564 
]May 0 , 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
FUOt^ICOliTUt^E. 
The Late Mr*. Dodwell's Carnations. 
1 HAVE not the least desire to detract one iota from 
Mr. Dodwell’s merits as a raiser of Carnations; 
indeed, he must always occupy the highest rank as 
such. I notice, however, in the paper by Mr. Rowan, 
quoted in your columns last week, reference to a 
large number of varieties which Mr. Dodwell was 
credited with raising, and amongst them were men¬ 
tioned the seifs, Ivanhoe and The Moor. Is that 
an error, or was it an odd coincidence that Mr. 
Dodwell should have given to two seifs the very same 
names that I gave to two fine dark seifs when raised 
at Bedfont, and by such names in company with the 
beautiful scarlet self Rowena first put into com¬ 
merce ? Perhaps an error has crept in here. As 
the varieties I have named were all first-rate seifs, I 
am naturally anxious their production should not be 
wrongly attributed.— A. Dean. 
Modern Carnation Tendencies. 
Judging by what we see of new Carnations from 
time to time it does look as if the old tree or so-called 
perpetual strain would soon be put into the back¬ 
ground altogether, for very fine forms, especially 
among the seifs, are being continually introduced, 
and many of them, such as Uriah Pike for instance, 
are wonderfully sweet in perfume. Practically, it 
seems very easy to have Carnations all the year 
round, for plants bloom readily in gentle warmth all 
through the winter and spring, whilst out-of-doors, 
with plenty of variation and good culture, they will 
flower nearly all through the summer and autumn. 
Like to the Rose and the Chrysanthemum, the 
Carnation is a staying flower ; not only is there little 
fear that it will ever decline in popular estimation, 
but with new varieties that are perfumed, a taste for 
them must grow. Mr. Martin Ridley Smith’s won¬ 
derfully fine seedlings when in commerce will help 
to give Carnation culture a fillip.— A. D. 
Pansies and Violas. ' 
These two popular plants are getting a more than 
usual share of encouragement this year in the way 
of exhibitions for them. A great exhibition for 
them is arranged for May 23rd, at Tamworth, and a 
heavy schedule of prizes is offered. The London 
Pansy Show will be held at the Drill Hall, West¬ 
minster, on June 12th. At York, liberal prizes are 
offered to the trade and amateurs on June 13th, 
14th, and 15th, and it is always a great exhibition 
now of Pansies and Violas. At Wolverhampton, 
on July loth, nth, and 12th, handsome gold and 
silver medals are offered for collections of cut 
blooms of Pansies and Violas, and through July and 
August there are exhibitions in Scotia nd. A conference 
of raisers and cultivators of Pansies and Violas is 
being arranged for in August in connection with the 
Midland Carnation and Picotee meeting at the 
Edgbaston Botanical Gardens, and for the exhibition 
of seedlings for certificates. Mr. William Dean, 
Dolphin Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, is the 
honorary secretary. 
-- 
PINKS IN POTS. 
I AM very pleased to see that an attempt is being 
made to revive the interest in and culture of the 
old laced Pink of the florists, and hope that the 
effort will be crowned with success. If the move¬ 
ment should also lead to the formation of local 
societies having the same object in view, it will be 
a source of much satisfaction to many lovers of 
florist flowers. Some forty to fifty years ago there 
were many societies about the country whose 
principal supporters were found among the amateur 
class, included among them being tradespeople, 
artisans, and cottagers, who grew them from pure 
love of the flower and the pleasure of a little friendly 
rivalry among themselves. I am of opinion that if 
some encouragement was given for plants grown in 
pots it would add to the interest and attractiveness 
of the show, and to some cultivators this plan of 
growing them would have its advantages, they 
being more under the control of the grower, so that 
when it might happen that the date of the show 
having been fixed and the flowers to be at their best 
required forwarding or retarding as the case may be, 
the man with his plants in pots would have a better 
chance of getting them to date than if they were 
planted out. Another advantage is the facility 
afforded for protecting against heavy rains, which 
will often do much to disfigure the blooms at a 
critical time. 
