136 THE CARNATION MANUAL. 



to wish that I may never see cut blooms of any 

 beautiful garden flower whatever so pilloried 

 again ! Tlie whole system of showboards for 

 Chrysanthemums, Roses, and Carnations, etc., is 

 unnatural and wrong from all important points ot 

 view. No artist has ever yet painted a shoAvboard 

 full of the choicest flowers, although in the best 

 picture shows of the year Fautin-Latour, Parsons, 

 Moon, and Muckley, amongst others, give us natural 

 wreaths and clusters of all these as cut rationally 

 with a good length of stalk and leaves, and as 

 arranged in water- vessels in a simple and sensible, 

 because natural, way. Few hardy flowers can 

 rival the Carnation in its graceful curves, or in 

 its elasticity and elegance of stem, as bunches of 

 its blooms are tied, just as cut, along mth 

 a few of their own shoots and leaves. I am 

 not alone in thinking that a good handful of 

 Carnations in a water-jug, or big glass jar, would 

 set people wondering how they could have endured 

 the showboard system so long; and the same 

 simple plan with Roses, Chrysanthemums, Lilies, 

 and other bulbous flowers would work a revolution 

 in the show tents of the future, and lead to flowers 

 being more highly valued for artistic uses than is 

 now unfortunately the case. 



In conclusion I should like to add that, in 

 stating as clearly as I can my own thoughts on 

 the Carnation, with hints on its origin, habitat, 



