :—“ Mr. Rosen¬ 
berg deserves high commendation for the ex¬ 
cellent portraits he has given us, more especi¬ 
ally in the case of Miss Horner. But while 
Art is delightful, Nature is inimitable, and the 
spectator will feel the full beauty of their 
rich translucent white grounds, the depth and 
fullness and completeness of their form and 
substance and exquisite markings, only when 
he has these lovely flowers from Nature’s own 
hand before him.” 
Alice (fig. 2), and Zerlina (fig. 3), were 
distributed in the autumn of 1876, and are 
now the possession of almost every cultivator 
of this much-admired tribe. 
Miss Horner (fig. 1), has, we understand, 
passed into the possession of Mr. Jonathan 
Booth, of Failsworth, Manchester, and is now 
being offered.—T. Moore. 
SCARLET TREE CARNATION A ALEGATIERE. 
<?=p®)HIS charming perpetual-flowering Car- 
nation was exhibited at the December 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, and was very deservedly awarded a 
First-class Certificate, It has been described 
in some of the gardening papers as a scarlet 
Pink, but on what authority I cannot tell, unless 
it is on account of its remarkably dwarf habit 
—it grows only from 12 in. to 18 in. high, and 
produces quite an abundance of blossoms. The 
