70 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 1, 1892. 
FRUIT NOTES. 
Bunyard's Superlative Raspberry. 
This grand Raspberry is still fruiting here. I have 
to-day, September 20th, picked several quarts, and, 
weather permitting, I shall be able to gather a lot 
more from the autumn growths. The fruits now are 
an inch long, and the flavour is still good for so late 
a period in the season. I believe it to be the very 
best Raspberry in cultivation.— F. Bruiser, Penshurst 
Place, Kent. 
Apple King Harry. 
The fruit of this by no means very common Apple 
is ovoid-conical even in outline, and of medium to 
moderately large size when well grown. When first 
gathered it is light green, but gradually becomes of a 
soft yellow, closely marked all over with small starry 
and russety spots. These spots make the surface 
rather rough. The eye is open, with reflex sepals set 
n a shallow, even, or slightly plaited basin. The 
flesh is firm, crisp, sweet and juicy, or even slightly 
brisk before being fully ripe, and pale yellow, making 
it an Apple- of good quality, notwithstanding its 
general want of attraction beyond its neatness. It 
comes into use during September, and keeps good till 
the end of November. The fruit attains good aver¬ 
age size in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural 
Society at Chiswick. 
A New Melon. 
Tegg’s Favourite.— Four fruits of this Melon 
were shown at the last meeting of the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee, weighing from four to six pounds 
each. They were shortly-oblong or oval, yellow, 
and finely reticulated with grey lines. The flesh is 
scarlet of great depth, scarlet, juicy, sweet, and well- 
flavoured, which is more than can be said of a great 
many of the Melons which are brought before the 
committee for adjudication. The fruits were shown 
by Mr. J. Tegg, gardener to John Walter, Esq., 
Bearwood, Wokingham, and an Award of Merit was 
accorded them. 
NEW PLANTS CERTIFICATED. 
Amongst the subjects brought up to the Drill Hall 
on the 20th inst. for the adjudication of the com¬ 
mittees, the undermentioned were accorded certifi¬ 
cates according to merit. 
Aristolochia gigas Sturtevanti.— Amongst the 
larger-flowering of the Aristolochias the subject of 
this note is evidently on the eve of becoming a 
popular stove climber on account of the huge 
dimensions of its flowers, the ease with which the 
plant may be grown and flowered. Climbers of this 
nature usually require a great amount of house room, 
but not so in this case, as the plant exhibited by 
Messrs. F. Ross & Co., Merstham Nurseries, Surrey, 
was grown in a 24-size pot, and had produced five or 
six flowers in succession. This is remarkable con¬ 
sidering that the flowers measure 18 in. wide, 18 in. 
to 22 in. long with a tail 30 in. to 42 in. long. The 
leaves are heart-shaped, gradually narrowed to a 
point and entire. The flowers have a large bent 
tube which is white, netted with greenish veins, 
while the exterior of the lamina is creamy-white 
and strongly ribbed ; internally the latter is heavily 
mottled and marked with purple on a creamy 
ground. It is of a maroon-crimson round the mouth 
of the tube, and densely covered with purple hairs on 
a blackish ground in the throat. A First-class 
Certificate was awarded it. 
Pteris nivalis. —Variegated Ferns have not 
hitherto been very numerous, but they are becoming 
rapidly plentiful. A batch of seedlings has been 
raised from a variegated variety named Reginas, and 
several of them are very distinct in character, in¬ 
cluding that under notice. The whole plant is very 
dwarf at present, but it is hard to say what it may 
be when fully developed. The fronds have very 
short stalks and are bipinnate at the base, and 
simply pinnate upwards. The terminal pinna in 
each case is long and pointed, all linear and white 
along the centre with narrow green margins. It was 
shown by Mr. H. B. May, Dyson’s Lane Nurseries, 
Upper Edmonton, and received a First-class Certi¬ 
ficate. 
Silver Elder.— There is already a silver varie¬ 
gated form of Sambucus nigra in cultivation having a 
silvery margin to the leaflets, but some branches of a 
new one were shown by Miss Alice de Rothschild 
(gardener, Mr. Gibbs), Eythorpe, Bucks. The tips 
of many of the shoots and many of their leaves were 
almost wholly white, and the rest closely marbled 
and blotched with silvery-white. An Award of 
Merit was accorded it. 
