104 Select Carnations, Picotecs, and Pinks. 
X—MARGUERITE CARNATIONS. 
History of the Race. 
Under the name of Dianthus. Caryophyllus 
Margaritae the above new race of Carnations first 
came under my notice on the gth September, 1890, 
when Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons exhibited a group 
oi cut flowers and received an Award of Merit from 
the Royal Horticultural Society for the strain. The 
tringed, sweet scented flowers exhibited rose, pink, 
scarlet, purple, salmon, white, striped and other 
shades of colour. The seeds had been sown in a 
warm frame early in March of that year, and after 
they were well germinated they were transferred to 
a cold trame and finally planted cutside early in 
June. The plants were in full bloom at the time the 
flowers were shown, just six months after the seeds 
were sown. 
Immediately after this their cultivation was taken 
up in the Sparkhill Nurseries, Birnungham, under 
the name of Margaret Carnations. Thev had been 
crossed with the Scarlet Bizarre Robert Houlgrave, 
and on the 12th November, 1892, a promising batch 
of seedlings was then in full bloom. They were 
dwarf, and carried scarlet self, flaked and other hueu 
flowers of large size and well formed. The seeds 
had been sown in February, and bloomed from 
September till Christmas. 
The culture of this race was also taken up at an 
early date by Messrs. Sutton and Sons, who grew a 
mixed strain of Marguerites in many colours. In 
1894 they offered the White Marguerite as a 
novelty. Since then they have been improving both 
of the strains and in 1898 spoke of them as 
Improved Marguerite, mixed, and Improved 
Marguerite, Pure White. The name “ Marguerite ” 
is now generally employed for the race. 
Soon after the introduction of these Carnations 
a story of Continental origin described them as 
having originated from a dwarf early flowering form 
of Dianthus Caryophyllus (the Carnation), found 
wild in Italy and crossed with the China Pink (D. 
sinensis). Trials of seedlings in the early days of 
their introduction, coming under my notice, seemed 
