164 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
November 10, 1888; 
Fi^idi/QTUI^. 
The Carnation Trial: Gentle Jacky. 
The following is a copy of a letter addressed by me on 
the 9th ult. to the editor of Gardening Illustrated, and 
which he apparently declines to publish :— 
“ I wrote at the end of August, asking what may 
have been the result’ of the competitive trial for 
Carnations, as announced by you in your issue for 
November 5th of last year, for which I sent six plants 
of my peach pink self, Gentle Jacky ; and was informed 
in reply that ‘ five out of the six plants sent have been 
destroyed by wireworm,’ and further, ‘that though 
Gentle Jacky might appear good to a novice, it would 
be found, when grown with other good varieties, to be 
nothing unusual in colour, and paltry in size of bloom.’ 
Since then, I have read the report of the trial, as given 
in The Garden of September 15th, p. 261, and note 
it is said, ‘Gentle Jacky, pretty rose colour, free.’ But 
I find nothing to show that five out of the six plants 
sent were destroyed by wireworm, and thus all possible 
equality of trial was vitiated, and as an act of simple 
justice I ask that you will make that fact known by 
the publication of this note; and permit me to protest, 
in the circumstances, against the conclusiveness of the 
trial. I protest further against the injury inflicted by 
entrusting the plants to the care of persons so ignorant, 
or so indifferent—it matters not which— that five out 
of six should have been killed by wireworm. Nothing 
is more fatal, indeed, than the attack of the wireworm, 
but nothing is more surely detected, and had there heen 
due inspection, the pest would have been readily found, 
and its ravages stayed.” 
In the interests of florists and floriculture I trust 
you will give it the publicity of your widely-read pages, 
and permit me to supplement it with a brief recital of 
the facts which called it into existence. Last autumn 
I sent six of my bantling Gentle Jacky—a peach-pink 
self Carnation, of which I had had favourable opinions 
from friends of wide experience—to take part in the trial 
announced by The Garden and Gardening Illustrated, 
a report of which was promised to be made in the 
following August. Simultaneously with the sending 
of these plants to Mr. Herrington I sent two others to 
Mr. Dodwell. 
Towards the end of August I wrote to Mr. 
Herrington, inquiring for the result of the trial. In 
reply, August 28th, I was informed that five out of 
the six plants sent had been destroyed by wireworm, 
and that the flower from the surviving plant needed no 
particular notice, as it was nothing special; and to 
a further letter in reply to my indignant remarks on 
the monstrous facts disclosed, brought me the rejoinder, 
“ that though to a novice Gentle Jacky might appear a 
good flower, it has nothing to recommend it when 
grown with other good sorts ; is nothing unusual in 
colour, and paltry in size of bloom.” 
Simultaneously with thus writing to the editor of 
Gardening Illustrated, I wrote to Mr. Dodwell, asking 
for the result of his trial. On September 17th he 
replied, “Gentle Jacky is glorious. Two days before 
the show of the 14th it might have had premier prize. 
It was one of five, all of the pink-peach shade, and 
either worthy of a premier place in the seifs—viz., 
Gentle Jacky, Mrs. Alfred, Gladys, Hooper’s Queen of 
the West, and a seedling, 1953, not yet named. After 
many inspections, on the 12th 1 gave the palm to 
‘ Jacky. ’ ” I wrote also to Mr. Joseph Lakin, of Temple 
Cowley, Oxford, who replied, August 28th, “ I saw 
your Gentle Jacky at Mr. Dodwell’s in grand form. 
It is a first-rate variety. ” Mr. Thomas Bower, raiser of 
John Smith, Mrs. Bower, &c. ; Mr. Schofield, raiser of 
Clipper, Master Nichols, Lady Holmesdale, &c., and 
others, all join in stating that Gentle Jacky possesses 
the highest merit. 
But I ground myself on the letter of our “grand 
old master,” Mr. Dodwell—a title which he has recently 
given to one of his last productions, the “Maestro,” 
which is his by the universal voice of everyone con¬ 
versant with the Carnation, and whose authority will 
far more than outweigh the supercilious self-confidence 
of a generation of Mr. Herringtons. 
One word more, and I have done. After I had 
received Mr. Dodwell’s letter referred to'above, written 
in complete ignorance that I had taken part in the 
trial, I sent to him copies of the letters addressed to 
me by the editor of Gardening Illustrated, and a 
subordinate, and begged his opinion upon the fact 
related, that “ five of the six plants sent had been 
destroyed by wireworm.” In reply, Mr. Dodwell says, 
“The fact that five plants out of the six were destroyed 
by wireworm is inexcusable. It implies one of two 
things, either gross ignorance, or culpable inattention. 
