74 



THE CARNATION. 



" Orograitis, saltins, velvet fine. 

 The rosy coloured carnardinc-'' 



Drayton, the poet, indeed, also gives me 

 warrant for this interpretation : 



" The brave carnation, then with sweet anil 

 sovereign power. 

 So of his colour calledj although a July flower." 



I like to look into the primitive history of 

 my garden favorites. It is more agreeable 

 than searching genealogical trees and tables 

 of ancestry ; for the flowers go on improving 

 every generation, while the descendants of 

 great men often grow "small by degrees, 

 and beautifully less." 



The English and the Dutch have always 

 had quite an enthusiastic passion for my 

 favorite flower. You remember, no doubt, 

 what that most delightful old essayist, the 

 Spectator, thinks it necessary to say : 



" Some professed florists make them their 

 constant study and employment, and despise 

 all fruit ; and now and then a few fanciful 

 people spend all their time in the cultivation 

 of a single tulip or a carnation.'''' 



I am afraid this last sentence conveys an 

 idea of a devotion far greater than even my 

 own. 



The Carnation has been the favorite, 

 however, of more celebrated personages 

 than the "professed florists." The illus- 

 trious Condo, great as a general and as a 

 prince, while he was a state prisoner in the 

 gloomy Bastile, amused himself in cultivat- 

 ing this charming plant. Indeed a French 

 poetess. Mademoiselle de Scuderi, has com- 

 memorated the fact in one of her verses : 



" En voyant ces ffiillets, qu'un illustre guerrier 

 Cultive d'unc main qui gagne lies battailles, 

 Souviens-toi qu' ApoUon a bAti dcs murailles, 

 Et ne t'etonnc plus que Mars soil jardinier." 



The Carnation is said to be a native of 

 middle Europe. It is quite doubtful if the 

 ancients knew it at all, as there is no allu- 

 sion to it in any of the classics. But it has 



been, for a great length of time, a favorite 

 with all Germany and the north of Europe. 



That good old botanist and herbalist, Ge- 

 rarde, first introduced it into England in 

 1597. He quaintly tells, that in his time 

 it was in great esteem *' to deck up the bo- 

 soms of the beautiful, and to make garlands 

 and crowns for pleasure." 



Since Gerarde's day, the Anglo-Saxons 

 have by no means neglected the Carnation. 

 Within the last fifty years, some of the lead- 

 ing English flower fanciers have enumerated 

 300 or 400 sorts in their catalogues. The 

 perfection to which their culture is carried, 

 quite astonishes one. Indeed they are most 

 tenderly nursed. They are always kept in 

 pots full of the most carefully ordered com- 

 posts ; they are closely watched at all times, 

 but especially when approaching the bloom- 

 ing season. Then the buds are thinned out 

 as soon as they are well formed ; the flower- 

 stems are supported by neat and slender 

 green stakes ; the opening blossoms are 

 prevented from turning awry by pieces of 

 card placed beneath them ; and at length, 

 the expected time having arrived, the whole 

 collection is placed under a tasteful awning 

 upon stages, the plants rising one above an- 

 other to show all of them to the best advan- 

 tage. It is quite impossible to imagine any- 

 thing finer than the " gay confusion " that 

 meets the eye when such a display is in its 

 perfection. 



II. ITS CIIAUACTER. 



The Carnation, in its most perfect state, is 

 known to florists in three principal forms, 

 viz., the Flake, the Bizarre, and the Picotce. 



The Flal-e is distinguished by being 

 striped, with pretty regular well marked 

 bands or stripes of two colours only on a 

 white ground. (Fig. 23.) 



The Bizarre (from the French bizarre, 

 odd, irregular) is characterized by having 



