CHAPTER VII 



American Carnations in Europe 



In France, comparatively few Perpetual Flowering 

 Carnations of the American type were grown until within 

 a year or two ago, but the stock has been rapidly increased. 

 The few growers who cultivate them in the north and center 

 of France are, or were before the war, managing to get their 

 francs at a pretty good pace, for the price reaUzed for good 

 quahty flowers was tempting. The growers employ 

 nearly always the bench system as adopted from England 

 and America. 



In the south of France and north Italy, the part gen- 

 erally known as the Riviera, probably the original home of 

 the Carnation, quite a different system is adopted. In 

 the low lying districts of Antibes and similar locations, the 

 Carnations are rooted in coldframes during November to 

 January; from there they are transplanted into other 

 frames, and during May to June they are shifted to their 

 permanent quarters in land that has previously been 

 trenched to a depth of from two to four feet. The fol- 

 lowing November they are covered with greenhouses, 

 roughly constructed out of lights. These houses are never 

 heated, but occasionally, when the weather is very cold, they 

 are covered with straw mats. This seems a primitive sys- 

 tem of growing the " Divine Flower," yet it is not the 

 most primitive by any means. 



For primitiveness they certainly take the prize in the 

 Italian Riviera. Here are millions of Carnations grown 