There appears to have been a strange insensibility to 
the trust accepted in the planting on ground infested 
with the pest; secondly, a stranger ignorance of the 
habits of the creature, or culpable neglect to watch for 
its work. For, be it noted, in spite of the impossibility 
to free large masses of soil, whatever may be the care¬ 
fulness of search, from the presence of one or more of 
these pests, their fatal work, with due attention, is so 
instantly apparent to the instructed eye that, almost 
without exception, it may be declared that the 
marauder will be detected in his work, and receive his 
merited punishment. We lose a few plants yearly 
from this pest, as will be the lot of all growers of 
Carnations, but whatever be the time of the season, or 
effect upon plants in the same pot, we hunt the culprit 
to his death.”— John Cliffe, Nisbet Hall, Fulneck, 
Leeds. 
The Ranunculus. 
Thahks to the energy of a few of our amateur friends, 
there is a prospect of the resuscitation of our hardy 
florists’ flowers. The Auricula and the Carnation and 
Picotee have already been rescued from the limbo of 
obscurity to which they were consigned when the 
bedding-out craze drove so many good plants from our 
borders. The glorious show Tulip, over whose beauty 
we used to go wild in our younger days, is again rising 
in favour ; the beautiful laced Pink is still cultivated 
by a few of the old enthusiasts, and I was delighted to 
see the properties of the flower so ably set forth by 
Mr. Thurstan in your last issue. Such papers as this 
are of the greatest value to both the young amateurs 
and the gardeners of the present day, for singular as it 
may appear, there is a dreadful amount of ignorance of 
such matters now prevalent. I am frequently asked 
what is the difference between the Carnation and the 
Picotee ; and what constitutes the peculiarities of the 
bizarre, the flake, the fancy, or the self Carnation, 
and this, too, by gardeners. The same question is also 
put as to the show and Alpine Auriculas. 
Of course old florists know all this, and wonder how 
it is that younger ones should be so ignorant of such 
matters ; but we must not forget that there are 
fashions even in flowers, and that the inquirers have 
not had the opportunity of cultivating lately these 
unfashionable gems of the garden. 
There is another of these exquisite gems of the early 
summer, which has been sadly neglected for a long 
time. What has become of the old show Ranunculus ? 
I mean those glorious, exquisitely finished rosettes 
which were grown by those floricultural veterans, the 
late Mr. Carey Tyson, the late Mr. R. Headley, and 
others of their class. As I write I have before me a 
list of Mr. Carey Tyson’s flowers, together with his 
little pamphlet on The Properties and the Culture of 
the Ranunculus and the Anemone, the perusal of 
which recalls the beautiful brilliant masses of diversi¬ 
fied colours, amongst which I used to revel. For such 
a sight I fear I might look in vain at the present day. 
I know that Ranunculuses may be bought in abun¬ 
dance, and cheaply, that are brilliant in colour and 
of good form—sufficiently good for the mixed border ; 
but as compared with the delicately-finished and 
exquisitely-tinted blooms seen in Mr. Carey Tyson’s 
garden, they are not to be mentioned in the same 
street. We who have seen them can but barely tolerate 
the things of the present day, and for such a sight 
again I would gladly make a long pilgrimage. The 
question is, Are they extinct, or are there any still to 
be found among the old growers 1 If so, they would 
confer a boon upon the floral world by letting us know 
where.— W. Wardill, Luton. 
Rose-edged Picotee, Nellie. 
This was raised by the late Mr. George Rudd from 
Mrs. Bower, and it is, I think, one of the most lovely 
of the light rose-edged Picotees in cultivation. At 
the first exhibition of the Oxford Carnation and 
Picotee Union, in 1885, Mr. Martin Rowan, of Manor 
Street, Clapham, electrified the Carnation fancy by 
showing Nellie in delightful form ; and he grows it to 
perfection at Clapham—indeed, he states that it grows 
with him like a weed. Strange to state, other culti¬ 
vators do not appear to succeed nearly so well with it. 
