August 2, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
759 
bold flowers are flaked with deep purple on a nearly 
white ground. The flowers of Princess Beatrice are 
flaked with purple on a pink ground, and are bold and 
heavy. Mrs. Matthews is flaked with scarlet on a 
blush ground, but the flowers sometimes revert to a 
rosy scarlet self. Sporting Lass is flaked with purple, 
but is very variable in the width of the flake. The 
flowers of Bailey Junr. are large and boldly flaked with 
scarlet, as are those of Jupiter. Mr. Sutton is a purple 
flake, and, like the last, produces plenty of young shoots 
around the flowering stems. A bold-flowering bizarre 
is James Taylor, with rose and purple stripes on a white 
or paler rose ground. The flowers of Unexpected have 
rose and maroon stripes on a white ground. 
A number of decorative kinds are striped with short 
lines running down the petals a short way, and ought 
properly to be classed amongst the Picotees, as of old, 
which simply meant painted or striped and spotted. 
One of these, named Juliet, was densely striped with 
red, rarely scarlet. The flesh-coloured flowers of Edith 
are slightly mottled with red, and the petals broad 
and flat. Of the paler, almost white types the two 
most floriferous and best adapted for border culture 
are Alice Ayres and Orestes. The first named varies 
from 18 ins. to 21 ins. in height, and is much branched, 
bearing a great quantity of white flowers, which are 
slightly striped with bright red, but not very highly 
refined from a florist’s point of view. Orestes is similar, 
but is marked with more numerous and paler rosy red 
stripes. 
Picotees. 
The modern florists’ Picotee has the colour confined to 
the margin, in the form of wbat is termed a wire edge 
or heavy edge. In most cases the origin of this 
arrangement can be detected in the form of numerous 
short lines lying parallel with one another and running 
round the margin. They are not, as a rule, so suitable 
for border decoration as the other kinds, although a 
number of them flower freely enough. Admiration is a 
broad deep red-edged variety, but apparently is not of 
vigorous constitution. Clara Penson is a purple wire- 
edged sort, but requires some dressing to make it neat. 
Very large and full is Emily, with a deep red edge. 
Both floriferous and very attractive is Beauty of 
Plumstead, with a light rosy pink edge. Admiral 
Lyons is a small but neat flower, with a deep purple 
edge, and blooms with great profusion. The broad 
deep red-edged Redbrses is well known. Neat, 
floriferous, but small is Miss Polly, with a narrow rosy 
pink edge. The edge of Louise is broad and rose 
coloured, and like the light purple-edged Evelyn, is 
floriferous and pretty. Ethel has a light rose margin, 
with incurved petals. Favourite, with a narrow scarlet 
edge, is pretty, and grows about 18 ins. high. The 
scarlet edge of Mr. Rudd, on the other hand, is broad, 
and flowers with great freedom. A bold flower is 
Ensign, with a broad crimson edge. It is handsome, 
but wants dressing. Plenty of shoots are produced, by 
which it may be propagated. 
-- 
LORD ROSEBERY ON THE 
LOVE OF FLOWERS. 
The Earl of Rosebery, in opening the annual exhibition 
of the St. Georgo’s-in-the-East Window Garden Society, 
last week, said: I have great pleasure in coming here 
to declare this exhibition open. Perhaps those who 
live at the West-end do not come so often to St. 
George’s-in-the-East as they ought to ; but I am quite 
certain of this, that nowhere in the West-end or any 
other end of the town will they find more charming 
grounds surrounding a beautiful church than they will 
at St. George’s-in-the-East. I, as a defunct Chairman 
of the London County Council, take an interest in all 
that concerns London, and cannot but be interested in 
a movement for growing flowers in windows, or where- 
ever else they can be grown in the heart of this town. 
The ravages and encroachments that London is making 
are so great and so hideous in their character that we 
can hardly tell to what an extent the pitiless encroach¬ 
ments of this metropolis will extend themselves. If 
you take a walk, if you can get to walk outside London 
now, if you can ever by any process short of a railway 
journey get to the outskirts of London, you may still 
see some old-fashioned gardens with walls round them, 
with a Cedar tree or a Mulberry tree and a house 
perhaps of the time of Queen Anne or the Georges. 
You take the same walk the next year and you see that 
ravenous London has begun to dispel the rural felicity 
of that spot. The wall has a great hole run through it; 
trenches have been dug through the garden ; the Cedar 
tree and the Mulberry tree have disappeared ; a great 
sewer is being dug right across probably the ornamental 
lawn that existed, and you see that London has once 
more snatched up and absorbed within its maw one of 
the few remaining open spaces outside London. 
