454 THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE. [XXVIII. 



among themselves in every direction, — in color, 

 markings, fragrance, habit, vigor, hardiness, time of 

 bloom, shape and size of flowers, so much so, in fact, 

 that several distinct species have been erected upon 

 horticultural varieties. Now, these facts are important 

 to our present discussion, because we are to look for 

 greatest improvement in the most variable species. 

 Some varieties are so unlike the small, slender and 

 single -flowered wild plant, which grows in central 

 and' southern Europe, that the two would scarcely be 

 considered to belong to the same species, were they 

 not connected by historical evidence. Almost every 

 character which man has desired has been obtained. 

 This statement is nowhere better illustrated than in 

 the breeding off of the fringes, in securing what the 

 old florists called "whole flowers," or flowers which 

 do not burst the calyx, and in the modification of the 

 shape of the flower itself. 



All the old prints and descriptions represent the 

 petals as deeply and sharply fringed. This is well 

 illustrated in Gerarde's figures, printed in 1597. For 

 at least one hundred and fifty years it has been a 

 tenet of gardeners to breed off the fringe, or to strive 

 for "rose leaves," as the old gardeners phrased it. 

 At the present time, the petals are simply erose ; 

 and this was the case in some varieties, at least, 

 even a hundred years ago, as illustrated in a cut 

 of a large bizarre of 1788 which is to be found in 

 the Botanical Magazine. 



Breeding for flowers which do not burst the calyx 

 is still an important thought with every carnation 

 grower, yet there appears to have been great advance 

 in this direction within the last one hundred and fifty 



