August 10, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
789 
and combine to express poverty rather than richness 
and refinement. Further, it is too flat in its outline. 
Now I want to know, Mr. Editor, how I am to read 
these things ? Will anyone who was present at what, 
despite my disappointment, I felt to be the most 
glorious show I had ever seen, whether older or younger, 
help me to a solution ? I thought we were emancipated 
from hard and fast lines and old floral prejudices, but 
it seemed to me that the “elder” brethren enforced 
themselves with a more than usual emphasis on the 
1st; and I want to know whether negations of colour 
and monotonous uniformity are to prevail, or whether 
I may not go, at least in the fancies, seifs and yellow- 
grounds, for the higher elements of a picture—the 
wealth and glory, the contrast or combination of 
colour ?—A Disappointed , but Inquiring Novice. 
Yellow-ground Picotees. 
Within recent years the yellow-ground varieties, 
whether reckoned Picotees or Carnations, for they are 
one and the same thing, have been greatly improved 
and popularised ; but they originated, however, many 
years ago, and the growers of them had as much 
grow them on freely, sheltering from rain and severe 
frost in winter. Those raised in this way were exceed¬ 
ingly vigorous and floriferous for the first year, just as 
growers find them at the present day ; but when layers 
were taken from them all the choicer kinds were almost 
certain to perish during the succeeding winter and 
spring, while others were kept alive with much care 
and attention, and rewarded the grower with a very 
small return for his trouble. The English strains of 
those times were considered more vigorous and less 
liable to damp in winter than the German ones. More 
successful results were obtained by taking cuttings than 
by layers ; by this method smaller plants were obtained, 
but they had more enduring capabilities and stood the 
winter better. The beauty of those yellow-ground 
Picotee Carnations was reckoned sufficient reward for 
all the trouble taken with them.— J. C. 
Carnation Fertilising. 
Now is the time for fertilising Carnations—the most 
important and interesting part of the amateur’s work 
in Carnation culture. The true lover of the flower 
should not lose a day, but be ready with the camel- 
in the yellow and fancy sections ? At the first meeting 
of the Carnation and Picotee Union neither of these 
were represented, whilst at the last meeting the glorious 
display of yellow and fancy colours bid fair to eclipse 
the other class flowers. What may be attained with 
such grand flowers as Germania, as a seed parent in the 
hands of a careful hybridiser, may only be imagined, 
and not at present realised. The seifs, too, are making 
grand advances, the leading flowers being marvels of 
depth and richness of tone. Then, again, the splendid 
form and substance of the petal, together with the 
purity of Emma Lakin, leaves nothing to be desired. 
It is certainly the queen of the whites. I went over to 
Temple Cowley to see “Emma” at home. In the 
early morning a large bed of it was a dazzling sight, as 
each plant was carrying from ten to twelve blooms of 
perfect form and substance, uniform in size, and with¬ 
out the slightest distortion. Emma Lakin is equally 
at home under border or pot culture. Turning from 
this bed my eye was arrested by Annie Lakin, the 
sister to “Emma,” which was equally perfect in form, 
not quite of equal substance ; but in purity of colour, or 
rather the absence of colour, it far surpasses any other 
Adiantum: cuneatum veesaillense. 
difficulty with them then as now. About seventy 
years ago, or perhaps even more recently, they were 
spoken of as Piccatee Carnations, which simply meant 
that they were painted or picated Carnations, as 
mentioned by Mr. Hibberd in his lecture on Carna¬ 
tions at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society. The markings were then as variable as they 
are at the present day, which would raise an interesting 
question as to how the yellow-ground colour first came 
to be developed. Seeing, however, that all Carnations 
are varieties of Dianthus [caryophyllus, there can be 
little doubt that yellow existed primarily in the species 
itself, although singularly enough, neither D. caryo¬ 
phyllus nor any other wild species probably exhibits a 
pure yellow colour. 
In the summer of 1818, one Edward Barnard, Esq., 
exhibited a collection of Picotees, or as he called them, 
Picatee Carnations, at a meeting of the Horticultural 
Society of London. The plants had been raised from 
a German strain of seed, and exhibited a great variety 
in richness of colouring, with stripes or markings in 
different shades of crimson, scarlet, purple, slate and 
black, on a yellow ground. In size they were also 
highly meritorious, as some of them measured 11 ins. 
in circumference. 
His plan was to sow seeds about the end of May and 
hair pencil whenever and wherever pollen is to be found. 
I carry the tweezers and the pencil in hand as l pass 
amongst the plants in pots or those in the open ground, 
and as I do not allow any inferior variety to bloom in 
my small garden, I hope to be able to produce good 
healthy seed from which to select varieties as good as 
the parents, with a possible chance of gaining some 
novelties even better and worthy of perpetuation. 
By the way, we call itJDianthus caryophylloides, but 
pray where can we find show Carnations or Picotees 
possessing the rich aroma of the old Clove-scented 
Carnation ? I remember that in the days of my boyhood 
I used to grow the grand old crimson, white and rose- 
coloured Cloves of immense size with such a scent as to 
affect the atmosphere of the garden. Of course the 
form and the texture would not satisfy the ideal of the 
amateur florist, but would it not be possible by careful 
cross-fertilisation to obtain form combined with the colour 
and perfume of the olden time ? It is worth a trial. 
Let our brotherhood each and all take the thing in 
hand, and surely success will attend our efforts. The 
Carnation and the Rose without their characteristic 
aroma fall far short of my ideal of these—the glory of 
the old-fashioned garden. 
Who would have imagined that in so short a period 
of time such marvellous strides would have been made 
white Carnation that I have ever seen, and on neither 
of these beds did I find a split calyx, or a distorted 
bloom. I send you a box of blooms from my own beds 
of seedlings, which you will say are beautiful, but they 
are very far short of either of the above.— W. War dill, 
Luton. [They are indeed beautiful.—E d.] 
- ~>X<* - 
ADIANTUM CUNEATUM 
VERSAILLENSE. 
This finely crested form is quite distinct from 
Adiantum cuneatum grandiceps, which bears generally 
a large tassel, or crest, at the apex of each frond. In 
this case the whole plant is dwarfer and very compact, 
resembling in this latter respect the well-known and 
useful A. c. Pacottii, and would prove similarly useful 
for mixing with cut flowers. As a pot plant it is far 
more graceful than the latter variety, and bears its 
fronds erect, somewhat similar to those of A. Capillus- 
Yeneris, without being stiff or heavy. The pinnules 
are broadly wedge-shaped, and closely arranged on tho 
much divided and crested fronds, which are more or 
less branched, sometimes divided almost to the base, 
with each division separately crested, and occasionally 
twisted into different shapes. As a variety of A. 
cuneatum it is very distinct, and was raised by 
