1880 . ] 
THE SUBURBAN GARDENER. 
11 
properties. Then John Bayley and Sportsman 
between them gave me half-a-dozen others; Sir 
Joseph Paxton, one ; James Cheetham, one (the 
Charles Turner referred to) ; Mars, two; and J. D. 
Hextall and Marshal Ney, c.b.’s, one each. It was 
wonderful to note how quality was marked. True, 
from many a highly bred parent there came a very 
degenerate progeny, but in no instance did the con¬ 
verse hold; and again we had it illustrated that 
from highly bred flowers only could highly bred 
flowers spring. 
In Crimson or Pink and Purple Bizarres, I reserve 
three from Captain Stott, one from Eccentric Jack, 
three from Milton, one from Marshal Ney, four from 
Rifleman, one from Wm. Murray, one from Sports¬ 
man, and one from John Keet, the latter especially 
fine. Of Scarlet Flakes I have seventeen, viz., four 
from Gurzon, one from Eccentric Jack, one from 
J. D. Ilextall, three from Clipper, four from John 
Bayley, two from Sportsman, one from John Keet ,— 
a repeat of its parent as an s.f., and one from Uncle 
Tom. In Rose Flakes my list is short, having one 
each only from Eccentric Jack and Marshal Ney, 
and five from John Keet. How strikingly in these 
results is diversity illustrated, and what a com¬ 
mentary is afforded upon the assumption of florists 
who were fathers when I was a neophyte, held to 
all the more tenaciously because it rested upon a 
base no solider than their uninformed imagination, 
—viz., that good varieties of any one class could be 
originated only from that class! Vain limiters of 
the marvellous richness and bounty of Nature! 
Whatever delusions we have yet to unlearn, and 
they may be many, that ignorance is, I trust, effec¬ 
tually dispelled. I have some forty other varieties 
reserved for further trial, but on those enumerated 
I rest my hopes, and for a single season’s produc¬ 
tion I am surely not over-conceited in regarding it 
as a very favourable result. 
In Picotees the number is much less, as the num¬ 
ber of plants for bloom was in the proportion of one 
to four of the Carnations only. But from Fanny, 
medium purple-edged, I have two heavy purple- 
edges ; the Lizzie you saw, and a second I think 
equally good, but very distinct, having a rich plum- 
purple edge on a ground equal to the parent,—a 
medium red edge, and another very fine, almost too 
fine, a wire edge, of rose on a ground of lustrous-white, 
like the parent. From the Rev. F. D. Horner, a repeat, 
with a slight difference, of that good light or medium- 
edged red ; from Mary, light-edged purple, a repeat 
of the parent as a light-edged red; and two fine 
wire-edged roses, as to which my sole fear is that 
the colour is too fine to show perfectly upon a full- 
grown and well-developed bloom. This time only 
can determine. From Minnie I have a light, wire- 
edged purple, finer on the edge than the parent, but 
perfectly distinct, and with a good petal. From 
Ethel one heavy scarlet and three light-edged roses, 
of which two, at least, fairly surpass the parent; 
and finally, from Fmmy Helen, a medium-edged red, 
an exact repeat of William Summers in his best dress, 
a heavy scarlet-edge, a broad, heavy rose-edge, and a 
light rose-edge. Of the heavy scarlet I have the 
highest expectation, if I can but bring the stock, 
of which I have four weakly layers only, into good 
health. Unhappily, the mother-plant had suffered 
grievously from the Avet and chill of the winter and 
spring, if spring there were ; and to add to my mis¬ 
fortunes, a “ baleful ” cat, seeking refuge from a 
Avretched night, jumped from an open ventilator of 
my greenhouse on to my best plant, and did it to 
death. The broad, heavy rose is small, but very 
distinct; the light-edge of good size and good pro¬ 
perties, and will, I think, have to wear a name, 
though it may never "adorn a tale,” 
And so ends my rigmarole of the “ select orders ” 
of Carnations and Picotees, and probably, ere this, 
you may, with Macbeth, bo inclined to cry, “ Hold, 
enough!” But I must have a word or two upon the 
Selfs and Fancies. I have long been familiar with 
the rich variety of the Diantlius tribe, but never 
did I know it illustrated with such Aveathy profuse¬ 
ness as in the past season. I hope I may regard 
myself as an orthodox florist, that I shall pass un¬ 
scathed through the severest examination on points 
of floral faith possible to be framed by a whole 
synod of fathers, but the Self and Fancies, with their 
wealth of colours—from deepest tint to softest 
shade—their symmetrical forms and smoothness of 
surface and edge, were wonclrously Avinning, and an 
ample justification for the great admiration they 
universally excited. 
One word as to the lifting the plants for layering. 
Last year we resorted to this practice from neces¬ 
sity, commencing as the bloom died, and with some 
misgivings as to its results. But this year the 
lateness of the flowering made waiting for the 
waning of the bloom an impossibility. Per¬ 
force Ave lifted and potted the plants immediately 
the character of the bloom could be determined, 
and not only was this no injury, but a marked 
advantage, refining and beautifying the floA\ r er 
notably. Again, in several cases Avhere pods of 
seed had been set, there was no interruption to 
its development. 
Of the season itself, with all its grievous draAV- 
backs, some of which we have not yet, I fear, come 
fully to understand, for long-continued Ioav tem¬ 
peratures and excessive wet bring worse evils than 
non-rooted layers and scarcity of stock, they mean 
death to weakly constitutioned sorts; but the season 
itself will, in the majority of places, be remembered 
as a season of singularly well developed and well 
coloured flowers, though the latest known in memory; 
and in this latter feature I hope it Avill be unique in 
history. 
Many fine seedlings have opened their beauties, 
as I hear, this year, notably some fine varieties 
with Mr. Gorton, Mr. Hewitt, and our friend Ben; 
and hoping that seasons sufficiently early to again 
bring you to the fore may soon recur, for an early 
blooming season is ever a seed-harvesting season, 
—I am, my dear friend, faithfully yours, 
Mr. Robert Lord. E. S. Dodweli,. 
THE SUBURBAN GARDENER. 
t ANUARY.—December was almost a 
blank month in the out-door garden, for 
did not the frost hold the land in its 
vigorous grip ? It came down upon it with 
unusual severity, and rained snoAv and hoar¬ 
frost thickly over its surface, thus putting a stop 
to out-door gardening operations. As we write, 
there are signs of relaxation, the temperature 
has run up above freezing-point, and a slow thaw 
has set in. The frost has, however, penetrated so 
deeply, that it will take days ere the soil be quite 
free from it, and spade work can be proceeded 
with. 
Kitchen Garden .—Where it is possible to 
force some Asparagus , SeaJcale , and Rhubarb, 
it should be attempted. We have seen an 
early vinery turned to good account, by 
making up a bed of leaves and dung, putting 
