1878.] 
DOUBLE-FLOWERED CINERARIAS.—NATIONAL CARNATION AND PICOTEE SOCIETY. 
137 
DOUBLE-FLOWERED CINERARIAS. 
[Plate 
y 
GwOCfS'cDHATEVER rank as a decorative plant 
J (gr double-flowered Cineraria may 
ultimately attain, tliere can be no 
doubt that varieties such as those represented 
in the accompanying plate are very handsome. 
Some of the old florists, indeed, have expressed 
doubts as to whether the doubling of the 
flower-heads, as we call it—that is, the con¬ 
version of the disk floi'ets into ligulate petaloid 
florets, like those of the ray—would be any 
improvement in the Cineraria, but beautiful as 
are the florists’ as well as the decorative single 
types of this flower, there can, we think, be no 
doubt that our illustration represents a type 
which, if varied, is at least of equal beauty. 
In days gone by, the old double-flowered 
Jacobaea (Senecio elegans ) was a popular and 
favourite plant for greenhouses and summer 
flower-gardens, and a nicely-grown plant of the 
best variety was a very beautiful object. There 
is no flower which the double Cineraria re¬ 
sembles so much as the double Jacobsea, which 
certainly has not dropped out of cultivation 
475.] 
from any demerit of its own, but has simply 
been elbowed out of a prominent position— 
like the Verbena and others—by the rage for 
bedding-out, which has led to the undue aggran¬ 
disement of the brilliant, but ever-encroach¬ 
ing Pelargonium, which happened, by its free- 
growing sturdy habit, to best suit that style of 
gardening. 
The double-flowered Cinerarias represented 
in our plate were sent to us by Messrs. Dick¬ 
sons and Co., of Edinburgh, and were, we be¬ 
lieve, raised by them. They are very faithfully 
portrayed by Mr. Macfarlane’s sketches, of 
which Fig. 1, called Pink Perfection, is of a 
pale pinkish-rose; fig. 2, Queen of Violets, 
is a rich deep purple ; fig. 3, The Prince, is a 
deep magenta-rose. The flowers in all these, 
and in some other named sorts which accom¬ 
panied them, were perfectly full and regular, 
and the inflorescence formed close dense heads, 
of which a small sprig only is here shown. 
We do not yet despair of seeing a race of good 
double Cinerarias.—T. Moore. 
NATIONAL CARNATION AND PICOTEE SOCIETY. 
[NORTHERN SHOW.] 
S HIS meeting was held, as announced, in 
the garden of the Royal Manchester 
Botanical and Horticultural Society, at 
Old Trafford, on August 3, 5, and 6, and was 
one of the most extensive exhibitions of these 
flowers which has of late years been held in the 
Northern districts of England. One exhibitor, 
who, as we learn, did not so much as find a place 
on the prize list, staged as many as 200 flowers, 
and in the classes for single blooms it is pro¬ 
bable that so large a number was never before 
brought together. 
Carnations were sliorvn in very fine fresh and 
matured condition by Mr. G. Rudd, who had the 
honour to grow the premier flower of the day, 
a grand Mercury, s.b., and also Lord Milton, 
C.B., finely coloured. R. Gorton, Esq., had a 
bloom of Mercury scarcely inferior to the 
premier flower, and a very fine bloom of 
Rifleman, c.B. Mr. E. Pohlman showed a 
fine r.f. sport of Lord Milton, which was con¬ 
sidered to be highly promising. Mr. Booth 
brought out a good even lot of flowers, in¬ 
cluding some capital examples of the s.b. class 
—Admiral Curzon, Lord Napier, and Sir 
Joseph Paxton. Mr. B. Simonite’s flowers had 
been so punished by the unfavourable season, 
that they were not of their usual high quality ; 
nevertheless, he had some grand seedlings, of 
which a s.b., p.f., and s.F. deserve especial 
mention. 
Picotees were well shown by Mr. J. Booth, 
whose blooms had the great charm of fresh¬ 
ness ; and amongst them, Medina and Zerlina, 
h. p., and Mary, l.p., were especially fine. Mr. 
Gorton had a very fine bloom of Mrs. Fuller, 
h.r., and Mr. G. Rudd a grand example of 
Thomas William, l.r. 
These flowers are very greatly influenced by 
the seasons, certain varieties blooming well one 
year, and but indifferently the next, when the 
climatal conditions may be altered. This is not 
only found to occur in the same districts, as the 
results of successive years’ bloom are compared, 
but applies with equal if not greater force to 
the differences presented by the North and 
South divisions of the country, varieties that 
bloom well in the North being sometimes very 
