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THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 14, 1888. 
FLORICULTURE. 
The Carnation and Picotee Union. 
"VVe have received a copy of the schedule of prizes of 
this association for the coming meeting on the 7th 
prox., to he held, as in former years, in the garden of 
Mr. Dodwell, The Cottage, Stanley Road, Oxford, and 
we do not hesitate to say that the arrangement and 
grading of the prizes offered come most nearly to our 
idea of equitable distribution, of either of the 
societies devoted to the development of the Carnation. 
Twenty-four prizes are offered for collections each of 
twelve blooms, twenty-seven for collections of six 
blooms, forty-five for single specimens, and a premier 
prize for the best bizarre or flake, the best self, the best 
fancy, and the best Picotee selected from the whole 
exhibition. We have recorded in former years the 
great success which has attended the meetings of this 
association, and we do not doubt his compeers will 
gather around our veteran and venerated friend with 
all the enthusiasm of former years on the 7th prox. 
National Carnation and Picoteo Society. 
The annual exhibition of the Southern Section of this 
society will be held in the Drill Hall of the London 
Scottish Volunteers, James Street, Westminster (ad¬ 
joining the St. James’s Park Station of the District 
Railway), on Tuesday, July 24th. Luncheon will be 
provided at the Hotel Windsor, Victoria Street, at 
1.30 p.m., for members and their friends, at which Mr. 
W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F. R.S., has kindly consented 
to preside. Mr. Shirley Hibberd will occupy the vice¬ 
chair. 
Crossing the Carnation and Picotee. 
It is obvious that if good flowers are to be raised from 
seed some discrimination is necessary in selecting the 
parents. How Mr. E. S. Dodwell recommends in his 
useful book that the seed parents be always of the same 
class, though as he states in the case of Picotees, ‘ ‘ I have 
never hesitated to marry light-edged to heavy or heavy 
to light ; and in Carnations I think it most desirable 
to keep scarlet bizarre to scarlet bizarre or scarlet flake; 
crimson bizarre to crimson bizarre or pink and purple 
bizarre ; and in the flakes, though purple and rose 
combine advantageously, I should sedulously avoid 
admixture with scarlet, having observed that the 
progeny of such crosses were, scarcely without exception, 
dull and mongrel in colours and quality.” 
Crossing by means of fertilisation is not a difficult 
operation. It is simply necessary to collect the pollen 
from one flower, and apply it delicately with a light 
touch to the stigma of the flower intended to bear seed. 
The pollen, which is in the form of small round balls 
of a whitish grey colour in appearance, will be found 
upon the stamens springing from around the ovary 
organ of the seed vessels in the interior of the flower, 
and may be generally found in a mature flower pro¬ 
truding from among the centre petals. Should it not 
be so disclosed, it may be lying in the interstices 
between those petals, which a slight shifting of their 
natural arrangement will suffice to bring into view. 
When detected, the pollen may either be collected 
upon the point of a very fine camel-hair pencil, or 
the stamen with the anther upon it may be removed 
with a fine pair of forceps, and the farina may thus be 
brought into gentle contact with the stigma, com¬ 
mencing at the point, and passing it downwards over 
the fine hairy appendage with which it is provided. 
The stigma is the bold curved horns or styles which 
rise almost invariably in a mature flower above and 
immediately between the centre petals. 
Much stress is generally laid upon the necessity for 
covering the flower operated upon with muslin or other 
means of preventing the access of bees, flies, or other 
insects. Where the flower must be left unwatched, 
this may be advisable; otherwise it is thought by 
experts to be of no consequence whatever, as the result 
will assuredly confirm the success or failure of the 
operation. If impregnation has resulted, the flower 
will collapse within twenty-four to thirty hours (earlier 
in a bloom past maturity, and later in one barely 
arrived at puberty), otherwise not. It is, however, of 
great importance to remove the stamens from the 
flowers intended to bear seed, or otherwise impregnation 
may naturally ensue where a cross had been intended 
or assumed, and the result will, of course, mislead. 
The time most suitable for performing the operation is 
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a bright sunny day. If 
cloudy and dull, impregnation rarely follows, the pollen 
at such time being heavy and adhesive in its character, 
in opposition to the light dusty powderings requisite 
for fertilisation.— R. D. 
Carnations and Picotees. 
The dull, cold, rainy weather of the past few weeks has 
tended materially to retard their blooming, and gar¬ 
deners, with farmers, are earnestly longing for a change 
to hot bright sunshine and a dry atmosphere. Dis¬ 
budding should be done by this time, and in regard to 
those left, they should be carefully watched, and as 
they give signs of reaching maturity, they must be 
tied, in order to prevent the bursting of the pod. 
