4 THE CARNATION. 



take up the time of the reader in giving a minute 

 description of all the parts of this flower in the tech- 

 nical language of a botanist, is neither necessary nor 

 required here : I will therefore simply describe what 

 are considered the properties of a good flower among 

 florists. 



The two first classes are further distinguished by 

 their various colours ; as scarlet flake, pink flake, 

 purple flake, scarlet bizarre, crimson bizarre, purple 

 bizarre ; the Picotee is distinguished by the colour 

 of its spots. 



THE DESCRIPTION OF A FINE CARNATION. 



THE excellency of a Carnation is judged and esti- 

 mated by the brightness and distinctness of its va- 

 rious tints and hues, and by the formation or con- 

 struction of the flower-leaves or petals : the ground 

 colour should be of a clear white, as in Walker's 

 British Beauty and Sharpe's Defiance, and the 

 flakes or stripes must run longitudinally through the 

 leaves, as in Fletcher's Duchess of Devonshire and 



