8 THE CARNATION. 



One Christopher Nunn, of Enfield, Middlesex, a 

 noted florist in his day, was eminent for his skill and 

 dexterity in dressing Pinks and Carnations for prize 

 exhibitions some will even tell you, that Kit was 

 the father of the art. Upon such occasions he had 

 as many applications to dress flowers, as he had to 

 dress wigs ; for he was a barber and friseur by trade, 

 and withal a good-natured, facetious, prating bar- 

 ber, and could both shave and lay a Carnation with 

 the greatest nicety. The novices of that day, who, 

 being unacquainted with his secret art, trusted to 

 Dame Nature to open, expand, and perfect their 

 flowers, were no match for Nunez : for he began 

 where she left off, and perfected what she had left 

 imperfect. His arrangement and disposition of the 

 petals were admirable, and astonished those novices. 

 Kit's art of dressing is still an enviable art, and 

 attainable only by few. 



Kit, as a florist, possessed other merit besides 

 this : he could mix and temper soils with the same 

 skill as he did his pomatum ; he was a great experi- 

 mentalist and compounder of manures; it was all 



