10 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ Januaky, 
the grand old Curzon,” and I yet retain the 
opinion that the development of the Carnation 
will never he carried higher than as seen in 
Curzon, in its very finest character. But it has 
been permitted to me to look upon a flower 
glorious as Curzon, and on several, I think, 
worthy satellites of such a grand old king. 
Curzon itself, despite the imperfections of 
some of the flowers, as already described, was 
probably never seen in the South in better 
character than as shown by me at South 
Kensington, on July 27th ; whilst the small 
bud with which Mr. Charles Turner obtained 
the first prize for single specimens, probably 
the smallest flower Mr. Turner ever showed in 
his life, was absolutely perfect in marking, 
colours, and quality, illustrating forcibly the 
influence such properties possess in the esti¬ 
mation of highly-trained and educated judges. 
Like Curzon, Mars, a son of that famous old 
sort, was grand in character, getting more refined 
and purer in the white ground as it advances 
in years. Mercury, from some cause or causes 
quite beyond my ken, is not with us nearly so 
good as Mars ; and Sir Joseph Paxton, except¬ 
ing from one plant of eighteen, was quite a 
failure. Wm. Spoor, sent out by Mr. Adams 
last year, is very smooth, well formed, and 
bright in colours. But it has a drawback, 
seen in a larger degree in the bloom of 1879 
with Mr. Douglas, certainly—the colours in 
many petals in the great majority of its 
flowers, instead of being distributed in bold 
stripes against a sharply-defined clear white, 
melt, in florists’ phrase, into the white, giving 
to tbie latter a pinky hue, very detrimental to 
the position the variety would otherwise oc¬ 
cupy in its class. These varieties, excepting 
only Dreadnought, which is so completely the 
“ double ” of Curzon, that what is said of one 
may be said of the other, were all of the older 
varieties that call for any notice, so far as my 
collection is concerned ; but as I had some 
thirty seedlings under trial, there was no lack 
of Scarlet Bizarres to give colour to the stages. 
Several of these have been distributed to my 
confreres during the past autumn, and of these 
I will only remark that if they bloom elsewhere 
as they have done with me, they will satisfy 
the description I gave of them. 
In Crimson Bizarres, two varieties sent me 
by Mr. W. M. Hewitt, of Chesterfield, named 
respectively E. S. Dodwell and Master Fred, are 
certainly destined to occupy a very high place 
in the class. Mr. Hewitt reports the former as 
a seedling from Mars S.B., or Curzon S.B., but 
whether from one or the other, it is clear, as 
is almost invariably the case, the pollen 
variety (whatever that may have been) has 
exercised a most potent influence, changing 
the colour and habit of the grass with the 
colours of the class. Master Fred, a seedling 
from Captain Stott, fertilised with pollen from 
Rifleman, is the highest-coloured Crimson 
Bizarre I have yet seen, unquestionably the 
best of the higher-coloured flowers. At South 
Kensington on July 27th it was placed second 
in the seedling prizes to Mr. B. Simonite’s 
Crimson Banner, shown by Mr. Douglas, the 
only award in that large exhibition which did 
not commend itself to my judgment.' 
At the Manchester exhibition (where Master 
Fred won first, second, and third prize in its 
class, securing an award for each flower ex¬ 
hibited, and was premier bloom of the show), 
I saw some fine seedlings showrn by Mr. Gorton 
in this class. William Skirving, the only one 
named, is probably the best of the batch, 
though all are good, and is a flower of great 
refinement, with rich colours very distinctly 
defined. The good, old-established sorts— 
Captain Stott, Colonel North, Eccentric Jack, 
J. D. Hextall, John Harland, Lord Milton, 
Rifleman, and Wm. Murray, respectively—gave 
us many fine flowers, (though, as in all the 
classes, several suffered grievously from the 
effects of the untoward ’79), and should all be 
grown where fine show-flowers are required. 
With me, the two best of the group are Rifle¬ 
man and J. D. Hextall, which, all points con¬ 
sidered, I bracket as equal; then, in a second 
group, I place Captain Stott, John Harland, 
Lord Milton, and Wm. Murray ; and in a third, 
Colonel North and Eccentric Jack. 
In Pink and Purple Bizarres, Sarah Payne, as 
always, was “ purity personified.” Unexpected, 
Turner, is a grand show sort, undoubtedly the 
ftest of the class ; and Purity, grand in form and 
quality, and often glorious in its markings, is 
indispensable. To these of the old-established 
sorts, James Taylor may be added. 
At Manchester, Mr. Hewitt showed Sir 
Garnet Wolseley, a seedling from P. F. Mayor 
of Nottingham—a very attractive flower, like 
its parent very boldly and distinctly marked ; 
but a pink and purple which, if constant, will, 
I think, be very desirable. 
Purple Flakes are a limited class, but very 
lovely. Dr. Foster, Florence Nightingale, James 
Douglas, Mayor of Nottingham, Squire Meynell, 
and True Blue are very distinct and very beauti¬ 
ful, and should be grown in the most limited of 
collections. Never in my life had I finer examples 
of lovely flowers than in Dr. Foster, Florence 
Nightingale, and James Douglas, ten days 
before our show. A sport from Sarah Payne, 
far more intense in colour than the Sporting 
Lass, sent me some three years since by friends 
in the North, with its rich contrast of deep 
purple and pure white, was also most beautiful. 
Scarlet Flakes in my collection are yet more 
limited. Annihilator, Clipper, Dan Godfrey, 
James Cheetham, John Bay ley, and Sports¬ 
man complete my list. Of these, Sportsman 
is the best; John Bayley following very closely 
in its wake, and the others a group of great 
