THE DIANTHUS IN FRANCE. 119 



for market into five and six-inch pots from the field, neatly trim- 

 med and staked, and will throw a remarkable profusion and 

 wealth of bloom. The strains of the varieties grown by the plants- 

 men are divided in bizzars, flakes, selfs and fancies. The most pop- 

 ular colors are crimson and scarlet with countless varying shades. 

 Special or choice varieties are invariably continued by layering 

 the lower branches of the plants in the field or in the pots. 



THE DIANTHUS IN FRANCE. 



In France, carnation cuttings are struck early in the fall in 

 cold frames, where they remain through the winter and are trans- 

 planted in the open ground early in the spring, where they bloom 

 profusely through the summer. Scarcely one of the hundreds of 

 kinds catalogued in France is recommended for winter blooming. 

 The demand for Dianthus flowers in France is through the sum- 

 mer and fall months, and in the winter and spring in America. 

 The period of demand for flowers helps to fix the type or habits of 

 the plant. They would naturally be bred to meet requirements 

 There is still another divergent cultivated in France and England 

 called the Malmaison. This variety of Dianthus bears unusually 

 large and showy flowers, the finest specimens measuring six 

 inches in diameter and commands a great price. But few of the 

 semperflorens type are grown in England as its muggy winters 

 seem fatal to their success. There is a section of Dianthus 

 called Border Pinks popular in some parts of England and are 

 abundant and attractive bloomers. 



The prominence and importance given to the forcing type of 

 carnations in England can be fairly gauged by the new "English 

 Carnation Manual," in which, out of seventeen chapters devoted to 

 special types of carnations, but three are allotted to the perpetual 

 blooming kind, which absorbs all interest in America. 



THE DIANTHUS NORTH AND SOUTH. 



To show how quickly isotherms, or the annual average of 

 heat units affect the nature of carnations, I quote a declaration of 

 Mr. Dale, a competent and comprehensive florist of Canada, just on 



