CHAPTER VI 



THE TREE OR PERPETUAL-FLOWERING 

 CARNATION 



By James Douglas 



THIS type of Carnation has not been estab- 

 lished so long in England as the others. I 

 can well remember the varieties in cultivation 

 about the middle of the last century, as one of my 

 duties was to nail the plants to the wall of the 

 nurseryman's dwelling-house where I served my 

 apprenticeship. The plants were three feet and four 

 feet in height, veritable trees, and at that period the 

 name conveyed much truth, but the varieties grown 

 now have nothing of this character. They are, how- 

 ever, well called perpetual flowering, and to confirm 

 this I selected about twenty-four plants of six 

 varieties, and for twelve months they were never out 

 of bloom. A perpetual-flowering Carnation is known 

 by the growths or side shoots which emerge from the 

 main stem, even before the first flowers are cut. 

 When the leading flowers are gathered, the side 

 growths bloom, and in this way a succession is 

 obtained. 



Many Carnation growers ignore this class ; they are 



47 



