442 THE SURVIVAL OP THE UNLIKE. [XXVIII. 



But the most important fact in all this is the very 

 recent origin of the forcing carnations, and to this 

 point I desire to call particular attention. It is 

 scarcely half a century since Dalmais sent out Atim 

 (1844), the first recorded perpetual carnation. Dal- 

 mais was gardener to M. Lacene, at Lyons. He 

 crossed a November carnation (St. Martin) with one 

 of the bichons as a starting point, and this cross- 

 breed was crossed again with the Flemish type. Va- 

 rious persons have been concerned in this evolution 

 of the perpetual carnations, especially Schmidtt, 

 Alegatiere and Turner ; but to Alegatiere is ascribed, 

 by common consent, the chief merit in this develop- 

 ment. Alegatiere 's work is little more than half as 

 old as Dalmais'. All this shows how recent has been 

 the beginning of an industry which now enlists a 

 great army of florists. Is it any wonder, then, that 

 the ideals have not yet been reached, and that even 

 the best of the new varieties soon give way to 

 others ? 



Two new features have come to be essential in 

 this bench type of carnations : (1) The habit of 

 continuous bloom for a period of six or seven 

 months ; (2) A tall stature, with long and strong 

 flower stems, fitting them for bouquet work. With 

 these requisites is combined the additional importance 

 attached to a strong, non- bursting calyx. The per- 

 petual character and long stems are rapidly coming to 

 be permanent characters. 



It would be interesting to inquire if these per- 

 petual types are really any more productive than the 

 older border varieties, or if only the same amount 

 of bloom is distributed over a longer period. This 



