4S2 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
June 6, 1903. 
there about 1852 by a French florist located in the neighbour*. 
hood of New York. After all, then, Britain is indebted to the 
Normans f of'bringing their favourite flower here, and America 
is indebted to a more recent Frenchman taking his favourite 
~to that country. The author then gives the history of the 
various cultivators who have been instrumental in improving 
the tree Carnation in America. Some time between the early 
sixties and the early seventies a variety named ^Victor 
Emanuel, otherwise known as Astoria, was raised by a r rench 
florist, and might be compared to Mrs. T. W. Lawson in the 
i matter of popularity, though it never reached the same price, 
nor was cultivated to the same extent. 
Elsewhere 'the author says the profitable commercial life 
of a Carnation is four to six years, and the explanation of that 
is-on the score of novelty as well as the liability for the plant 
to- get- played out, owing to the severe propagation to which it 
is subjected in America. He speaks of the white variety, 
Lizzie McGowan, which has enjoyed great popularity for ten 
years, and which we have also described in the back numbers 
of The Gardening World. He also mentions Heintz’s White, 
which was cultivated for,at least twenty years. Refening to 
our own Carnations in this country, it is possible that the Old 
Clove, or something very like it, was cultivated in Gera-rde’s 
time. Possibly, however, someone may enlighten us on this 
point. It seems, however, that there is not so large a distinc¬ 
tion between American and English Carnations at the present 
time, seeing that the author has raised some of his finest 
varieties by crossing the American race with the pollen of 
Winter Cheer. The last-named is an accommodating English 
variety which may be flowered m the open border in autumn 
or under glass in winter. 
In mentioning the points of a good Carnation the author 
culls freely from the authoritative English books on the sub¬ 
ject, and then mentions one point which seems to us to be 
the only dividing line between the English and American Car¬ 
nation. In all other respects we seem to be fairly well agreed 
upon the points that.a good Carnation should possess. This 
we say in reference to the strain of tree Carnations, for, as far 
as we have noticed, the border varieties and florists’ type find 
no place in American cultures. As in the case of other Euro¬ 
pean flowers and plants, it seems that the Americans can grow 
them better under glass than in the open air. The great dis¬ 
tinction is that the American Carnations may be fringed or 
toothed at the margins, and very generally they are. In our 
case the ideal is a smooth-edged petal without either fringes 
or teeth. Nevertheless we do sometimes see these grown to a 
greater or less extent in varieties that attain a considerable 
amount of popularity. The author says that the fringed petal 
is rather preferred in America; and he also- says that the plants 
possessing those characters are more easily grown under the 
conditions which prevail in that- country, and keep better than 
the shell-petalled varieties. 
Mr. Ward does not believe that the ideal in Carnations has 
yet been reached, notwithstanding the fact, that ideals have 
been laid down at different times during the past 300 years 
or more. The ideal white Carnation, he says, is like the Will- 
o’-the-Wisp, always before you, and equally elusive. The 
author’s idea is that there should be no single form of Carna¬ 
tion that could be judged ideal or perfect. There are several 
different forms into which the Carnation might be developed, 
each form having its own colours. In order to fix a scale of 
virtues which a Carnation should possess, he would state them 
precisely as “ colour, fragrance, substance, form, habit, and 
general appearance ” when the blooms aye massed. He then 
discusses all these points under their respective headings. The 
three most important points, in his estimation, are colour, fra¬ 
grance, and substance. He goes in strongly for self colours, 
and would debar all mixtures of shades and impurities of that 
class. Fragrance is one of the attractions of the flower, while 
substance contributes to the durability of the bloom. 
The book is bound in cloth, and the printing and paper leave 
nothing to be desired. The paper is thick and glossy, though 
not inconveniently so to the eyes of the reader. 
- - A Group of Caladiums. 
(See Supplement.) 
Our Supplement on this occasion represents a collection of 
Caladiums in the establishment of Messrs. John Peed and Son, 
Roupell Park Nurseries, W. Norwood, where w T e took a photo¬ 
graph -several weeks prior to the Temple Show. The plants 
were not then so far advanced, but nevertheless give a fair 
idea of the extent- of the collection grown there, although only 
relatively a few of them could be shown in the view. We can 
only mention a few of the more handsome or useful ones, as 
the case may be, which struck us when examining the collec¬ 
tion. In the first instance, we may mention a number of large- 
leaved types that are suitable for exhibition purposes on 
account of their massive and bold proportions and handsome 
colours. 
For exhibition purposes, Baron Adolphe de Rothschild is 
always in demand. The huge shield-shaped leaves are of a bril¬ 
liant red with carmine centre. Those of Oriflamme are rich 
carmine-red narrowly edged with green. The old Ca-ndidum 
lias not been superseded, the white leaves closely netted with 
green being very handsome, while the variety is of the easiest 
cultivation. The leaves of John Peed are entirely red in the 
centre, with a broad green border. Several of the translucent 
varieties are also very handsome, including Lady Moseley, the 
leaves of which are of a warm rose and green at the edges. 
Somewhat- similar is that named Rio de Janeiro, with brilliant 
rose leaves edged with green and semi-transparent. Alto¬ 
gether different is Arthur Dickson, with creamy-white leaves 
and red spots. Handsomely blotched also is Comte de Ger- 
miny, whose red leaves are blotched with white. One of the 
mo-s-t handsome of the translucent varieties is Assunguy, the 
rosy pink leaves being handsomely netted with blackish green 
veins. Charlemagne is noted for the huge size of its red 
leaves and green netting. Those of Jules Picot are delicate 
red with -a. deep green netting. 
A new variety is Reine de Suede, with long pink leaves and 
dark red veins edged with dark green. A veiy striking Cala¬ 
dium is Mr. C. J. Pierpont Morgan, with rosy-carmine leaves 
and darker veins, the spaces between being netted with green. 
Usually the centre of the leaf of a Caladium is the darkest, but 
in the case of Prince Hussein Kamel the reverse is the case, the 
centre being white, lightly shaded with transparent pink, and 
having bright red veins. The edge of the leaf itself is yellow. 
Le Rev-e -is also a new Caladium, with a dusky white leaf, tinted 
with pink under certain conditions, and spotted with red. 
Quite different in its way is Princess-e Hussein, whose leaves 
are red in the centre, bordered with yellow, and marked with 
large white spots. The distinctly-blotched Caladiums are by 
no means over numerous. The plant is also of dwarf habit-, 
and suitable for ordinary decorative purposes. The long pink 
leaves of lie de la Reunion are bordered with dark green and 
veined with red. The above six varieties are recent additions 
to the collection. 
Some of the dwarfer varieties are equally as pretty as the 
large ones, if not more so, and they are certainly more suitable 
for general decorative purposes. One of the prettiest of these 
dwarf ones is Duchess of York, with small rosy-pink leaves. 
Chelsea Gem is also a dwarf variety, with crimson leaves and 
broad red veins. Her - Majesty has pretty apple-green leaves 
with silvery markings. Silver Cloud is also a veiy pleasing 
variety, having silvery-white leaves spotted with green. Golden 
Queen is also a charming dwarf habited variety, with small 
golden-green leaves. Some of the choicest of these uncommon 
colours are more difficult to grow, perhaps, than the large 
ones above mentioned, but those who have a. fairly representa¬ 
tive collection will certainly want a few of these interesting and 
beautiful variations in order to add to the variety of their fine 
foliage plants. There are, of course, several small growing 
varieties, which are in common cultivation, and which we need 
not mention here, but Messrs. Peed grow an extensive 
collection. 
