82 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



tues. What is needed is to combine them all in one 

 plant; and, since most species hybridize very readily, 

 there seems to be no reason why this should not be 

 done. Already there are some new pinks appearing 

 with large, single, and bright-coloured flowers; and 

 there are others with double flowers that blossom al- 

 most as long as carnations. What we want is a new 

 race of single flowering pinks, of compact habit, vigorous 

 constitution, large brilliant flowers, and a long period 

 of bloom. Vigour of constitution is a most important 

 point, and one too often overlooked in the development 

 of the carnation. Unfortunately, the pink which 

 flowers longest and has the largest and most brilliant 

 flowers, Dianthus sinensis, and its fine variety, D. 

 Heddewigii, is not a true perennial; and varieties 

 which have a strain of its blood in them are apt to 

 be delicate. It has been conjectured that there is a 

 strain of D. sinensis in the carnation, which may be 

 the reason for its comparative delicacy, and also in 

 some of the mule pinks, which are beautiful plants 

 but need to be constantly renewed by cuttings. In 

 time, however, the better qualities of D. Heddewigii 

 might be combined with the virtues of the most vigor- 

 ous natural species. 



There are already, of course, many beautiful garden 

 pinks; but most of them have double flowers and 

 bloom for only a short season. The florists of the 

 past took great pains to produce pinks very precisely 

 laced or edged. They were dominated by the rules 

 and standards of flower-shows; but, now that the 



