57 



THE CARNATION AS A TOWN FLOWER. 



By Martin Rowan. 



That the Carnation is second in beauty and 

 interest only to the Rose is admitted on all hands, 

 and a " close second " to the Queen of Flowers 

 its votaries may not unjustly claim for it. If 

 Nature has denied to the Carnation all the sump- 

 tuous beauty of the Rose, she has bestowed on 

 her to very lavishness the not less precious gift 

 of variety ; for in the diverse qualities characteristic 

 of the many classes of the flower — in the brilliance 

 and force of the scarlet and crimson bizarres, 

 the tenderness and grace of the rose and purple 

 flakes, the delicacy and refinement of the edged 

 Picotees, the rich colouring of the Selfs, the 

 picturesque and almost infinite contrasts of the 

 fancy and yellow-ground flowers — we have a range 

 of varied beauty hardly to be found in any other 

 flower ; while with the Cloves we have, in addition 

 to their rich hues, a fragrance of their own not 

 inferior to that of the Rose itself. 



With the townsman, indeed, the Carnation 

 must hold not the second, but the very first place 

 in his regard, for while the Rose — like many 

 another old favourite — refuses to dwell within the 



