THE CARNATION MANUAL. 129 



culture and beauty of the best Self* Carnations, in 

 particular during recent years. 



In itself the wild Carnation of Normandy is not 

 very splendid, but its wild habitats, and the peculiar 

 manner m which it haunts old ruins, may teach us 

 a lesson as to Carnation-culture. Wild on lime- 

 stone rocks and banks, it is likewise most abundant 

 on the old keep or donjon tower of the Chateau 

 Gaillard, an eyrie high up over the Seine, above the 

 greater and lesser towns of Les Andelys, where 

 Nicholas Poussin was born. Here, high up among 

 the flinty masonry, the plant forms great clusters, 

 and its seedlings grow m every crack and fissure 

 and chink of the great walls. I did not see it in 

 flower, but the clusters of seed-vessels rustlmg aloft 

 in the warm breeze of an April day told the tale, 

 and most assuredly bespoke a profusion of its single 

 rosy flowers during the months of June or July of 

 the preceding year. As I crept out at a great port- 

 hole to see the plant at closer quarters, I could not 

 help comparing the natural tastes of this plant 

 with the culture it generally receives in most gar- 

 dens. There was no eel- worm, nor rust-fungus 

 (^cidium), nor any signs of "damping-off" here, 

 but every plant was fresh and sturdy, and of the 

 healthiest colour imagmable, albeit scorched by a 

 hotter summer's sun than ours, and buffeted during 

 winter by every gale that blows. 



Then there is another point of difference worth 



