CHAPTER XXVI. 



MAP OF 50 DEGREE ISOTHERM-THE NORMAI, CLIMATE OF 



CARNATIONS CREAM OF ALL THE CARNATIONS SINCE 



THE BIRTH OF ASTORIA— NAMES, COLORS, PLACE 



OF ORIGIN- ORIGINATORS' NAMES. 



THERE was an importation of fertilized carnation seed from 

 Lyons, France, in 1858, another in 1862, another and two 

 plants, La Puritie and Edwardsii, in 1864. From the seed 

 of 1862 Astoria originated and is the oldest named carnation, to 

 the manor born, in America. Its origination is credited to Wil- 

 son, a neighbor florist of Zeiler, Gard & Co., who imported the 

 seed. It was a yellow-variegated variety of considerable merit, 

 and Wilson named it Astoria after the name of the place he lived, 

 on Long Island. Astoria was born and named two years before 

 La Puritie and Edwardsii were imported. La Puritie was a 

 foreigner though Lyons, France, is on the same isotherm as New 

 York. La Puritie inherited many of the defects of its ancestors 

 but enfolded in its nature mighty floral possibilities and has left a 

 line of beauty trailing down the ages. It was far from being 

 perfect but it was the best nature had evolved; it met the ideal of 

 the time. A right that happens too soon is half wrong; perfection 

 reached early is considered half a freak. The map will give the 

 dynasty of royal blood that has come to rule the world of flowers 

 and the boundaries of their empire. 



Astoria was the first named carnation born in America from 

 Alegatiere seed cross-fertilized in France and brought over in 

 1862. Lady Emma was the first carnation born in America from 

 seed cross-fertilized by Charles Starr in 1875. The reader will 

 notice the hiatus in the list of new carnations between the dates 

 of 1875 and 1886. This was the nebulous era of American flori- 