French Marigold. —About 144 blooms of the 
striped strain of French Marigold were exhibited by 
Messrs. Dobbie & Co., Rothesay. All were equally 
perfect and golden-yellow with a rich brown margin 
of slightly varying width, but all conforming to the 
requirements of what a good strain of striped Mari¬ 
golds should be. An Award of Merit was accorded 
the strain. 
Dahlias. 
Matchless. —Hitherto the dark-coloured Dahlias 
of this type have been more referable to the decora¬ 
tive than the Cactus class, but Matchless is a true 
Cactus variety of medium to large size, deep maroon- 
crimson, and darkest in the centre in the young state 
of the flower with long and narrow-pointed florets. 
An Award of Merit was accorded it when shown by 
Messrs. Perkins & Sons, Coventry. 
Kathleen. — The flowers of this variety are of a 
soft, lilac-pink when fully developed, but in the 
young state the florets are tipped with pale purple. 
They are very neat and the variety belongs to the 
show class. It received an Award of Merit when 
shown by Mr. C. Turner, Slough. 
Arthur West.— In this we have a small and very 
neat deep crimson Pompon. 
Tommy Keith.— For description of this variety 
see p. 33. Both this and the previous one were 
shown by Mr. J. T. West, gardener to W. Keith, 
Esq., Cornwalls, Brentwood, when Awards of Merit 
were accorded them. 
CARNATIONS AND 
PICOTEES. 
It may be stated for the information of young and 
inexperienced amateurs that for the sake of conveni¬ 
ence the florist speaks of Carnations and Picotees as 
if these represented two distinct species of the 
Dianthus ; but the Picotee is simply the Picoteed 
Carnation, a flower upon the white petals of which 
the colour is laid on, and in the form of an edging or 
beading, and not in longitudinal flakes as in the case 
of the bizarre and flaked Carnations. Thus seed of 
a flaked Carnation will produce Picotees, and the 
latter flaked and bizarre Carnations, and both self- 
coloured flowers ; thus showing their common origin. 
Some say the fragrant Pink is but a variety of the 
Carnation, though others differ from this conclusion. 
The Carnation is a flower of some antiquity; its 
very name, Dianthus, suggests the Dios Anthus, the 
flower of Jove, and it is no stretch of the imagination 
to suppose that when the gods were up in Olympus, 
they used the Dianthus as garlands and emblems; 
and, in fact, the flower itself was sometimes called 
the coronation flower, because, it is said, it was pink 
round the edges, and represented very much the 
diadem that the great Jove wore upon his awful 
brow. According to a noted writer, the Carnation 
represented flesh and blood, and so it should, for 
flesh and blood -is the life of the world, and must 
have been the life of Olympus also. So much then 
for some items in the early history of the Carnation, 
fabulous or otherwise. 
Its Progress. 
According to all accounts, a King Rene, who made a 
dash for the crown of Naples and failed to secure it, 
settled down in quiet on the shores of the Mediter¬ 
ranean in Provence, and took to cultivating flowers, 
among them the Carnation. This occurred about 
a.d. 1442. In the works of Gerrarde, published 
about 1597, it can be seen a great number of Carna¬ 
tions were grown by him, and among the number 
was a yellow, which had been given him by an 
“ excellent merchant," Nicholas Lete, who obtained 
it from Poland, and Gerrarde says this was the first 
yellow Carnation which had come into an English 
garden. From that time onward there have never 
been wanting floral enthusiasts to take in hand this 
fragrant flower, and, by gently leading it on from 
stage to stage, bring it up to the level of perfection 
seen in the present day. 
Bizarre and Flaked Carnations. 
By a bizarre Carnation the florist means a flower 
having a white ground, but with two distinct colours 
laid upon it. There is the scarlet bizarre, in which 
the scarlet colour predominates, and the richer the 
hue of scarlet the more valuable is the variety. The 
florist places the scarlet bizarre at the head of his 
list. In the crimson bizarre the crimson pre¬ 
dominates, with flakes of rose—a beautiful class. 