Strips of soft bast matting are by far the best material 
for this operation. Water liberally when required, and 
especial care should be taken that they do not suffer 
from drought. An occasional application of weak and 
clear manure-water will be of great service. It is a 
good plan to thoroughly fumigate the plants eighteen 
or twenty days before the flower buds open. This is a 
matter that should never be neglected, as nothing con¬ 
tributes more to their perfect health. The syringe may 
be freely used until the buds begin to show colour, 
when all moisture and the sun’s rays should be kept for 
such as are required to produce exhibition flowers. 
Earwigs must be constantly looked after. —R. D. 
-- 
CROTONS AND THEIR CULTURE. 
When the beautiful foliage is nicely coloured and well 
developed, few plants are more ornamental or better 
adapted for decorative purposes than Crotons. They 
no water is required before the cuttings are all 
thoroughly rooted and ready for re-potting. 
It is a common practice among cultivators to stand 
young pieces in 48-sized pots on inverted pots, and 
thus elevating them above the surrounding plants on 
the stage. This helps to secure dwarf habit and high 
colour, and renders the plants particularly valuable for 
decorative purposes. Recently I saw a few remarkably 
handsome pieces that had been managed in this way, 
and potted in the above mentioned’compost, but instead 
of the bones having been mixed with the soil, a layer 
1 in. thick had been placed over the crocks, and the 
plants presented a satisfactory appearance, their only 
fault being that they were not so nicely coloured as one 
might have wished for, but this defect I attributed to 
the shade of the house and not to the bones at all. 
Where a number of decorative plants are required, a 
few pieces about 1 ft. or 18 ins. high, of the following 
varieties will be found exceedingly useful Weis- 
mannii, Elegantissimum, Majesticum, Evansianum, 
and many others. Those who are in quest of something 
particularly handsome, for the decoration of the 
drawing-room or dinner-table, will readily find it in 
Croton Laingii. This magnificent variety was sent out 
by the Messrs Laing, Forest Hill, and is one of the 
most beautiful of all Crotons. When it was introduced 
a desirable acquisition was added to the ornamental 
foliage class of plants.— J. P. 
Begonia Glow. 
are not difficult to cultivate, but to have well-grown, 
highly-coloured, symmetrical specimens it is absolutely 
necessary for the plants to have a stove temperature, 
an abundance of room, light, and atmospheric moisture, 
perfect drainage, and a suitable compost, consisting of 
fully one-half of nice fibrous loam, and the remainder 
of peat with a quantity of crushed charcoal, bones, and 
sand to render the whole porous. As bright sunshine 
is necessary for the production and maintenance of high 
colour, little or no shade will therefore be employed ; 
but as the stove invariably contains a miscellaneous 
collection of plants, some requiring shade and others 
not, the services of the blind cannot at all times be 
dispensed with. Syringe daily, and sponge occasionally, 
particularly the undersides of the leaves, with a solution 
of Fir Tree Oil or Gishurst Compound, as a preventive 
against the attacks of thrips. 
Crotons are easily propagated, and a few cuttings can 
be struck at any season of the year. Heads with hard 
firm wood do not root so quickly as younger ones with 
moderately soft wood. If a few of these be taken off 
and inserted in small pots, and plunged in coco-nut 
fibre, in a propagating frame or under hand-glasses, and 
kept close they will root freely in a comparatively short 
space of time. But before the cuttings are again rooted 
and able to withstand full light and sunshine, a little 
shade for them is necessary. By plunging the pots in 
coco-nut fibre, sawdust, or similar material, and keeping 
the frame close, evaporation is so arrested that little or 
BEGONIAS QUEEN VICTORIA 
AND GLOW. 
The Begonias here named represent two of the best 
types of the modern improvements of the tuberous 
species that have attained such popularity in recent 
years. They were raised by Messrs. John Laing & Sons, 
Forest Hill, from some of the best types in their collec¬ 
tion, which has been worked up by long and careful 
attention to cross-breeding and selection. Queen 
Victoria is one of the single and Royal Begonias sent 
out last year, but our illustration represents only an 
average-sized bloom, for when the plant attains its best, 
rather late in the summer, individual blooms often 
measure over 7 ins. in diameter. The two outer sepals 
are by far the largest, with a rounded outline, while the 
inner two are smaller but also well rounded, and all are 
of a uniform deep rose colour ; the plant is of good 
habit and well furnished with good foliage. The double 
flower represents a variety named Glow, which no 
one, we venture to say, would recognise as a Begonia 
unless previously well acquainted with the history and 
development of these garden varieties. The whole 
flower, as may be seen, is made up of numerous small 
rosettes, collected together within the primary and true 
sepals ; each rosette is a double flower in itself, and the 
whole resembles a truss of a double zonal Pelargonium 
of a light but bright scarlet colour. As this double 
flower gets old the rosettes become carried up loosely 
on stalks of some length. 
