August 8, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
771 
STRAWBERRIES. 
JAMES YEITCH & SONS 
beg to intimate that they are now booking orders for all the leading kinds of Strawberries, either in pots 
or prepared runners. 
SPECIAL LIST, just published, can be had on application. 
ROYAL EXOTIC NURSERY, KING’S ROAD, CHELSEA, S.W. 
SEEDLING PLANTS OF 
CHOICE FLORISTS’ FLOWERS, &c. 
Post Free at Prices Quoted. Per doz. Per too. 
CALCEOLARIAS.— From choicest flowers s. d. s. d. 
only.I 6 io 6 
CARNATIONS and PICOTEES. — From 
stage flowers . i 6 io 6 
CINERARIAS.—From a grand strain, very fine i 6 io 6 
„ New dwarf, large flowered, fine 20 12 6 
CYCLAMEN PERSICUM GIGANTEUM 
STRONG TRANSPLANTED 
SEEDLINGS from single pots... 36 25 0 
„ PURE WHITE, very beautiful 
and select.46 — 
GLOXINIA GRANDIFLORA ERECTA- 
F'rom a magnificent strain.26 15 0 
PANSIES, DANIELS’ PRIZE BLOTCHED. 
—Planted out now will bloom grandly 
next spring and summer . 16 10 6 
PRIMULA.- O ur Primulas are acknowledged 
to be unsurpassable 
„ ALBA MAGNIFICA.—Splendid white 26 — 
„ DANIELS’ CRIMSON KING — 
Splendid variety 26 — 
„ „ SUPERB BLUE.—Very fine 26 — 
„ „ CHOICEST WHITE.—Fine 1 6 10 6 
„ „ ,, Red, splendid ... 16 10 6 
„ „ „ Mixed,many beautiful 
varieties 16 to 6 
„ ,, „ Extra strong plants 2 6 15 o 
DANIELS BROS., 
TOWN CLOSE NURSERIES, NORWICH. 
Fop Present and Later Sowing 
THE THREE BEST WALLFLOWERS 
ARE 
Dicksons’ Golden Beauty. 
Dicksons’ Selected Dark Red. 
Dicksons’ Primrose Dame. 
Per Packet Get. and Xs. Free by Post. 
Choice Mixed Double Wallflower, Myosotis, 
Silenes, &c., &c. 
For Index to Contents see page 781. 
11 Gardening Is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man."— Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , AUGUST yd, 1895. 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Monday, August 5th.—Continuation of Liverpool Rose, and 
Southampton Summer Shows. Opening day of Northamp¬ 
ton Summer Show. 
Tuesday, August 6th.—Leicester Flower Show in the Abbey 
Park. Second day of Northampton Summer Show. 
Thursday, August 8th.—Flower Shows at Ramsey and G-eat 
Grimsby. 
Friday, August 9th,—Sale of Orchids at Messrs. Protheroe & 
Morris’ rooms. 
For prices and all other particulars see our Illustrated 
Catalogue, free on application. 
DICKSONS NURSERYMEN, &c. CHESTER. 
“winter flowering zonals. 
Good Plants ready for shifting into 5 and 
6 in. pots. 4s. per dozen. 
SEEDLING PRIMULAS. 
Extra quality. All colours. Mixed, is. 6d. 
per dozen. Free for cash with order. 
H. «J. JONES, 
RYECROFT NURSERY, HITHER GREEN, LEWISHAM. 
Carnations! Carnations ! 
Carnations! 
The Choicest Varieties in Cultivation, from the 
late Mr. DodweU's Garden, 
FROM 6s. PER DOZEN, UPWARDS. 
DESCRIPTIVE LIST ON APPLICATION TO— 
ARTHUR MEDHURST, 
THE COTTAGE, STANLEY ROAD, OXFORD. 
ORCHIDS. 
Clean Healthy Plants at Low Priees. 
Always worth a visit of inspection. Kindly send for Catalogue. 
JAMES CYPHER, 
Exotic Hurseries, CHELTENHAM. 
FERNS 
A 
SPECIALITY. 
A MAGNIFICENT STOCK IN IMMENSE VARIETY. 
Catalogue (No. 40) Free on Application. 
W. & J. BIRKENHEAD, F.R.H.S., 
Fern Nurseries, Sale, near Manchester. 
f ARNATioNs then and now.— Though the 
Carnation (Dianthus Caryophyllus) 
has been cultivated in Europe from time 
immemorial, it does not seem to have been 
known to the ancients in a state of culti¬ 
vation, for it is neither mentioned by Pliny, 
nor sung by any of the old Roman poets. 
