680 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 28, 1890. 
FLOtflClVlT^li 
The Extensions in the “Union” Schedule. 
My friend Mr. Ranger Johnson, in his remarks at p. 664, 
well illustrates the good old maxim that difference of 
opinion need not diminish respect, and heartily I thank 
him for the generosity of his sentiments to myself, and 
as heartily I reciprocate the kindliness of his thought. 
But he takes exception to the introduction of a 
“decorative section.” He thinks it “will open the 
door to every Tom, Dick and Harry who grow border 
Carnations,” and to all who aim at producing the 
“biggest Caliban among Carnations, Souvenir de 
Malmaison.” Then he paints an appalling picture of 
the consequence of this departure from the straight 
and narrow way. Unhappily the place of exhibition is 
narrow indeed in space, and my friend says, “Even 
last year it was difficult to get a critical glimpse of the 
exhibits ; but what will it be when all the world and 
his wife—more especially his wife—are attracted by 
the button-holes and the bouquets, the pots and pans 
of silver and glass full of gay nonentities in flori¬ 
culture ? ” My friend would tolerate a class for the 
“ naturaliser, ” but for these monstrosities — these 
nonentities which interest supremely Tom, Dick and 
Harry and their wives—especially their wives—well, 
these he cannot abide. 
Has my friend quite gauged the aspects of the 
subject? Does he find, in the conditions of Classes 
E, K, or L, suggestions for the production of mon¬ 
strosities or nonentities, or do they not rather suggest 
the simplicities of nature—open the door, in fact, for 
the naturaliser ? Another- question : Has my friend 
quite realised, when he speaks of the inflow of Tom, 
and Dick, and Harry, and their wives —especially their 
wives—all he implies ? Does he not see he infers an 
indefinitely increased popularity for the display, and 
surely, however straight he may hold the way to be, 
and narrow the gate, he cannot hold a knowledge of 
the flower to be evil ? Surely it must be good that 
Tom, Dick, and Harry and their wives shall have 
worthy exemplars set before them, and thus their minds 
may be diverted from the “ Calibans,” if such there be 
and the nonentities of cultivation. 
My infirmities, unhappily, keep me so tied and bound 
to my own little place that 1 have small knowledge 
indeed of the present direction of popular taste, either 
in decorative, button-hole, or bouquet forms. And 
I cannot pretend to assume what will be the work either 
of exhibitor or judge. But I shall be surprised indeed 
if Calibans are set up for button-holes, or monstrosities 
have partin bouquets specially required to be "for the 
hand." As for space, that will be not less for the 
classes previously recognised, but more, so my florist 
fellows, whether latitudinarian—as, perhaps, I may be 
thought—or of the strictest sect, can have no ground 
for complaint. And if the garden be crowded beyond 
comfortable endurance—well, the committee are su¬ 
preme, and the gates may be closed. 
In the letter issued to my friends and colleagues, 
inviting their criticisms on the schedule, I said, 
speaking of the specialist, “ I hold his duty is en¬ 
larged, not limited, by his position, and that his 
subject, so far as he may have power, should be 
illustrated in every phase and every mode consistent 
with true art and a cultivated taste, and that only in 
this way can he hope or deserve to lead the judgments 
of cultivated men or women.” Nothing I have heard 
from my friends has shaken this judgment, but much 
has been said to confirm it. So I hope I may venture 
to believe that if I possess the softness of heart my 
friend so kindly attributes to me, and which I regard 
as a very high compliment, I may accept it without 
assuming a similar condition for my head. 
As affecting the Union there is yet, however, another 
aspect of the case of very practical import bearing upon 
this question. Florists’ meetings and florists’ shows, 
whether with or without unflorist forms—whatever may 
be the interpretation given to these terms—cannot be 
sustained without means. Well, two-thirds of the 
funds of the Union are derived from friends who would 
decline to call themselves florists, as florists understand 
that designation, who do not seek the full requirements 
of the florist, and who, indeed, in a few cases would 
repudiate his modes, and have small sympathy with 
his aims. Now if our creed requires that we give no 
consideration to these friends who are outside the pale, 
and if, having the courage of our opinions, as we should, 
we frankly state them when seeking contributions, what 
would be the natural reply ? “Friends, help yourselves.” 
