August 15th, 1885. 
have liberal supplies of liquid manure given at the 
roots, and the shoots should be kept well thinned 
out and stopped. Shut up the houses, pits, and 
frames in which such plants are growing sufficiently 
early in the afternoon to run the temperature up to 
90 degs., with sun and plenty of atmospheric mois¬ 
ture at the same time. Put mats over plants growing 
in unheated pits and frames at night, and warm the 
water in the pipes of houses so heated sufficiently to 
prevent the temperature in the same from falling 
below 70 degs. or 65 degs. between sunset and sunrise. 
—H. W. Ward. 
The Kitchen Gardener’s Calendar. —Tohatos : 
The weather which we have experienced during the 
last couple of months has been very favourable to the 
setting and developing of fruits on plants which have 
been kept well supplied with water at the roots during 
that period. Attend well to the thinning and stopping 
of the shoots and leaves, so that anything like over¬ 
crowding of either may be avoided, and that the fruit 
may be fully exposed to the influence of the sun, upon 
the presence of which depends so much the quality of 
the fruit; and see that the shoots are tacked to the 
wall with nails and shreds as soon as they require 
it to be done, otherwise they will be liable to get 
damaged by the wind. My experience of Tomatos is, 
that if the thinning and stopping of the shoots and 
leaves are neglected, that is, if they are allowed to 
become overcrowded, both shoots and leaves, especially 
if the season be a wet one, they will exhibit symptoms 
of disease in consequence. These affected parts 
should be at once cut clean away, and the wounds 
and plants dusted over with a mixture of fresh soot 
and lime, which will arrest the spreading of the 
blotches. I specially mention this fact so that if 
any of your readers’ plants may happen to be 
similarly affected instead of quietly watching the 
progress of the disease, or, it may be, consigning the 
plants forthwith to the rubbish-heap, they may be 
induced to take action in the matter, not only by 
contesting the right of the enemy to be in the field, 
but also by asserting their right and power to drive 
him out of it. 
General Work.— Peas and Beans intended for 
seed should be gathered as soon as the pods show 
signs of ripening, and be placed on shutters in pits 
or frames where they can have the sashes drawn over 
them to protect them from rain, or in dry sheds, 
where they can be shelved, labelled, and stored 
away on wet days. The old haulm should be cleared 
away, and the ground, by Dutch-hoeing and raking, 
put in readiness for the planting of late Broccoli. 
Clip Box-edgings in kitchen-gardens, in either round 
or square fashion, but in either case it will be 
necessary to use a line and good taste in the opera¬ 
tion, and according to the manner in which it is 
performed, so also will be the effect, good or bad. 
Early Potatos, where not already done, should be 
taken up, sorted, and put away on shelves in the 
Potato-house—those intended for seed in one place, 
and those for table use in another. A portion of the 
ground so cleared will come in for the winter crops of 
Spinach and Cauliflowers. See that Lettuce plants 
are tied up in good time with a piece of matting, to 
get the heads well blanched, and that Vegetable 
Marrows and Ridge Cucumbers are cut before they 
get too large for use; indeed, these should be cut 
under rather than over sized.— H. IF. Ward, Longford 
Castle Gardens, Salisbury. 
The Propagation of Potatos. —The Journal 
d'Agriculture Pratique reports a communication from 
M. d’Andre, Professor of Agriculture in the Depart¬ 
ment of Aveyron, to the Central Agricultural Society, 
describing some experiments made by him in the 
propagation of Potatos by slips during the last four 
years. Having received some new varieties for culti¬ 
vation in 1881, M. d’Andre determined to try the effect 
of transplanting rooted shoots from his main crops. 
