APPENDIX 



ON RAISING NEW CARNATIONS 



BY MARTIN R. SMITH. 



To buy seed of your nurseryman and to sow it is a very simple 

 process, and may afford a fairly pleasing result ; but to raise a 

 really good new variety from seed of your own hybridization is a 

 delight not easily forgotten, and in the joy of the new carnation 

 born into the world you forget all your past labours and dis- 

 appointments. 



I will begin, then, with the raising of the seed. The one 

 essential is a greenhouse, for I cannot advise any one to attempt 

 to raise seed from plants in the open border. The first point 

 is the choice of the class of carnations you wish to propagate. 

 Naturally you cannot gather seed from a house of mixed 

 carnations and expect good results. There are Flakes and 

 Bizarres, White and Yellow Ground Picotees, Fancies and 

 Selfs, and I would counsel the beginner to confine himself at 

 first to " Selfs." They are hardier as a rule, perhaps better 

 seeders, and will give a more generally satisfactory result, for 

 the points of excellence are fewer and of less intrinsic im- 

 portance. A second-class Self may look splendid in the border, 

 whereas a second-class Flake or Bizarre is not worth the trouble 

 of layering. 



In selecting the varieties to breed from, the main points to 

 consider are size, petal, and calyx. Size is of primary impor- 

 tance, for a small Self is not worth wasting labour upon, and 



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