6 Select Carnations, Picotees, and Pinks. 
in 1601 only three years after the publication of 
Gerard's Herbal, and the words put in the mouth of 
Perdita would show that these productions of the 
florist were so common as to be unworthy of her 
regard, and merely “nature’s bastards.” — 
“ The fairest flowers o’ the season. 
Are our Carnations and streaked Gillyflowers, 
Which some call nature’s bastards; of that kind, 
Our rustic garden’s barren; and I care not 
to get slips of them.” 
In 1676, John Rea cultivated 360 varieties of 
Carnations, thus showing that the love for this 
flower continued to grow and that the raisers con- 
tinued their labours with unabated zeal. 
Philip Miller: in the “7th edition “of “he 
Gardeners’ Dictionary” (1759) describes four 
sections into which Carnations were classified in his 
day and devotes the most of his space to particulars 
of cultivation. The principal classes were Flakes, 
Bizarres, and Piquettes, the latter having a white 
ground and spotted or pounced with scarlet, red, 
purple or other colours. Flakes had two colours only, 
the flakes being broad and running through the 
length of the petal. The Bizarres had striped or 
variegated flowers with three or four colours in 
irregular spots or stripes. The fourth class was 
known as Painted Ladies, and were red or purple 
on the upper side and white beneath. For some 
years the Piquettes were most in vogue and later on 
the Flakes were most esteemed. To enumerate the 
varieties he considered needless since new ones 
appeared every year, and every country produced 
new ones annually, so that in the course of two or 
three years they became so common as to be of little 
value, especially if they were defective in any one 
property. _ The properties of a good flower were 
classed under five heads. 
In those days new Carnations were largely intro- 
duced from France and preference was given to 
those of moderate size which did not burst their pods 
(whole blowers). These small flowers had first been 
discarded for large ones, and as the latter lost in 
favour with the florists they depreciated in value and 
were sold at a dozen a shilling. The small flowers 
again became the fashion and Miller accused the 
florists for having variable fancies. 
~ On July 21st, 1818, Edward Barnard brought a 
¢ollection of his Picatee Carnations before the 
