JANUARY 25, 1!1U0. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



211 



I 



Carnations. 

 If you have been many years in the 

 flower business (we mean, ol' course, 

 if you were in it when flowers were 

 poor and scarce), perhaps there's noth- 

 ing connected with it that interests 

 you more than the rapid advancement 

 of the divine flower. 



The cultivation of the carnation as a 

 commercial cut flower in America can 

 only be traced back to thirty-six years 

 ago. The first variety was sent out 

 by Wilson in 1S63; it was named "As- 

 toria," and was a small yellow flower 

 with red stripes; to compare that wee, 

 insignificant flower to the Dailledouze 

 carnation "666" would be like compar- 

 ing the United States of today to what 

 they were in '63. And yet the men 

 who struggled to introduce and ad- 

 vance carnation culture in those early 

 days deserve more credit than is given 

 them; and mind you, although we are 

 undoubtedly now getting finer flowers 

 than ever, there are times in the re- 

 tail store even now when we yearn for 

 one or two of the old favorites of long 

 years ago. 



It is only our province here to re- 

 view the carnation from a retail point 

 of view. From 1S63 to 1900 there have 

 been nearly five hundred named varie- 

 ties of carnations introduced to the 

 American market, and out of that vast 

 army scarcely fifty kinds can be found 

 in cultivation throughout this conti- 

 nent at the present time. To study 

 the history of this beautiful race of 

 flowers is to acquaint oneself with the 

 life — its joys and sorrows— of Ameri- 

 can floriculture. From the time when 

 Zeller imported the first batch of seed- 

 lings from France, all along the road 

 there have been carnations that have 

 almost rivaled the rose in beauty and 

 in popularity. The La Purite of '66, 

 the President Degraw of '67, the Chas. 

 Sumner and Louis Lenoirs of '68— 

 yes, certainly, we will admit, were not 

 sold over marble counters, because the 

 one or two shabby little florists' stores 

 were only just open then; but they 

 brought far higher prices in compari- 

 son than the carnations you sell now, 

 and they were more appreciated. 



Let's see; it required few flowers in 

 those days to make a wreath or basket. 

 Seldom, if ever, were designs or bou- 

 quets made exclusively of them, and 



there was no way to get the flowers 

 but to go to the growers for them. 

 (Ask any of the few grey heads in the 

 business about their midnight tramps 

 into the country thirty years ago in 

 search of flowers. They'll astonish 

 you.) It was next to impossible to 

 induce the grower of those days to 

 pick carnations with a stem. There 

 was no disbudding; you had to be sat- 

 isfied with your flowers picked off at 

 the calyx, and the price varied from 

 5 to 10 cents each. Foreign stems, 

 such as privet and wire, had to be put 

 on them when used in baskets or bou- 

 quets. Even under all these disad- 

 vantages they constituted no small 

 portion of the flower trade, and their 

 beauty and fragrance lent many 

 charms to the floral art of that period. 

 You will find that in every decade 

 since then there has been a new race 

 of carnations springing into existence, 

 and with them higher development 

 and greater refinement in the art of 

 arrangement. In the early '70s carna- 

 tions were picked, but only in special 

 cases, with stems ranging from 6 to 

 10 inches in length; then it was that 

 these flowers became popular in ex- 

 clusive designs — corsage and ball bou- 

 quets or carnations were items of the 



highest fa.shioii. In lbT5 that grand 

 old scarlet Lady Knima gave us colOr 

 we could only get from geraniums or 

 poinsettias; the same year gave us the 

 sweet white La Purite; '76 sent us the 

 old Crimson King, the best of its color 

 up to that time. Hinsdale, perhaps 

 the sweetest and in many other ways 

 the best carnation up to 1890, appeared 

 in the same year. In '78 came the 

 li.;iutiful old yellow Buttercup, and iir 

 '7:i Uinze's White. 



Now, the last named six varieties 

 of this glorious race of flowers were of 

 the utmost importance to the ensuing 

 histories of both carnation culture and 

 decorative art. It may be truly said 

 they were not the ideals, but they rep- 

 resented the perfection of cultivation 

 at that time, and they not only fur- 

 nished the artist with material hither- 

 to unobtainable, but they gave an im- 

 measurable impetus to fashion and our 

 trade and brought wealth to grower 

 and retailer alike. In those days, if 

 .lacqueminot roses were out of season 

 or not to be had, as was mostly the 

 case, and it was impossible to get auy 

 crimson rose. Crimson King carnation 

 was nearly always a welcome substi- 

 tute. Very set and formal floral de- 

 signs were all the style then and this 

 particular color and flower was very 

 much in demand about that time. 



Also, there were a few artists in the 

 trade whose works have never yet 

 been excelled; these men were con- 

 tinually demanding finer grades of 

 stock and the price was seldom con- 

 sidered; the growers in many in- 

 stances were offered high premiums to 

 produce finer flowers. The finer grade 

 of trade became more exacting; people 

 became dissatisfied with designs con- 

 taining immortelles and other dried 

 stuff. Art at this period was lifted up 

 to a higher standard. Wreaths were 

 made more gi'aceful and the choicer 

 ones were made entirely of white car- 

 nations; loose bunches and baskets of 

 them were often seen. Buttercup car- 

 nation was one of the choicest flowers 

 a man could put in his window then. 



Avondale. 



A corner at the Chicago Club's Display last Friday. 



