'V30 Hislojy and Cul/nrc of ihc Canintion. 



unacceptable to the curious, to enumerate the list of those 

 carnations which were most in esteem two centuries ago : — 



Grey, red, and blue IIulo Oxford carnation 



Griinclo, or Prince carnation King's, or great Bristol carnation 



White or tlolicate Greatest granado 



French carnation Granpere 



Great Harwich Canibersine 



Strijjcd, tlie Blush, and the Red Great Lombard red carnation, 

 savage 



Amongst the 30 sorts of gilloflowers, or second class of 

 carnations, given us by Parkinson, particular mention is made 

 of various sorts raised by Master Tuggy of Westminster, par- 

 ticularly his princess carnation, of which Parkinson has given 

 a figure. In referring to this work, Johnson, in his edition 

 of Gerarde's Herbal^ published in 1636, says: — " If any one 

 requires further satisfaction, let him, at the time of the year, 

 repair to the garden of INIistresse Tuggy (the wife of my late 

 deceased friend Mr. Ralph Tuggy of Westminster) ; which, 

 in the excellence and variety of these delights, exceedeth all 

 that I have seen ; as also he himself, whilst he lived, exceeded 

 most, if not all, of his time, in his care, industry, and skill in 

 raising, increasing, and preserving of these plants, as well as 

 others ; whose loss, therefore, is the more to be lamented by 

 all those that are lovers of plants." 



From the time of Parkinson till the establishment of so- 

 cieties for the encouragement of the cultivation of flowers and 

 fruits, few, besides the varieties of the carnation known in his 

 time, continued to be cultivated by the professional gardeners 

 for sale; but, about the beginning of the last century, the first 

 florists' society was established, comprising many of the most 

 eminent gardeners residing near London; who, in 1730, pub- 

 lished a volume, with coloured figures, of such rare trees and 

 plants as were then first introtliiced into this country. In 

 their preface to this work, they declare that they were asso- 

 ciated for the purpose of comparing such new kinds of plants 

 as were annually introduced into the English gardens; to 

 correct thereby former errors ; and, by comparison, to guard 

 against new species being confoinided with such as were 

 already in the English gardens. For the better carrying on 

 of this design, and presuming that they possessed as great a 

 variety of all the different kinds of trees, shrubs, plants, 

 flowers, and fruits, as any set of gardeners of their number in 

 England (or perhaps in Europe) can boast of, they came to a 

 mutual agreement to meet together, monthly, at some conve- 

 nient place, where each member of the society brought va- 

 rious kinds of plants, flowers, and fruits, in their seasons ; 



