70 CARYOPHYLLACE^. 



quality may also be procured by seed, which should be sown in 

 spring or in July, or both, for the purpose of securing succes- 

 sion. Some of the earlier sowing will be found to bloom in the 

 autumn, if it has been made early; and in mild places they will 

 be very welcome then, as they will continue well into winter if 

 the weather is favourable. If the seed is sown in March, a cold 

 frame or hand-glass should be devoted to it, and it may be 

 sown broadcast or in lines, in the frame or in pots, according 

 as the quantity needed, and the convenience in other respects, 

 may determine. In July they may be sown in the open ground 

 in a reserve spot, or at once where they are to flower, but they 

 are better for being transplanted, and on this account a nursing- 

 bed and a little trouble in pricking out the seedlings are ad- 

 visable. Native of Germany and other parts of central and 

 southern Europe. 



D. caryophyllus [Camatmi or Clove). — This is the parent of 

 the Carnation, Clove, and Picotee in all their splendid varieties, 

 so much and deservedly esteemed for the handsome form, bril- 

 liant colours, and delicious fragrance that distinguish them 

 above nearly every other cultivated flower. As seen in nature, 

 this species forms considerable tufts of linear glaucous leaves, 

 with weak straggling stems a foot or more high, and purple or 

 white flowers. But the parent would not be tolerated beside 

 the progeny in gardens ; its capabilities for ornamentation would 

 be on trial, indeed, alongside even inferior varieties that have 

 sprung from it. The varieties are very numerous, many hun- 

 dreds have been named, but, like all more than ordinarily vari- 

 able flowers which have received much attention from florists, 

 there is much similarity of feature between the individuals that 

 form large collections ; and for the purposes of decoration a few 

 distinct sorts of hardy constitution selected from the different 

 races of Clove, Carnation, and Picotee, will be found more 

 satisfactory than collections of trivially-defined ones. The 

 Cloves, red and white, are the most fragrant, the true Carna- 

 tions — that is, the bizarres and flakes, as they are named by 

 florists, according to the style of their colouring — and the Pico- 

 tees are only less sweet, but the great beauty and variety of 

 their flowers compensate somewhat for that deficiency. All 

 these races of the Carnation are rather difficult to cultivate in 

 heavy wet soil. The Picotee is less troublesome to keep up in 

 such than the others, but they are all more liable to perish in 

 winter than when placed in drier sandier earth. Of course, 

 means obvious enough can be taken to preserve the old plants 

 even in the worst of soils through the winter, and stock should 

 be made by layers every season to make up gaps that will 



