32 FLORA HISTORICA. 



hand of the gardener can double and triple the 

 petals of the Pink, he cannot render their beauties 

 permanent. Nature seems to liave allowed her 

 ^vorks to bear a temporary improvement only, in 

 order to create industrious habits in man, her most 

 noble and finished work. 



The primitive Pink is simple red or white, and 

 scented : by floriculture its petals have been en- 

 larged and multiplied, and its colours infinitely 

 varied, until it has obtained all the colours, from 

 the darkest purple to the purest white, with all the 

 hues of red, from the rich crimson to the pale rose, 

 with which also the yellow is frequently blended. 

 In some of these flowers we see the eye of the phea- 

 sant painted; others are beautifully marbled, 

 striped, or figured. In some varieties we see two 

 opposite colours abruptly diversified ; whilst in 

 others they seem not only to meet in happy contrast, 

 but to mingle and soften off' in shades. Thomson 

 speaks of it as the "gay-spotted Pink ;" but under 

 all its diversities it preserves its delicious spicy 

 fragrance, which never leaves it, however incessantly 

 H inclines to quit its artificial adornment to take its 

 own simple attire. Maddock lays down as the cri- 

 terion of a fine double Pink, that *' the stem should 

 be strong, elastic, and erect, and not less than 

 twelve inches high ; the calyx rather smaller and 

 shorter, but nearly similar in form and proportion 