Then there is the pink and purple bizarre, on the 
petals of which are flakes of pink and purple of 
varying tints. Then comes the flaked Carnations. 
The most valuable is the purple flake, because the 
tint of distinct purple is so difficult to obtain ; in 
this case purple only is laid on the petals in flakes or 
stripes. Next comes the scarlet flake, and lastly the 
rose flake. The purer the white ground, and the 
more distinctly coloured the flake—given, of course, 
smoothness and stoutness of petal—the more beauti¬ 
ful is the variety. Purity of the white ground colour 
is absolutely necessary ; the purer the white, the 
greater and more striking is the contrast of colours 
between it and the tint of the flake. 
Fragrance in the Carnation. Alas! though often 
called the fragrant flower, many fine varieties are 
destitute of fragrance. This is all the more singular 
because there is scarcely a Pink grown which is not 
more or less scented; but many of our most beauti¬ 
ful Carnations lack this much-prized sweetness. 
What is known as the old Crimson Clove Carnation 
is remarkable for its perfume, and this is why it is so 
very popular. It is richly clove-scented, and so we 
have come to speak of self-coloured Carnations as. 
Clove Carnations, though ten out of every dozen 
may be destitute of scent. The Carnation is Dian¬ 
thus caryophyllus, and so the Clove is spoken of as 
D. caryophyllus aromaticus. Unfortunately, a kind 
of disease has affected this fine old English plant, 
and the scented Crimson Clove, which used to be in 
almost every garden, has now quite died out of not a 
few. That it will soon regain its original robustness 
■of constitution is the ardent wish of all lovers of 
flowers. 
The Picotee. 
The Picotee is but a variety of the Carnation; and 
is represented by a flower having an edging or 
beading of colour, instead of the longitudinal flakes 
found upon the petals of the Carnation. Like the 
Carnation, the Picotee is a flower having a white 
ground, but varying in the tint of colour upon the 
petal edge. The florist divides his Picotees into four 
sections, viz., the red edge, the purple edge, the rose 
or scarlet edge, and the yellow grounds. In dealing 
with the Carnation I should have said that there are 
two other classes, besides the bizarre and flaked 
flowers, viz., the self and the fancy; a self flow'er is 
one of a decided tint of colour, such as maroon, 
crimson, scarlet, rose, pink, purple, mauve, blush- 
yellow, white, etc.; but the term fancy includes 
eveiything which cannct be grouped under one of 
the afore-mentioned headings. There are literally 
hundreds of Carnations which cannot be classified, 
and they thus find a place under the comprehensive 
term fancies. Some of them have a white ground, 
but are so marked that they are neither Carnations 
nor Picotee, as defined by the florist. Some of the 
yellow self Carnations are very fine, particularly 
ones raised in Germany by Mr. Ernest Benary, of 
Erfurt, and appropriately named Germania. It is a 
flower of large size, good in colour, and very hand¬ 
some, but unfortunately not a robust grower, nor 
very free of bloom. Of its rare beauty there can be 
no doubt. 
Degrees of Edged Picotees. 
Each of the sections of Picotees—red edged, purple 
edged, and rose edged—is divided into three divisions, 
viz., heavy edged, in which the edge or beading of 
colour is quite broad, probably a twelve of an inch 
or so in breadth ; and the light edged, in which the 
colour is laid on the petal edges in the form of wire 
beading, and I think the light edged Picotees most 
delicate and lovely flowers, standing in their relation 
to the Carnation as the feminine to the masculine ; 
and they generally receive feminine names. Between 
these two come the medium edged flowers, the width 
of the edges of colour on the petals being about mid¬ 
way between the two. The purple edged and the 
rose edged Picotees are divided in the same way; 
and some of the light rose edges, such as Favourite, 
Miss Gorton, Mrs. Payne, and Nellie, are lovely in 
the extreme. 
The Yellow Grounds. 
The yellow ground Carnations and Picotees, which 
have yellow as the ground colour of their petals 
instead of white, are now a very numerous class ; 
and they range in the tint of the ground from pale 
buff and primrose to deep yellow. Some—those 
weakest in the yellow tint upon the ground colour— 
are included among the “fancies;” a few are true 
Picotees, having the colour laid on the petal edges as 