It is just possible that when first put into commerce 
the stock was debilitated, and that Mr. Rowan has 
succeeded in getting it out of an unhealthy into a 
robust condition. Two years ago Mr. Rowan sent me 
a pair of plants somewhat late in the season, but I 
could not do anything with them. He kindly promises 
to send me another pair, and I hope to succeed in 
growing it and blooming it next year. When produced 
in good form by Mr. Rowan it is always exquisitely 
pure, the petals stout and well formed, and the delicate 
beading of pale rose as perfect as can well be desired.— 
R. D. 
Auriculas: The Winter Rest. 
The plants in pots are now falling away gradually to 
their winter rest, or as the Rev. F. D, Homer puts it, 
“In October the Auricula begins to gather itself 
together, slackening its growth, and preparing its winter 
dress. ” The exterior leaves are beginning to turn yellow, 
and as they become so, they need to be carefully removed. 
At this time of the year those who have the convenience 
remove their plants to a position facing south, where 
they winter. As a matter of course in such a position 
they will require more water than in one facing north ; 
but in either position less water will be required unless 
the weather should continue dry, sunny, and mild. 
But there should be no sudden stoppage of the water 
supply unless there is entire change of the weather, 
and frost be imminent. In the autumn and winter 
time the plants use up less water than earlier in the 
year ; and the air is generally moister and less drying. 
Fogs, too, are happening, and they serve to keep the 
leaves and surface of the soil dry ; and unless it is a 
cold rimy fog, with the wind in the north or east, I 
allow my plants to have full exposure to them—that is 
to say, the door and windows of the house are kept 
wide open. If a plant goes dry—approaching dust 
dry—and the plants appear to be in danger of flagging, 
I take the plant from the house, immerse it in a vessel 
of slightly chilled water if the weather be cold, let it 
drain well, and then return it to the house. 
November and December are the months when but 
little water will be required—what is required is just 
enough water to keep the plants from flagging. But 
then some care is necessary that the surface soil be 
moist, and that below dust-dry, and as Christmas 
approaches, the plants will gradually become smaller 
and thinner in foliage ; but so long as a fairly laid 
filbert-like rosette of leaves remain, either white or 
green according to the variety, there need be no fear 
as to the future. There is but little change during the 
winter, but still some, although it is nearly imperceptible. 
‘ ‘ But still, by comparison with even summer they are 
at rest. Through the winter very small seedlings must 
be watched that they do not damp off for want of air. 
In their little way they follow the fashion of their 
elders, and have their own tiny winter habit, and fall 
of leaf. This infantine withered foliage need not be 
picked off if only it be kept dry and from mildewing, 
through any stagnation of air and moisture.” 
--«e<«- 
BIRDS AND THE FRUIT CROPS. 
“R. D.,” at p. 144, quotes an extract from a San 
Francisco paper as to a supposed means of preventing 
the ravages of birds during the fruit season. I say 
supposed, because the remedy recommended is an old 
one to me, and, as I have proved over and over again, 
is absolutely worthless. If any proof of this were 
wanting, the past season will assuredly afford it, as 
notwithstanding the constant showery weather, I do 
not recollect a season when we were more pestered with 
the birds, and more fruit destroyed by them. Goose¬ 
berries, in the first place, were a failure owing to the 
sparrows picking off the buds in spring. These birds 
are a serious nuisance, owing to our proximity to farm 
buildings, and a number of walls about the gardens 
being covered with Ivy, affords them a capital harbour. 
A great deal of sentimental twaddle is often expressed 
in the papers about kindness to birds and animals. So 
far as regards the matter of birds and their preservation, 
I greatly abhor their indiscriminate slaughter; but 
alas for sentiment! stern necessity has compelled me 
to adopt rigorous means of trying to keep down the 
sparrow, though that is no easy matter, as he is the 
most prolific as well as the most cunning of our feathered 
enemies. Currants, both red and black, were likely to 
be cleared off in a few days had they not been observed 
in time and netted. Blackbirds and thrushes were 
both very busy with them, and supplies failing in this 
quarter, the former were not long in turning their 
attention to the wall fruits, nothing escaping them 
unless under cover of a net. And then the diligence 
displayed in searching all round for the chance of a 
small hole where it could admit them ! 
Black Currants are not often subject to their depre¬ 
dations, but this season they really seemed to have 
acquired a sudden liking for them. Apples, Pears, 
and Plums were the next attacked, great numbers of 
the two former being chipped and shelled out, while 
the latter were devoured wholesale. This determined 
raid on the fruits was not the result of a scarcity of 
water, because in addition to an unusual rainfall, we 
have the river close at hand, and open ditches and a 
pond within 200 yards, which were running constantly 
all the summer ; there was also no lack of wild fruits in 
