Show Carnations and Pricotees. 45 
it. The flower or foot stalk must be strong, straight, 
and elastic, to support the blossoms firmly and grace- 
fully, notwithstanding the stick which is applied to 
sustain it; the height of the stalk varies from 2ft. 
Oin. to 4ft. 6in. according to the habit of their 
growth. 
“The value of a flower is also greatly enhanced, 
when it exhales a sweet and fragrant perfume. 
All Carnations possess this quality, but in very 
different degrees, in some it is scarcely perceptible, 
while in others it is strikingly powerful. Odour 
seems to prevail most in strongly bizarred scarlets, 
where there is a frequent recurrence of the clove 
stripe in the petals. The preference which one class 
of flowers, at times, is said to obtain over another, 
depends entirely on the taste and fancy of the person 
who gives that preference. The scarlet bizarre is a 
favourite with one, the crimson with another, the 
purple flake with another, and so on in hke manner 
with the rest. There can be no certain or fixed rule 
why one is to be adjudged in this respect superior to 
another, where taste is the only criterion to go by. 
A flower possessed of all the properties laid down in 
the Societies, where they are exhibited for prizes, is 
seldom or never met with.” 
For 20 years or so after the publication of Hogg’s 
book, and previous to that, a great wave of popularity 
for the show Carnation and Picotee passed over Eng- 
land, and rules or definitions for the gauging of fine 
flowers were laid down by horticultural societies and 
writers of authority. Cambridge became a great 
centre for the cultivation and advancement of the 
race. In Don’s Gardeners’ Dictionary, published in 
1830, the criterion of a fine double Carnation is 
given as follows:— 
“The stem should be strong, tall, and straight, 
not less than 301n. or more than 45in. high; the foot- 
stalks supporting the flowers should be strong, 
elastic, and of a proportionate length. The flower 
should at least be 3in. in diameter, consisting of a 
great number of large, well-formed petals, bu 
neither so many as to give it too full an appearance 
nor so few as to make it appear thin and empty 
The petals should be long, broad, and substantial, 
particularly those of the lower and outer circle, com- 
monly called the guard leaves; these should rise per- 
pendicular about half an inch above the calyx, and 
then turn off gracefully in a horizontal direction, sup- 
