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PROLOGUE. 



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THE first edition of American Carnation Culture 

 was published in 1885, before the organization of 

 any national floral societies, or the establishment of 

 Trade Journals, to collect and collate facts. The 

 only medium or source of mutuality among carna- 

 tion growers at that time was by brief, sententious 

 catalogues. The author purchased and grew nearly 

 200 varieties of carnations then originated, to obtain 

 some experimental data upon which to found the 

 work. He then claimed and now claims American 

 Carnation Culture was the first and only work ever published 

 in historical form on the American remontant type of carnations. 

 Dodwell published a work in England about the same time 

 with only a few pages devoted to the Alegatiere type of carnations. 

 Hogg wrote a work in 1820 on the culture of the carnation pink. 

 Asa Gray wrote a pamphlet on carnations in the thirties, Gard 

 in 1597, Busier in 1813, John Ray in 1713, Philip Mullens in 

 1752, William Curtis in 1788, Martin in 1807, and others, up to 

 1840, speak and briefly treat of carnations. But none of these 

 refer to the species I seek to deal with, for it was not originated 

 until 1856. 



The superintendent of the Agricultural Department of the 

 United States, estimates from the census of 1 900 that the glass sur- 

 face of greenhouses in America amounts to 300,000,000 superficial 

 square feet, equaling an area of about 8000 acres. There are 15,000 

 floral establishments that rise to the commercial importance of 

 requiring constantly the employment of two men, and giving sup- 

 port to 30,000 people. This calculation does not include thous- 

 ands of small houses, and conservatories for growing plants and 



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