Dodoens describes both the single and 
double form as early as 1578, probably from 
cultivated Continental forms. Under the 
names of Carnations, and double Cloave 
Gillofers, he figures and describes a double 
variety which might well pass for the Old 
Clove, judging both from its foliage, habit 
and flowers. Even then there were many 
varieties of Clove Carnations varying from 
white to bright red, dark red, and speckled. 
All were notable for their Clove-like and 
aromatic fragrance.. Gerard obtained the 
Carnation from Polland in 1597, and in 
subsequent times it is supposed to have 
been more or less largely imported from 
Germany or Italy where it has enjoyed a 
large measure of popularity for centuries, 
on account of its stately beauty and spicy 
odour. It is much to be regretted that this 
latter quality has almost lost its significance 
in many of the showiest and most popular 
varieties of modern improvements. 
A cultivator of the name of Tuggy who 
resided at Westminster was the most cele¬ 
brated grower of this popular flower in 
1629, and Parkinson speaking about that 
date states that he himself had something 
like forty-nine sorts. In 1702, the number 
had mounted up 10360 in Rea’s collection. 
As it i3 not our intention to give anything 
like an exhaustive history of the Carnation, 
from its infancy in this country, we pass on 
to review its status in more recent times. 
Mr. Hogg the famous London florist pub¬ 
lished a treatise on the Carnation, in 1820, 
and stated that double forms only were 
held in esteem. He catalogued nearly 360 
sorts, all of which were in his possession at 
this date. The tree Carnation was already 
in existence and could be grown to a height 
of five feet or six feet in as many years by 
training it against a wall, a trellis or stakes. 
How many of the modern tree Carnations 
may be grown to this height ? By way of 
digression, it may here be stated that 
Souvenir de. ]a Malmaison is regarded as 
the type of the tree Carnation in France 
and Belgium. Mr. Hogg said that “ of all 
the flowers that adorn the garden, whether 
they charm the eye by their beauty, or 
regale the sense of smelling by their 
fragrance, the Carnation may be said to 
hold the first rank.” In 1833 he added 
that the Carnation and Picotee still con¬ 
tinued to adorn the gardens of the nobility 
and gentry, because when the attractions 
of the metropolis had ceased, and those 
people had retired to their country 
residences, these flowers were ready to 
greet the ladies with their most inviting 
fragrance during July and August. Yet in 
another breath, he affirms that professional 
gardeners were not good cultivators of Carna¬ 
tions, but bad propagators whose Carna¬ 
tions would very soon perish. They were 
likewise great bunglers at layering, and 
altogether unfit to be trusted to perform the 
operation, though he (Mr. Hogg) could 
implicitly trust to any amateur, cobbler, 
tailor, weaver or barber who had been 
accustomed layering their own Carnations. 
The florist in the restricted sense, is still 
the principal cultivator of the more 
specialised forms of the Carnation; but, 
thanks to the endeavours of those who 
favour or encourage the production and 
cultivation of intrinsically beautiful, though 
less highly specialised varieties, the 
popularity of Carnations has materially 
increased within the last few years. Even 
many of the florists themselves recognise 
this fact, and are doing their utmost to 
raise attractive varieties, consisting largely 
of seifs of beautiful and distinct colours, 
as well as plants of greater hardiness that 
may readily be grown in the beds and 
borders of the amateur and the less ex¬ 
perienced. Flake and bizarre Carnations 
seem to have been as perfect in Mr. Hogg’s 
day as they are at present; but within the 
last thirty years, the Picotee, which might 
then be striped, pounced, pricked or spotted 
with one or more colours on a white ground, 
has been converted into a white flower, 
edged with a broad, medium or narrow 
band of some darker colour, entirely con¬ 
fined to the circumference. A considerable 
amount of latitude is again being allowed 
in the production of flowers permitted to 
pass muster, even under the florists’ 
standards, rules and regulations. We have 
recently noted some very fine, broad edged 
Picotees in winning stands, and which often 
exhibited the stripes or lines that formed 
the edging, running down the petals towards 
the centre, in a manner that would scarcely 
have been tolerated a few years ago. This 
shows a tendency on the part of the broad 
edged flowers to revert to the original type 
of Picotee; Whether the florists regard 
this as permissable, or explain it as a defect 
due to the peculiar nature of the season, 
they evidently ignore or wink at it. The 
flowers in question are, nevertheless, un¬ 
deniably beautiful, and enlist the admiration 
of a large section of the British public. 
On the other hand the sections of 
Carnations have been increased in number 
since Mr. Hogg’s time, and independently 
ofthe defects (from the florist's standard) just 
