THE CARNATION. 243 



he operates (only too successfully) upon the flower 

 itself. 



The carnation is not the only flower which is subject 

 to this exaggeration, e.g., the dahlia and chrysan- 

 themum, but the Eoyal Rose, I rejoice to know 

 (please, reader, do not ask me how), indignantly 

 declines to be "improved," and he who tries to 

 conceal an unsightly " eye " beneath a surreptitious 

 petal, as Miss Squeers essayed to hide her defective 

 organ of vision behind a verandah of drooping curls, 

 or to educe by boisterous breathing a full-blown rose 

 from a bud, will ignominiously fail. 



Wherefore, and though I go to the exhibitions of 

 carnations, picotees, and pinks, and gaze admiringly, 

 I have never been desirous to compete, having so 

 many other floral fascinations for the brief leisure at 

 my disposal. The carnation requires the skill of an 

 expert, and the patient devotion of "a man who 

 would sit up all night with a sick cactus," to produce 

 the flowers which take precedence at our shows ; and 

 I have known instances in which gardeners themselves 

 have given to their loveliness an undue portion of then? 

 time. I remember, for example, walking with my 

 father, who had a great regard for Pomona, and 

 resented any undue intrusions of Flora into his 

 kitchen garden, and how, meeting our gardener 

 between two long rows of carnations, carefully potted, 

 tied to their neat green stakes, and having their big 

 buds bound with bast, he solemnly said, " Evans, if 

 you don't let me have a better supply of fruit and 

 vegetables, I shall probably fancy a carnation tart ! " 

 Poor Evans ! 