I don’t think that any legendary beasts of antiquity, 
not even the Dragon of Wantley or the Lambton Worm, 
ever committed such havoc as London does in spreading 
itself over those neighbourhoods. As it becomes ever 
more difficult to get out of London, we must endeavour 
to get the country into town. It is this process of 
endeavouring to bring the country into town that you 
are encouraging by this flower show, and it is this 
process that the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association 
is doing so much for in laying out every open space on 
which it can put its hand. I confess I believe there is 
more in this movement even than the rescue of a little 
part of the graces of rural life from the encroachments 
of London. I am not a botanist myself, but I cannot 
help believing in the humanising effects of flowers and 
flower culture. I don’t believe that any man very fond 
of flowers can be a very bad man. I believe that King 
Minos of Crete was fond of flowers, and his reputation 
was not of the best, but that is an exception that 
proves my rule, and I am not aware that he worked 
with a spade himself. There is another exception, or 
reported exception, in Lord Beaconsfield. He was said 
to have been fond of Primroses, but he was also fond of 
peacocks. At Hughenden he always had a number of 
those beautiful birds, and it was represented to him 
that they ate his flowers. He pondered for some time 
and then said, “Well, I prefer the birds.” I don’t 
mean to argue from that that he was not a good man, 
because that is not my opinion. I think he was, but 
it is one of those exceptions which forces itself upon me 
in endeavouring to do that extremely difficult thing— 
generalise on the subject of love of flowers and 
gardening. 
-- 
THE CARNATION AND FERN 
CONFERENCES. 
The conferences in connection with the exhibition of 
Carnations and Ferns, brought together in the Gardens 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, at Chiswick, were 
held in a large tent upon the lawn. The Carnation 
Conference was held on the first day (July 22ud), 
and it may be said that although pleasantly cool, the 
surroundings were not such as to do justice to the 
speakers nor listeners—first, on account of the distance 
between some of the audience and the platform, and, 
secondly, by reason of the hum that must always 
pervade a tent or room where exhibits are arranged on 
the tables close by. 
The chair was taken by Martin Smith, Esq., who 
gave an opening address on Carnations, in the course of 
which he offered to give a sum of 20 guineas for five 
consecutive years, to be distributed in prizes for the 
encouragement of the culture of border Carnations. 
Mr. F. N. Williams, F. L S., then read a paper on the 
“Botany of the Carnation.” He commented at some 
length upon the history of the five species of Dianthus, 
the improved forms of which are now widely cultivated 
in gardens. These were D. Caryophyllus, D. plumarius, 
D. deltoides, D. barbatus, and D. sinensis. Mr. Harry 
Turner followed with a paper on “ The Florists’ Carna¬ 
tion and Picotee as Exhibition Flowers.” Mr. Martin 
Rowan dealt with “Carnations and Picotees in Towns,” 
and Mr. Richard Dean, who always speaks with 
emphasis, dealt with “ Border Carnations.” The 
details in the three latter cases were mainly cultural. 
As might be expected, Mr. H. Turner explained the 
terms bizarre, flake, self and Picotee, used in the classi¬ 
fication of the different kinds, so as to enlighten the 
general public on those points. 
The Fern Conference commenced at two o’clock on 
Wednesday, the chair being taken by Dr. Maxwell T. 
Masters, in the absence of Mr. Baker, of Kew, through 
illness. The latter, however, sent a paper concerning 
the classification and more especially the nomen¬ 
clature of British Ferns, which is now quite as bad as 
that of Daffodils and Orchids. Professor F. 0. Bower, 
F.L.S., spoke on “The Sytematic Relations of Ferns,” 
dealing with their history in ancient times as far as it 
has yet been revealed to us by geological evidence. 
The Marattiace® and Osmundacese, he believed, repre¬ 
sented the most ancient types, while the bulk of living 
Ferns were of more recent origin, and the Filmy 
Ferns the most recent. Evidence led to the suppo¬ 
sition that Ferns as a whole were degradations from 
types related to the ancient Calamites rather than 
developments upon Mosses (Musci). In this, nature 
was aiming at the production of organisms suited or 
adaptive to their surroundings rather than the evolution 
of complex types. He also based his remarks largely 
upon the comparative study of Ferns through their 
earliest stage? of growth, and upon the nature and 
origin of their fructifications. 
Mr. E. .1. Lowe then read a paper on “Hybrid and 
Crossed Ferns,” giving in detail some of his experiments, 
and the conclusions he came to upon the results. 
Some of the seedlings he obtained were evidently of an 
adaptive, while others pointed to the result of adverse 
conditions. He believed that by mixing the spores of 
a number of different varieties, hybrids would result, 
having the characters of perhaps as many species 
blended in one. Professor Bower, in discussing these 
knotty points, said that correct evidence would best be 
obtained by isolating the prothalli, and following out 
in detail the life history of seedlings under experiment. 