Pinks in 6 in. pots carrying from six to twelve 
blooms would not fail to be attractive, and a collec¬ 
tion grown in this way would be safer from vermin, 
being so much more easily overlooked, might be 
cleaner in growth, and produce as much healthy 
grass for propagation as will be required. Strike 
the pipings under handlights, and when well rooted 
plant them out in rows 6 in. apart, and 3 in. from 
plant to plant. Allow them to remain so till 
September, then lift them and pot them up into 4 in. 
pots, using a compost of two-thirds turfy loam and 
one of well-decayed cow manure if obtainable; if 
not, a third made up of well-decayed stable manure 
and leaf soil, combined with enough sand to make it 
porus. Pot moderately firm and place in a frame 
on a thick bed of coal ashes. Coal dust is better, 
but either will do. Keep them close for a day or 
two, give a good watering at the time, but afterwards 
water somewhat sparingly, comparatively little being 
required during the winter months. Give an abun¬ 
dance of air at all times, and remove the lights on 
all favourable occasions. 
When they commence making new growth in 
spring any plants which are strong enough to require 
it, shift into 6 in. pots, using the same sort of com¬ 
post, and from the beginning of March, unless the 
weather proves to be winterly, they may be plunged 
out in coal ashes. This will lessen the labour of 
watering, but towards the blooming season an 
occasional application of weak liquid manure, pre¬ 
ferably that of cows, will.be helpful. But caution 
is necessary, for it may so easily be overdone. After 
growth recommences in the spring they must not be 
allowed to become dust dry. The culture of Pinks 
in pots will greatly facilitate all operations connected 
with the preparation of the flowers for exhibition, 
and where room is an object, as it is with many 
small growers, a collection in pots will be found to 
occupy less space than if planted out, and the 
attention to and manipulation of the flower will be 
carried on with less personal inconvenience to the 
operator.— IF. B. G. 
--*<■- 
THE ROSE GARDEN. 
We have already enjoyed a most favourable season 
among Roses under glass, and there seems every pros¬ 
pect of the same with those in th^ open air. After last 
season’s serious disappointments it is pleasurable to 
have so promising an outlook. Unfortunately, there 
are so many factors which may cause a complete 
change. Last season everything looked well until 
now, and although we are not suffering from drought 
similar to then, our Roses are much too forward 
for one to feel easy when we remember how liable 
they are to severe checks during the month of May. 
From the middle of March until the last week or so, 
we had very bright weather, and this, combined 
with an early season, caused growth to be almost, if 
not quite, as forw'ard as during last spring. I am 
almost certain of cutting a bloom or two from the 
open before April closes, and this compares with 
last season very closely. 
At present young growth is fairly free from insect 
pests of all descriptions, and has a healthy appear¬ 
ance. IMaidens look particularly well, and although 
the buds have not taken so well as usual, many of the 
stocks not being sufficiently advanced for budding 
owing to the extreme drought, those which were 
operated upon are quite up to the average. Buds 
upon standard stocks have fared the worst, so many 
shoots being too puny and dry to admit of the bark 
rising freely. We seldom have much success unless 
it is possible to lift the bark easily, and coaxed 
buds, those which have been inserted with difficulty, 
do not form so satisfactory a union with any. stock. 
I would much like to know the name of a small 
insect which has troubled me very much with Brier 
stock during the past three seasons. It does not 
seem to affect the Manettii, but both standard and 
dwarf Briers have been infested with it. I can only 
describe it as a small, brick-red bug, about the size 
of white scale when full grown. When a wound is 
made in the stock for receiving a bud, these little 
pests soon feed upon the callus which forms. The 
consequence is death to the bud, and I have hitherto 
failed to stop their ravages. It is only upon one 
quarter that they are found, and the soil is somewhat 
heavy. Have any of your readers had similar 
trouble, and can they help me to a remedy ? 
