1881 . ] 
THE CARNATION AND TICOTEE BLOOM OP 1880. 
11 
merit. From each, despite the grievous 
seasonal influence apparent in certain of the 
plants, we had flowers of great merit; and these, 
with a round dozen of seedlings, made the 
stages dazzling with their bright and brilliant 
colour. 
Rose Flakes, always a lovely class, were 
lovely indeed in their character. Than Sibyl 
and John Keet—or John Keet and Sibyl, which 
should I place first ?—nothing more beautiful 
could be imagined. Keet, from its open suc¬ 
culent habit, had suffered terribly from the rot, 
born of unripened sap, three-fourths of the plants 
potted for bloom going down before it, but the 
plants spared brought blooms which made the 
variety seem doubly dear; whilst in Sibyl we 
had a magnificence of flower, I have never seen 
surpassed. Other good varieties are Crista- 
galli, James Merry weather, Lovely Ann, and 
Mrs. Dodwell—the latter fine, but too early 
for the general bloom. 
And so we come to Picotees, always very 
special pets of mine, as the feminine of the 
tribe, lovely, graceful, winning beyond all 
denial, though we do feel and teach now and 
again that greater beauty and higher develop¬ 
ment are to be found in the masculine force of 
the Carnation. But the Picotees are the very 
Peris of a floricultural paradise. Alas ! that I 
should have to say I do not now succeed in 
their development in the same degree and with 
the ease and facility given to me at Derby. 
Our smoky, sooted atmosphere taints their 
clear, white grounds, and the dry air pales the 
delicate colours, and prevents the attainment 
of size far more markedly in the Picotee than 
in the Carnation, and I greatly fear cultivators 
circumstanced like myself can do little to re¬ 
dress the ill. But there is one advantage, and 
it is a weighty one, though balanced with 
many and grievous ills, which, perhaps, I may 
mention here ; this smoky, sooted atmosphere, 
so detrimental to the flower, effectually in the 
plant banishes spot. Plants have come 
to me from the favoured localities where 
vegetation is so luxuriant and the grass 
so green, but with the taint thick in 
embryo, in some few cases compelling suc¬ 
cessive removals of foliage until a stem only 
has remained; but the most obstinate cases 
have yielded to the gradual deposition of soot, 
and spot is beaten from the land. True, this 
sooted atmosphere has its own evils. If allowed 
to accumulate in the axils of the leaves, the in¬ 
crease is killed certainly, possibly the plant, and 
to prevent this a largely increased labour and 
care are required. But itcan beprevented—a thin 
gauzy net stretched over the plants in spring, 
and the cold house, the very king of structures 
for hardy florists’ flowers in winter, will enable 
the florist very materially to circumvent the 
enemy ; and when the flowering-time comes, he 
must put on his considering-cap, and deal with 
that difficulty. 
But though I feel bound to put on record 
the greater difficulty surrounding the perfect 
development of the Picotee in gardens like my 
own, I have not to write “ Ichabod, Ichabod, 
the glory has departed !” on my petted flower ; 
and many a beautiful vision passes before me, 
as I recall the glories of the past. Brunette, 
heavy-edged red, how bright and glistening, 
compelling the eye to come again and again to 
its-- charms! John Smith, in the same class, 
and undoubtedly best, severe in the beauty of 
its massive plate of colouring and solid white ; 
Master Norman, in the same way, but of a very 
different shade of colour, an improved Mrs. 
Norman ; Morna, medium size, but a gem, 
with me the best of Mr. Fellowes’ red-edges; 
Countess of Wilton, another of the family of 
Mrs. Norman, and yet good; Mrs. Dodwell, 
always to be depended upon, and always bright 
and good ; Dr. Epps, getting brighter, appar¬ 
ently, as it grows older; and Peeress, most 
effective for the home stage, from its great 
breadth of colour. Some others there were, 
besides seedlings, which yet may aspire to 
fame ; but these will suffice. Clara Bower is 
a grand light-edge for the home stage, and 
Thomas William (Flowdy) and Violet Douglas 
(Simonite), in the same class, are equally good 
for show. 
Purple-edges are a glorious galaxy, all the 
shades of purple and lilac exalting by contrast 
the richness or softness of the white ground. 
Alliance, Leah, Lizzie Tomes, Medina, Mrs. 
Summers, Tinnie, and Zerlina are grand 
examples of the heavier-marked section; to 
which all should add Mrs. A. Chancellor, shown 
so finely by Mr. Turner at South Kensington, 
both in 1879 and 1880. In medium-edges, 
Alice, Cynthia, Emily, Fanny, and Jessie should 
each be grown ; and in the light-edges, Ann 
Lord, Baroness Burdett-Coutts (though I much 
question if this fine flower do not find its home 
in the medium feather-edges), Clara Penson, 
Her Majesty, marvellous for size, Mary, Minnie, 
and Nymph. To all which, let those who can, 
add Novelty, Matthews, a bizarred-edge, pink 
on lilac. When I first ventured to show this 
variety, an elder brother took me roundly to 
task for the gross innovation, but I am glad 
to say he has since quite recanted his cen¬ 
sure, and now the only cause which pre¬ 
vents its being extensively shown is the unfor¬ 
tunate fact that it cannot be extensively grown. 
And so we come to the Roses, veritable Roses 
to the dweller in towns; adjectives fail me, as 
I think of the glory of their beauty. Can 
flowers be more lovely than Edith Dombrain 
and Royal Visit, twin beauties crowned with 
chaplets of roses. And Mrs. Payne, the per¬ 
fection of shape in petal and contour and lovely 
margin, recalls Mrs. Barnard, of “ auld lang 
syne,” with a broader and brighter colour. 
Then Lady Louisa—who could have imagined 
forty years since such solid marginal colour, so 
