AMONG THE FLOWERS. 



•257 



dry. The leaves of the tobacco grown in 

 this way will make a splendid tobacco solu- 

 tion to destroy plant destroying insects, es- 

 pecially green and black fly or aphis, and 

 thrip that infest rose bushes, grape vines, 

 ferns and many other plants. 



The best variety of tobacco to grow for 

 this purpose is the Connecticut seed leaf or 

 some of the coarser growing kinds of to- 

 bacco. The purple flowered Nicotiana is 

 about the best of the decorative varieties to 

 grow for making the tobacco solution. 



FLOWER AND PLANT LORE 



EDWARD TYRRELIv, TORONTO. . 



FROM all parts of the world the histori- 

 ans of bygone centuries have con- 

 tributed their accounts of the rich assort- 

 ment of flowers in demand for ceremonial 

 purposes. Associated with the customs 

 which had important significance in the his- 

 toric days of Greece and Rome, we have 

 abundant details of the skill and care dis- 

 played in procuring for religious purposes 

 the choicest varieties of flowers. 



The profuseness with which flowers were 

 used in Rome during triumphal processions 

 is proverbial, in allusion to which Macaulay 

 writes, 



" On they ride to the Forum 

 While laurel boughs and flowers 

 From house top and from windows 

 Fell on their crests in showers." 



and the Coronation, which we now call the 

 Carnation, was a favorite. 



Carnation Dianthus, • from Dios divine, 

 Anthos, floiver — divine flower, flower of 

 love, July flower. Up to the beginning of 

 the 1 6th century writers gave it the name 

 Coronation, in illusion to its use in chaplets 

 or from the dented or toothed above like ^'O 

 a little coronet. Pliny gives a long list of 

 garland flowers used by the Romans and 

 Athenians in which the Coronation held 

 such a high place that it was called by the 

 name, Flower of Love. 



After the i6th century, or thereabouts, 

 the word Carnation came into use as ex- 

 pressive of the color, the hue or color of 

 one's skin or flesh, a light rosy pink, but 

 sometimes used for a deeper crimson color, 

 as in the Carnation flower. This carnation 

 color is often used by painters to express 



the various tints of their colors, and when 

 this is done natural, bold and strong, and .s 

 well colored, they say of the painter that his 

 carnation is very good. 



THE FLORISTS LIKED IT. 



It is not known how soon it became a 

 florists' flower, but it must have been early, 

 as Gerard, who was contemporary with 

 Shakespeare, says " a great and large vol- 

 ume would not suffice to write of every one 

 in particular, considering how infinite they 

 are, and how every year, and every climate 

 and country bringeth forth new sorts, such 

 as have not heretofore been written of, some 

 whereof are called Carnations, others Clove 

 Gilloflowers, some Sops in Wine, some Pa- 

 giants or Pagion Color. Also a Gilloflower 

 with yellow flowers, the which a worshipful 

 merchant of London, Mr. Nicholas Lite, 

 procured from Poland, which before that 

 timiC was never seen nor heard of in these 

 countries. This great Carnation Gillo- 

 flower hath a thick round woody root, from 

 which riseth up many strong jointed stalks, 

 set with long green leaves by couples, on 

 the top of the stalk do grow very fair flow- 

 ers of an excellent sweet smell and pleasant 

 carnation color, whereof it took its name, 

 Cariophyllus maximus multiplex (the great 

 double carnation). 



The Carnation belongs to the Pink (Dian- 

 thus) family, and on account of its delicious 

 fragrance, closely resembling that of the 

 Clove of Commerce, or Clove Pink (Dian- 

 thus cariophyllus), the latter being the 

 generic name of the Molucca Tree, from 

 which the spice is obtained. 



