WEEPING ROSES. 199 
and principal kind of Carnation was then distinguished by the name of 
The Old English Carnation. 
During the civil commotions of the latter part of the reign of 
Charles I. and of the Commonwealth, this flower seems to have been 
nearly lost in England, as Mr. John Rea remarks, in the “ Flora” 
which he published in 1665, that we had formerly many good kinds, 
but that few of them were then to be found in any of our gardens. 
The Dutch had then taken up the cultivation of the Carnation, and we 
renewed our gardens with these flowers from Holland during the 
reign of Charles II., as Rea observes, ‘‘ Of these Dutch flowers I 
have known more than a hundred distinct varieties, by several names, 
all of them fair, large, and double flowers.” He also remarks, that 
these plants were not so hardy as those that had been formerly culti- 
vated in England. In a latter edition of Mr. Rea’s Flora, three 
hundred and sixty good sorts of Carnations are enumerated; and to 
show how high this flower was in the estimation of that author, we 
give his own words :— 
“* For various colours Tulips most excel, 
And some Anemonies do please as well, 
Ranunculus in richest scarlets shine, 
And Bear’s Ears may with these in beautie joyn: 
But yet if ask and have were in my power, 
Next to the Rose give me the Gilliflower.” 
As the Carnation possesses some advantages even over the queen of 
flowers, we rejoice to see its cultivation increasing ‘in this country, 
and it is generally admired as the pride of summer flowers. In the 
vicinity of Paris it is cultivated to such an extent that the flowers are 
frequently brought to market in quantities, and we have known a 
whole side of the large March¢ de Halles perfumed with the fragrance 
of the Carnation bouquets, which les dames de Halle were offering to 
each passenger for a few sous, whilst the agreeable Marché aux Fleurs 
was at the same time covered with these plants in pots, for the purpose 
of decorating the courts of the hotels. 
The advantage of the Carnation over the Rose, when cut as an 
ornament for apartments, is its long continuance of beauty, when 
placed in vases of water or wet sand. When placed in water, a small 
piece of nitre should be added, and the water should be changed every 
day, and a small piece of the flower stalks cut off each time of giving 
fresh water, which will prolong their freshness for a considerable 
length of time. It is as common to see large vases filled with these 
flowers in the retail shops of Paris during the summer season, as it is 
to find fires inthe London warehouses during the winter months. 
WEEPING ROSES. 
Tue Alpine or Boursault Roses are very distinct from all others. 
The shoots are long, flexible, very smooth, in some instances entirely 
free from thorns; the one side often of a pale green, the other of a 
reddish tinge; the eyes are formed further apart than common. The 