Detaching about fifty such shoots from different 
varieties, he carefully planted and watered them, as 
the season was dry, to ensure their striking. They 
grew vigorously, and when he came to test the results 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
he found that each transplanted shoot had produced, 
attached to its foot as in the case of Artichokes, 
tubers equally numerous and quite as large as those 
produced by the plants from which the shoots were 
taken. In the following year he repeated the experi¬ 
ment in a somewhat different manner. Instead of 
transplanting shoots of 6 ins. to 8 ins., he uprooted 
two partially-grown plants, detached all the shoots, 
on each of which a small tuber had formed, and 
planted them at a depth of 4 ins., with 26 ins. between 
the rows, taking care not to break any of the small 
sections of the roots. In this way, from two tubers 
originally planted, M. d’Andre obtained ninety-eight 
shoots, which produced 48 lbs. of Potatos. The most 
curious result, however, was that although the variety 
was a late one, it came to harvest, fully matured, six 
weeks before other sorts grown in the ordinary way. 
— -n~ p — 
FLORICULTURE. 
The Carnation and Picotee.—These flowers are 
just now to the fore, and exhibitions of them are being 
held in different parts of the country, some of which 
are duly reported in the columns of The Gardening 
World. The Carnation has a notable history, and 
Parkinson in his Paradisus, published in 1629, says 
Miller, in his Gardeners’ Dictionary, “ has given a 
very full account, with figures, of the Carnations then 
in cultivation. He divides them into Carnations, or 
the greatest sorts in leaf and flower ; and Gillyflowers, 
or such as are smaller in both respects.” Of Carna¬ 
tions, Parkinson gives an account of nineteen, and of 
Gillyflowers thirty, varieties; but these long since 
went out of cultivation. The old name, Gillyflower, 
was supposed by Parkinson to be corrupted from July- 
flower ; and Miller states that Ray has adopted the 
notion ; but, he adds, it is erroneous, for it is evidently 
derived from the French Girof.ee or Girofiier, and 
accordingly Chaucer writes it Girofler. We learn 
from the last-named author, the father of English 
poets, that the Clove Gillyflower was cultivated in this 
country as early as the reign of Edward the Third, and 
that it was used to give a spicy flavour to ale and 
wine, and from hence it was called “ sops in wine.” 
It seems to have been a flower of high estimation in 
Queen Elizabeth’s time, for we find it often celebrated 
by the poets of her day. 
The appellation of Gillyflower has been applied, 
apparently, as a kind of pet name to all manner of 
plants. The name was originally given by the Italians 
to the Carnation and plants of the Pink tribe, and 
was so used by Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare. 
Afterwards both writers and gardeners bestowed the 
name on the Matthiola and Cheiranthus. At the 
present time the word has almost fallen out of use, 
but in books will be found applied to several flowers, 
particularly the Carnation Lychnis (Ragged Robin); 
Hesperis matronalis (Dame’s Violet); to Matthiola 
incana(the Stock); CheiranthusCherii (theWallflower); 
and to Hottonia palustris (the Water Gilliflower). 
In old songs the Gillyflower is represented as one 
of the flowers thought to grow in Paradise. 
The Carnation, which is said to have been intro¬ 
duced first into England from Italy, derives its name, 
in the English language, from its colour—carnation, or 
flesh-colour. It has also been called Carnation from 
its having been used in chaplets and garlands for the 
head. Linmeus has named it Dianthus flos nobilis, 
fine or superior flower; Dianthus earyophyllus, we 
believe, now denotes the Clove only. We gather from 
Miller that Picotees were most in favour with the 
early florists, but that Flakes gradually, and in a great 
measure, took their place. In our own day, Picotees, 
from their more delicate appearance, receive the 
greatest share of admiration. It is said that the 
Carnation was a favourite flower with the Queen of 
Charles the First. 
Carnations are divided into three main divisions in 
the present day, viz., Bizarres, Flakes, and Selfs, or 
Fancies. There are three classes of Bizarres, the 
scarlet, the crimson, and the pink and purple, but the 
two latter approximate so closely that it is difficult to 
separate them. “ Bizarre is an epithet or adjective 
borrowed from the French, implying whimsical or 
fantastical; hence Bizarre, applied to a Carnation, 
means that it contains a whimsical or fantastical 
795 
mixture of colours, of not less than three distinct 
tints or shades.” Thus, there is the white ground 
with two other colours laid upon it. I laked flowers 
are those having flakes of one colour running down 
the white petals ; thus we get purple, scarlet, and rose- 
flaked flowers, and very beautiful they are. 
