STANDARD OF POINTING 71 



tained for further trial, as it usually takes two, and some- 

 times three years to determine whether they are valuable. 



The flower, not less than the plant, must possess some 

 outstanding merit before it can be classed with the best. 

 It is unfortunate that some of the finest Carnations, re- 

 markable for their beauty in form and colour, should lack 

 the perfume so characteristic of the " Malmaison " and 

 old Clove Carnations. A flower of Enchantress, if it 

 possessed the perfume of an old Scotch Clove, would 

 indeed be an acquisition, and it seems to me the present 

 type at its best can hardly be improved upon except in 

 this direction. 



Seed of the Perpetual-Flowering Carnation may be pro- 

 cured from most seedsmen, and can be relied upon to 

 produce plants yielding a fine display of flowers of varied 

 colours, both in the open garden and in pots, or planted out 

 under glass. A small percentage of these will have single 

 flowers, but even the single flowers are not to be despised 

 for cut-flower purposes. As a guide to the good qualities a 

 perfect plant and flower should possess, I cannot do better 

 than quote The Perpetual-Flowering Carnation Society's 

 standard of pointing, one hundred points being the maximum 

 number obtainable by the perfect plant and flower : 



" Colour 20 points 



Size 20 



Fragrance . . . . . . .10,, 



Substance 10 



Calyx 5 



Habit of Plant 20 



Form . . . 15 ,. 



100 



