FROM AIjEGAETERE TO STARR. 21 



of Zeiler, Gard and Dailledouze, in 1858, imported from Lyons, 

 some seed cross-fertilized by Alegatiere, who after Dalmias and 

 Schmitt became the representative of the new species of carnations 

 in France. So far as tradition and old records throw light on this 

 invoice of seed, but little came of it. There is not a single carna- 

 tion bearing a name until after this firm's second importation, in 

 1862. 



In March, 1864, two years later, this firm issued a catalogue 

 which listed 125 named varieties of carnations. These were evi- 

 dently the product of seedlings or cuttings obtained from their 

 seedlings, imported the previous year. These varieties the firm 

 offered for sale in five-inch pots. The late Peter Henderson, 

 father of American horticulture, bought fifty of these plants, pay- 

 ing Zeiler, Gard and Dailledouze $1.50 a piece for them, the first 

 sale of carnations of any significance occurring on this continent. 



Louis Zeiler obtained from Lyons, France, three batches of 

 carnation seed, and with the last in 1864, two plants, a pink and 

 a white, named respectively La Puritie and Edwardsii. It is an 

 error that the white La Puritie, cultivated until 1890, was the pink 

 La Puritie imported by Zeiler. There has been in cultivation four 

 La Purities, red, pink, white and variegated. Edwardsii was 

 doubtless not continued by cuttings. It was the practice with the 

 few florists, at populous points on the sea board, to raise their car- 

 nations from seed and grow them in pots; bench culture was 

 not then thought of. White carnations for years went under the 

 name of Boule de Neige, Peerless, Avalanch, Snow Ball, White 

 Perfection, Snow White, Edwardsii, etc. 



According to the census of i860 there were but 112 floral 

 establishments in the United Slates at the advent of carnations in 

 this country, and a large percentage of these were indifferent 

 about a new flower of European ori^^in. 



Astoria passes on the roster of publicity in 1864 as the first 

 native born carnation. It is credited to Wilson, and is possibly a 

 product of the 1862 or 1864 importation of seeds. 



There followed in 1866, La Puritie and Edwardsii. In 1866 

 these imported plants are credited to Zeiler, who merely imported 