Picotee is likewise a French word, an adjective 
feminine, and originally meant pricked or spotted. 
Are we to understand that the Picotee is the feminine 
of Carnation? Picotees are regarded as less robust 
generally than the Carnation, and of more delicate 
constitution; they are very beautiful and much 
admired for their softness and chaste beauty. Whether 
it is a true species as some have supposed, or simply a 
variety of the Carnation, remains to be seen, for it is 
still a disputed point. 
Picotees are divided into four groups, viz., red edges, 
purple edges, rose or scarlet edges, and yellow grounds. 
The first three are sub-divided into heavy and light 
edges, according to the breadth of the marginal 
colour ; but some are of an intermediate depth, and 
are known as medium edges. The scarlet edges 
include some very lovely flowers ; the brighter the 
marginal colour, the more pleasing appears to be the 
contrast between the ground and the marginal colour. 
Thirty years ago there was in cultivation a group of 
yellow-ground Picotees showing much refinement of 
character, but extremely delicate in point of consti¬ 
tution. They may be said to have died out and 
become replaced by a race of a more robust constitu¬ 
tion, but with less refinement ; but they are very 
handsome and valuable for cut purposes. 
James Maddock tells us in his treatise that 
about 150 years ago the “ principal, or most generally 
esteemed, sorts of Carnations cultivated in England 
were called Bursters, because their blossoms consisted 
of a double pod. The interior one being in the 
centre of the other, and containing likewise a 
great number of petals, by its swelling caused the 
exterior pod or calyx to burst. The blossoms of these 
Bursters, when properly managed, and in full bloom, 
were not less than 4 ins. or 5 ins. in diameter, and 
the centre of each was well filled up with the petals of 
the interior pod, so as to make a very uniform and 
noble appearance, but it required much care and skill 
to cause them to blow to perfection.” 
“ The attention of the florist was directed from the 
cultivation of Bursters by the introduction of a new 
description of Carnation from France ” (a century 
and a half ago) ; Ci these were denominated Whole- 
blowers, in opposition to the former term of Bursters; 
their blossoms, in general, were furnished with only 
one pod or calyx, which, by a little management on 
the approach of bloom, was preserved in an entire 
state ; the culture of them was, at the same time 
attended withmuch less trouble, in other respects, than 
that of the former, and they soon obtained a decided 
preference.” 
The earlier types of the Carnation and Picotee had 
fringed or serrated petals. The florist of that day set 
himself to work to get rid of this fringe" and secure 
the perfectly rounded petal. That was the ideal he 
set before him, and to the attainment of it he steadily 
laboured. Whether rightly or "wrongly, he set himself 
to secure this end, and he has succeeded. And it must 
be admitted that a finely-developed bloom of a Carna¬ 
tion or Picotee as set up,by a florist is an illustration 
of a very high order of beauty, and everyone who 
labours to present to view in their most perfect 
manifestation the flowers he cultivates with so much 
care, is doing a good and Avorthy work, for which he 
shall have a due share of praise. 
— g— ■ -a —? — 
Preserving Timber. —Creosote, the commonest of 
the timber preservatives, is ordinarily forced into the 
pores of sleepers, piles, and other scantlings, by plac¬ 
ing these in a closed chamber, exhausting the air, and 
then admitting the antiseptic fluid under heavy pres¬ 
sure. But the vessels permeating woody fibre contain 
much more water than air, so that, even after the 
removal of the latter, the creosote still finds its entrance 
into the timber barred, and only a comparatively 
small quantity of pickle is consequently taken up. 
Taking advantage of the different boiling points of 
water and creosote, Mr. Boulton has lately patented 
a plan whereby the creosote is made to enter the wood 
in the vacuum chamber at a temperature above that 
of boiling water, thus vaporizing the moisture con¬ 
tained in the timber, and making room for the 
entrance of the preservative fluid. 
