XXVIII.] AMERICAN AND ENGLISH CARNATIONS. 449 



nations. This Society will undoubtedly exert a con- 

 servative influence upon mere fashion, and by that 

 much contribute to a more permanent merit -list ; but 

 it will also stimulate the production of superior varie- 

 ties and by this means augment the changes in the 

 lists. But change is indication of advancement and 

 should therefore be encouraged. 



Varieties also disappear because of mere careless- 

 ness in propagating and naming, by which they 

 become mixed. 



I have already observed that carnation growing in 

 America is very different from that in Europe, because 

 it concerns itself with but a single branch of a great 

 family. I might go further, and say that even in 

 the bench carnations our varieties are very different 

 from those of other countries. Scarcely any of the 

 forcing varieties which are recommended across the 

 Atlantic are known favorably in America, and less 

 than 5 per cent of our list of four hundred and 

 twenty varieties appears to be of foreign origin, 

 while all the popular varieties here are of American 

 origin. This same tendency to discard European for 

 American varieties is apparent in all classes of plants 

 which have been long or extensively grown in this 

 country. (Essay XVIII.) We shall undoubtedly 

 soon be able to produce meritorious varieties of the 

 Malmaison, Marguerite, border and other types, if 

 they are once seriously introduced into America. This 

 leads me to say that the best results in breeding 

 new varieties of plants are to be attained only 

 when the work is carried on persistently for a long 

 series of years upon the same stock for a basis and 

 by a single individual. The propagator then secures 

 29 suR. 



