vi PREFACE 



straight or stiff borderings only, though the white 

 Pink and its forms are among the very best plants for 

 this use, but informal fillings of the outer portions of 

 beds and borders. Used like this with Roses, they 

 are admirable, each plant enhancing the beauty of 

 the other. 



They are perhaps least suited for filling up whole 

 beds, unless the beds are quite small, and especially 

 narrow, in form. 



The deepening love for hardy flowers should have 

 a good effect on floral exhibitions, which have not 

 always directed the would-be gardener into whole- 

 some channels. The showing of Carnation flowers 

 in little paper collars is grotesque and without 

 reason. Surely it is more instructive to show a 

 flower in its natural beauty, and not attempt to cheat 

 the visitor into the belief that the flower there 

 arranged in a paper collar will reveal the same sym- 

 metry of form and colouring in the open garden. 

 A Carnation that is fit only for a show box, and is 

 useless in the garden, should have no claim upon 

 our consideration. 



Raisers must strive to obtain flowers that keep their 

 petals within bounds. A Carnation that splits has 

 little garden value, and whether it splits or not, if it 

 is without fragrance, we would have none of it. The 

 crimson Clove has the charm of a distinctive and 

 deliciously warm fragrance, but there are varieties 

 as scentless as a Baroness Rothschild Rose. This 

 should not be tolerated. The first act generally of 

 a buyer of Carnations is to smell them, and it is in 



