82 Select Carnations, Picotees, and Pinks. 
VIII—TREE OR WINTER-FLOWERING 
CARNATIONS. 
There can be no doubt that the so-called tree 
Carnation originated trom some of the cultivated 
strains of Dianthus Caryophyllus, and is purely a 
creation of the florist. Amongst plantations of 
seedling Carnations plants of very diverse habits 
make their appearance, including seedlings thai pro- 
duce more or less elongated leafy stems instead of 
the short grass with which we are familiar amongst 
the border, and show Carnations and yellow-ground 
Carnations and Picotees. Instead of going to rest 
in the autumn tree Carnations keep on growing, and 
lateral shoots or branches are developed in succes- 
sion. The main stem first -reaches the flowering 
stage and the branches in due time also terminate 
in flowers, thus prolonging the display of bloom. 
The low temperature of our winter would also serve 
incidentally to prolong the display. Should the 
temperature of glass-houses be raised above the 
optimum necessary for the welfare of the Carnation, 
the opening of the buds will be accelerated, but the 
flowers would be smaller, the stems more elongated 
and the leaves more slender. This unduly attenuated 
growth is doubtless due in part to the feeble con- 
dition of the light in winter and the lack of sun- 
shine in which the Carnation delights and puts on 
its most healthy appearance, with deep sea green 
foliage. 
Should seedlings of the above mentioned type be 
saved, propagated, cross-breed and the best of them 
selected the winter-flowering habit would be fixed 
and a strain of more or less perpetual flowering 
varieties developed. By similar methods of pro- 
cedure all the different races of Carnations now in 
existence have been evolved. From amongst the 
many thousands of seedlings which have been raised 
during the last 300 years or more, the florist has 
simply waited upon the operations of Nature and 
selected those types which presented desirable 
features. The tree or winter-flowering Carnation is 
one of those types, which originated naturally as a 