And in that answer we should have a damning and 
deserved rebuke to the folly which could dare to be so 
small and so selfish.—■ E . S. Dodwell. 
Verily, friend, it is interesting to note how opinions 
differ, and how tastes vary, as do character and counte¬ 
nance. Our friend, Mr. Ranger Johnson, is afraid of 
opening the door so wide that Tom, Dick and Harry 
may enter and exhibit their productions, yet I for one 
cannot see any objection to either one or the other of 
these worthies. In my estimation, the more of this 
class we can induce to cultivate flowers, the greater the 
prospect of advancement. As to whether the Carnation 
is grown in the border or in the house it matters not. 
Get the industrial classes instructed in the flowers; 
arrange your meetings and exhibitions so that they 
may be able to attend them ; encourage them to bring 
the best of what they have got, and then by comparison 
they will become so educated that there need be no 
fear of inferior specimens being staged. Get Tom 
Thoroughgood, Dick Earnest-heart, and Harry Arm¬ 
strong interested, and you may insure the co-operation 
of their wives and families. 
The Carnation is everybody’s flower, and such a 
combination of earnest workers will do more than fifty 
Squire Do-littles or Lord-knows-whos. The endeavour 
then will be to produce the best possible quality. A 
working-man may not be able to afford to spend half- 
an-hour in manipulating the dressing of a flower, but 
he will be careful to grow only the best in form, colour 
and substance of bloom ; and his wife and children will 
attend to the development, growth and protection from 
untoward influences. Let him have a chance of 
exhibiting his blooms thus grown, furnished with 
grass of its own class, and there will be a speedy 
weeding out of inferior varieties. There will still, 
however, be immense numbers and varieties that are 
not up to the standard of the little clique who style 
themselves the elect florists ; these in the hands of 
Dick’s wife may become a glory and a delight to his 
family and his friends, and it is to be hoped that 
the decorative departure of the Oxford Union will 
conduce to this. 
It will be a boon to the working-man, when, at the 
close of the day’s labour, he retires to his home to find 
it beautified by the utilisation of his surplus flowers ; 
and those in better circumstances may with advantage 
study and practice the art of table decoration. Where 
so conveniently can the art be studied as at a flower 
show, and what better opportunity for the display of 
such skill than in the decoration of the tables at the 
annual luncheon of the Carnation and Picotee Union, 
so generously provided by its founder ? As to the 
button-holes and bouquets, I never wear the former, 
for I could not cut a flower which had taken me twelve 
months to grow, and stick it in my coat to perish in 
an hour. But as tastes differ, some may adopt the 
Malmaison, and others the Forget-me-not : still, I 
consider that home decoration is of vastly more import 
than the show box or stand at a Carnation exhibition. 
I imagine that there are hundreds of beautiful things 
at present discarded from the florists’ class—flowers 
which are far better adapted and far more free and 
artistically beautiful than the formal bar or curve of 
the stage class. I must confess myself in sympathy 
with Mr. Dodwell in the new departure, as I am a 
lover of the beautiful in every form, and have lived 
long enough to know that others have likes and dis¬ 
likes as well as myself. I would not, however, con¬ 
demn anything simply because it was not to my liking. 
Truly novelty is the order of the day. We cannot 
be tied to the forms or colours of half a century ago ; 
we must advance, to keep up the interest in this 
progressive age. I am pleased to see that the committee 
for the resuscitation of the old show Pink has thrown 
aside the restrictions, and are willing to admit that 
there is beauty even in the fringed garden Pink as 
well as in the florist’s laced varieties. The wonderful 
diversity of colour, form and marking in the Dianthus 
family constitutes it one of the most favoured of 
flowers, and the delightful aroma of the Carnation and 
the Clove Pink is as a feast for the gods. They have 
been the delight of a long life, and I trust that they 
may continue to maintain their position, and to progress 
long after I have passed away.— IF. Wardill, Luton. 
Tree Carnations. 