Dr. Scott also spoke on the same subject. From long 
practice in laboratory work, both those botanists were 
well qualified to speak with authority in matters of this 
kind. 
Mr. C. T. Druery, F.L.S., followed with a paper on 
“Plumose British Ferns,” giving an account of the 
prominent features of the leading varieties of British 
Ferns, which, by the finely-divided and feathery cha¬ 
racter of their fronds, have been appropriately termed 
plumose. Dr. Stansfield made some remarks bearing 
upon the same ideas embodied in the paper. The next 
and concluding paper was one on “ Hardy Ferns and 
their Cultivation,” by Mr. Birkenhead, who is well 
known by lovers of this class of plants for the extensive 
collection of both hardy and exotic Ferns grown at 
Sale. His paper dealt largely with cultural matters of 
importance to those requiring to be initiated into those 
matters. 
The awards made were as follows : — 
Medals. —Gold to Messrs. W. & J. Birkenhead, and 
to Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. Silver-gilt Flora to Mr. 
H. B. May, to C. T. Druery, Esq., and a Silver Flora 
to J. A. Whittard, Esq. 
Amateurs’ Competition. —The Silver Challenge 
Cup, offered by N. N. Sherwood, Esq., for the best col¬ 
lection of Hardy Ferns, was awarded to E. J. Lowe, Esq. 
There was no competition for the Cup offered by 
Mr. D. Morris for Hardy Filmy Ferns, grown without 
heat. 
Certificates of Merit. —Atliyrium Filix-fcemina 
stellatum angustatum, A. F.-f. percristatum J. S. 
Cousins, A. F.-f. plumosum superbum, from C. T. 
Druery, Esq. Blechnum spicant ramo-eristatum, B. s. 
concinnum, B. s. plumosum (Airey), from C. T. Druery, 
Esq. Scolopendrium vulgire var. crispum (Wills), 
from C. T. Druery, Esq. Trichomanes radicans 
var. crispum cristatum, from E. J. Lowe, Esq., 
Adiantum Capillus-Veneris var. autumnale, from 
E. J. Lowe, Esq. Nephrodium paleaceum pendens, 
N. p. cristatum globosum, from E. J. Lowe, Esq. 
Aspidium angulare vars. plumosum foliosum, 
polydactylum variegatum, latifolium grandiceps, 
remoto-decurrens, divisilobum plumosum, flabelli- 
pinnulum, decompositum frondosum, plumosum coro- 
nare, divisilobum plumosum imbricatum ; aculeatum 
var. pulcherrimum, var, Abbott®, from E. J. Lowe, 
Esq. A. angulare divisilobum plumosum Baldwinii, 
from J. L. Baldwin, Esq. Nephrodium spinulosum 
var. spectabile, from E. J. Lowe, Esq. Aspidium 
aculeatum hybridum, and Nepos, from E. J. Lowe, 
Esq. Scolopendrium vulgare (undulatum) Synthesina, 
from E. J. Lowe, Esq. Aspidium angulare (plumosum) 
plumosissimum, from E. J. Lowe, Esq. Scolopendrium 
vulgare undulatum muricale spirale, S. v. reflexum, 
S. v. grandiceps, S. v. Cowburnii, S. v. robustum, 
S. v. augustum, S. variegatum aureolum, S. v. 
luminare, S. projectum princeps, S. p. capitatum, S. 
peraforum rosetta, S. in®quale cristatum pericallis, S. 
ramosum Alexandr®, from E. J. Lowe, Esq. Asplenium 
Filix-fcemina cruciatum columnare, A. calomelanos, A. 
Yictoria, A. gracile, A. uncum cruciatum, A. cristatum 
magnificum, A. grandiceps coronare, from E. J. Lowe, 
Esq. Todea pellucida ferulaceum, from Messrs. J. 
Yeitch & Sons. Pteris serrulata cristata parvula, from 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. Scolopendrium crispum 
fimbriatum lutescens, S. grandiceps fimbriatum, S. 
crispum fimbriatum cristatum, from Messrs. H. 
Stansfield & Co. Gymnogramma ehrysophylla var. 
grandiceps superba, from Mr. H. B. May. Pteris 
aquilina depauperatum grandiceps pendens, from 
Messrs. W. & J. Birkenhead. Atliyrium Filix-fcemina 
setigerum percristatum, and A. F.-f. Frizelli® coronare, 
from Messrs. W. & J. Birkenhead. Adiantum manu- 
atum, from Messrs. W. & J. Birkenhead. Polystichuin 
angulare var. pulcherrimum (Wills), from C. T. Druery, 
Esq. Lastrma montana var. cristata gracile, from 
C. T. Druery, Esq., Dicksonia (hybrid) Lathami 
from Mr. W. B. Latham, Birmingham. 