Sticking and tying must be attended to among 
maiden Roses, or we shall soon have disaster if a 
shower and little wind come together. With maiden 
standards it is a much better plan to use 
a stake of sufficient length to secure both 
stem and Rose growth. The growth of each variety 
should also be considered when placing any sticks 
as supports. Baroness Rothschild, La France, and 
similar habited roses do not need more than a two 
feet stick ; but Mdme. Gabrielle Luizet, Mrs. Paul, 
and climbers of all classes, should be afforded five to 
six feet lengths at the least. 
Under glass our chief work is to steer clear of 
insect pests, and to give a little judicious pruning to 
those plants now going out of bloom. Among 
climbers it is especially necessary to cut away the 
wood which has carried a crop of bloom, if we are to 
secure good flow*ers during a future season. Stout 
rods of long growth is the object to be aimed at, 
and these are far more profitable than a mass of 
medium wood. Of course much depends upon cir¬ 
cumstances. For instance, if we wish to cover a wall 
with such strong growers as Marechal Kiel, and the 
plant is quite young, it would be folly to cut it to 
the ground each year. But I would rather plant a 
larger number and limit each to two or three strong 
growths, and so cover the wall with fresh wood 
each summer.— Experience. 
-- 
BEDDING-OUT PLANTS RAISED IN 
POTS. 
To the very simple matter of planting out things 
raised in pots sufficient attention is not always paid 
by those who have to do the work. There are 
annually many things raised in heat and properly 
hardened off with which so far all has gone well till 
the planting out season arrives. When the balls 
have become matted with roots closely interwoven 
with each other, which in fine sunny weather quickly 
absorbs every particle of moisture from the soil, 
they are in leaving it, if not seen to, dust dry. 
When planting out is going on, to avoid this mishap, 
the waterpot and pail should be close at hand to 
keep them well moistened tilt planted, those which 
are dust dry being submerged in the pail. In light 
dry soils plants put out with dry balls stand a poor 
chance, for however much water may be poured 
into them it often fails in the object for which it is 
used, for although the surrounding soil may be 
saturated with water these poor" unfortunates will 
remain for some time as dry as when put out. In 
many instances it would be far better to a%’oid this 
contingency by partially loosening the balls and 
disentangling the roots to some extent, although at 
first sight It may appear that by so doing the plants 
would receive a severer check than under the 
conditions previously indicated, because some of 
their roots will necessarily be more or less mutilated ; 
it will in practice be found that the recuperative 
powers of most things are so great that when planted 
out in a fairly moist soil they make fresh roots with 
great rapidity, and plants treated in this way will 
require far less attention as regards watering than 
many of those which are planted with the balls 
entire.— IF. B. G. 
-»*--— 
CATTLEYA TRIANAE 
SCHRODERAE. 
The most distinctive feature of this Cattleya is the 
large and conspicuous orange blotch in the throat. 
Importations of it vary greatly in the colour of all 
parts of the flower, but the blotch in the throat 
usually retains its dark colour and rounded, solid 
looking outline. The accompanying illustration 
represents a very beautiful variety which flowered 
recently in the nursery of Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, 
Short Hills, New Jersey, U.S.A. The chief features 
of the variety lie in the rounded and compact form 
of the flower, brought about by the great breadth of 
the sepals and petals as well as the size of the lip. 
The sepals and petals are nearly pure white and the 
blotch in the throat of a dark orange. The margins 
of the lip are also fringed in a most beautiful man¬ 
ner. It turned up in a recent importation from a 
new district in Columbia. Some of the plants bore 
from ten to fifteen flowers varying in colour from 
nearly pure white to a dark pink. The lip in some 
instances measured about 3 in. across. Of course, 
the illustration shows the flowers very much re¬ 
duced. 