Surely there are no more accommodating plants than 
tree or perpetual-flowering Carnations. They richly 
deserve the latter appellation. At the end of the third 
week in June I went into the house devoted to 
perpetual-flowering Carnations at the Royal Nursery, 
Slough, and found a large number cf plants flowering 
with the greatest freedom, and producing wonderfully 
fine blossoms. John Ball said, they had plants in flower 
since last October, and there was every probability they 
would go on flowering until next October. Then- 
capacity for producing blossoms appears to be in¬ 
exhaustible, and thus, in order to bring up the rear of 
the floral procession, a number of plants had been stood 
out on an ash-bed against the north front of a plant 
house, and lightly fastened to the wall, and these will 
bloom when the summer-flowering Carnations are over. 
Here are a dozen varieties as fine and useful as any¬ 
one could well desire to have them :— 
Constance (Turner), buff ground, heavily edged 
with salmon, soft and pleasing, very free indeed ; one 
of the best. 
Cossack (Turner), dark self, large and fine quality. 
Empress of Germany (Turner), white, "slightly 
striped with rose 
Juliette (Turner), deep rose, large full flower, 
smooth, and good habit of growth. 
Lord Rokeby (Turner), very bright scarlet, compact 
free habit. 
Madame Carle, pure white, perhaps the most 
useful white grown. 
Maud Chancellor (Turner), bright pink, very 
pretty and pleasing. 
Midnight (Turner), dark maroon, extra fine. 
Miss Joliffe (Masters), a standard and most useful 
variety ; pale pink, dwarf habit and very free. 
Novelty (Turner), silvery slate, striped with bright 
crimson, well named because so very distinct and novel 
in character ; an extremely pleasing flower. 
Rising Sun (Turner), very bright scarlet, smooth, 
and good medium size, very fine, and does not split its 
calyx. 
T. W. Girdlestone (Turner), new, bright buff 
ground, heavily edged and flaked with vermilion, 
extra fine. 
One seems to see perpetual Carnations in several 
parts of the nursery. There are frames full of young 
plants in middle 60-pots ; in others, fine strong plants 
in 43-sized pots for autumn sale, many of which will no 
doubt be treated to another shift; beds of weakly 
plants put out to grow on and become strong, and 
which will be found most useful for autumn blooming 
for cutting ; and beds of seedlings from seeds sown in 
January and February.— It. D. 
-- 
DIANTHUS GRIEVEI. 
In this garden plant we have a curious admixture of the 
colours of D. alpinus and D. barbatns (the Sweet 
William), which are its parents. The influence of the 
former is seen in the dwarf stature of the plant, and 
the small size of the rosettes of dark green linear leaves. 
When the flowerless tufts of leaves grow strongly by 
not being crowded, they assume more of the appearance 
of those of D. barbatus, thus showing the influence of 
that parent. The stems attain a height of 4 ins. or 
5 ins., or about the stature of D. ccesius ; whereas 
D. alpinus is much dwarfer. The flowers are about the 
size of a shilling piece or larger, and freely produced at 
the top of the stems. They expand of a pure white, 
then gradually assume pink, pale and deep rose shades 
as they get old, and all stages being in bloom at the 
same time, a curious and unique effect is produced. 
-- 
THALIOTRUM DELAVAYI. 
The habit and general appearance as well as some 
structural details of this plant seem to point to an affinity 
with Thalictrum aquilegifolium, but the divisions of the 
leaves are much narrower and finer. The plant is 
dwarfer apparently, judging from a specimen on the 
rockery at Kew, but being a small piece, it will no 
doubt increase in stature as well as bulk. At present 
it stands about 2 ft. high, and has its stems as well as 
all the divisions of the petioles of a beautiful purple. 
The segments of the rather finely cut leaves are of a 
deep glaucous green tipped with a bronzy purple hue 
The flowers are borne in a terminal corymb, and are 
rendered conspicuous by the large size of their lilac- 
purple sepals, which almost conceal the filaments of the 
stamens, which are of a similar or paler shade of colour 
with yellow anthers. The size of the sepals and the 
shortness of the stamens, as well as the small segments 
of the leaves, would serve amply to separate this plant 
from T. aquilegifolium. The showy appearance of the 
flowers of the latter species, whether in the typical form 
or coloured varieties, is due to the length and number 
of the stamens only. That under notice was obtained 
from Paris. 
