THE CARNATION. 7 



lity, but in very different degrees; in some it is 

 scarcely perceptible, while in others it is strikingly 

 powerful. Odour seems to prevail most in strongly 

 bizarred scarlets, where there is a frequent recur- 

 rence of the clove stripe in the petals. The prefer- 

 ence which one class of flowers, at times, is said to 

 obtain over another, depends entirely on the taste and 

 fancy of the person who gives that preference. The 

 scarlet bizarre is a favourite with one, the crimson 

 with another, the purple flake with another, and so 

 on in like manner with the rest. There can be no 

 certain or fixed rule why one is to be adjudged in this 

 respect superior to another, where taste is the only 

 criterion to go by. A flower possessed of all the 

 properties called for by the rules and regulations 

 laid down in the Societies, where they are exhibited 

 for prizes, is seldom or never met with. Art is 

 called in to the assistance of nature, and the skilful 

 hand of the florist dexterously extracts the self- 

 coloured and defective and over-crowded leaves, and 

 sometimes even will insert others, and arranges and 

 adjusts the whole with surprising nicety. 



