264 THE GARDENING WORLD 
Fancy Yellow-Ground 
cloor culture, Mr. Smith then proceeded 
to improve the yellow-ground Picotee. 
At this work he practically evolved two 
types, namely, the fancy yellow-ground 
Carnation and those having numerous 
bars or flakes running down the petals on 
a yellow-ground colour. Some of them 
have a number of colours suffused or 
united in some subtle manner, but all 
combining to produce a harmonious 
flower. They would also come under the 
title of fancy yellow-ground Carnations. 
The chief aim was, of course, to im¬ 
prove the yellow-ground Picotee so as 
to bring it to the same delicate perfection 
as the old florists did the white-ground 
Picotee. In this he has been more suc¬ 
cessful than any other cultivator, because 
he has not merely evolved a race of them, 
but given them constitution so that others 
can work and even produce improvements 
upon his acquisitions. These yellow- 
ground Picotees are characterised by hav¬ 
ing the various colours, such as pink, 
rose, scarlet or crimson entirely confined 
to the edge of the petals, leaving the rest 
of the space of some shade of yellow, dark 
or light, but uniform for the whole of 
the petal. This was no easy matter, be¬ 
cause although the Carnation at a very 
early period has given rise to bars, flakes 
and spots, these usually run down the 
petal and can only be grown as a fancy 
yellow-ground Carnation if worthy of 
being cultivated. On the other hand it 
takes many generations of Carnations to 
evolve a flower in which these bright col¬ 
ours are confined to the edge. 
In order to eliminate bars and stripes, 
the old florists would have been almost 
certain to go on inbreeding very closely 
Carnation Erl King. [,Moclaren and Sons. 
connected types and in that way ruin the 
constitution of their products. Mr. Smith 
kept this well in view and the yellow- 
ground types are quite as vigorous as the 
self coloured varieties. Many visitors to 
exhibitions where Carnations appear are 
under the impression that they require 
heat when they see these fine flowers, but 
it should be remembered that all of them 
were originally reared in the open air 
where the seedlings had been wintered. 
The rearing of white-ground Picotees 
was .also undertaken with a view to get¬ 
ting varieties of vigorous constitution and 
in this also he was remarkably successful. 
There are many gardeners who remember 
the sensation caused by the many new 
varieties of Malmaison Carnations which 
made their debut at various exhibitions 
from The Warren. The old type of Mal¬ 
maison with a few sports produced pollen, 
but none of them were capable of pro¬ 
ducing seed. Mr. Smith conceived the 
idea of using the pollen from these Mal- 
maisons upon others of vigorous consti¬ 
tution and somewhat similar type with the 
result that many varieties of wonderful 
beauty were reared and became popular 
in many gardens. 
We reproduce three of the fine acquisi¬ 
tions raised at The Warren to remind 
our readers of the form and beauty of 
the flowers of which we have been speak¬ 
ing. Two of them are yellow-ground 
Picotees which has taken many years of 
careful working in order to secure them. 
The camera does ncrt always represent 
slender edgings very distinctly, but read¬ 
ers may assume that these flowers were 
yellow with a distinct edging of some 
other colour. Leonora has a light rose 
April 24, 1909.' 
edging on a pale primrose ground. The 
petals are broad, flat, not over numerous, 
but of fine substance, and handsome ap¬ 
pearance. Incidentally, it may be men¬ 
tioned that this variety appeared in the 
stands that took the first, second and third 
prizes for eighteen varieties of yellow- 
ground Picotees at Westminster in 1908. 
The flowers of Antonio are relatively 
larger, though the edging is less distinctlv 
marked in the photograph. It is really 
a light rose on a bright yellow ground. 
These two, amongst others, are practically 
now as perfect as were the white-ground 
Picotees in existence about one hundred 
years ago. Quite a number, both light 
and heavy edged, have emanated from 
The Warren during the last decade, and 
since these fine varieties are now a reality 
we can well expect that the number will 
increase from year to year. Mr. Charles 
Blick is, of course, in the secret as to 
how these fine varieties were raised and 
as far as time will allow, he will continue 
the work that had been so splendidly 
begun. 
In a general aspect, as represented by 
the camera, the fancy yellow ground Car¬ 
nation Erl King reminds one of Marmion, 
both as to shape and the arrangement of 
the colours. It is, however, altogether 
d ; stinct. The ground colour is buff-orange 
and on this are heavy suffused splashes 
or markings of magenta-rose. This extra 
colour is not in the form of bars or flakes, 
but is a beautiful suffusion of colours 
whereby the one melts into the other. 
The accompanying illustration will give 
an idea of this fine variety which was in 
the class that took leading honours at 
Westminster last year for . eighteen fancy 
yellow-ground Carnations. 
While all this complicated work under 
glass and out of doors was being carried 
on for the purpose of rearing and select¬ 
ing new varieties as well as trying them 
there was another form of experiment on 
the lawn by The Warren. A large num¬ 
ber of small beds were cut out on the 
grass and each of these beds was devoted 
to one variety of Carnation, thus giving 
it ordinary outdoor culture as it would 
have in a bed or border of other Carna¬ 
tions. The beds were splendidly filled; 
and the tall stems were staked by means 
of spiral wires painted green so that at 
a short distance away it was difficult to 
detect the presence of these wire stakes. 
As it was the wish of the late Martin 
R. Smith, Esq., that Mr. Charles Blick 
would continue the work upon the same 
lines, he has been making preparations 
for this ever since the loss of his master. 
As he was in so close touch with every¬ 
thing that his master did and has full 
control of the cultivation of plants, both 
out of doors and under glass, we have no 
doubt that he will make his nursery 
an interesting place for all Carnation 
specialists to visit. Even those who can 
only grow their plants out of doors would 
find The Warren, Carnation Nurseries a 
suitable place to inspect for the purpose 
of making a selection of one or other of 
the many fine types to be found there. 
Mr. Blick will shortly issue a catalogue 
and will be pleased to send a copy to all 
applicants. -During July, when they are 
in bloom, we have no doubt that he will 
be only too pleased to welcome any or all 
readers of The Gardening World. 
