BORDER CARNATIONS 57 



1 should like, by way of warning, to mention here 

 that many thousands of these seedlings (quite use- 

 less from a floral point of view) are purchased and 

 labelled with fictitious names and offered for sale 

 by itinerant plant-vendors in our suburbs. 



If I were to write many pages about this beauti- 

 ful flower I could not say too much in its favour. 

 It is a flower for the rich and the poor alike, and 

 all lovers of them owe a great debt of gratitude 

 to Mr. James Douglas and the late Mr. Martin 

 Smith for their lifelong work among them. The 

 former might fittingly be called the professional 

 father of the Border Carnation of to-day, and the 

 latter, who was a wealthy amateur, devoted many 

 years of careful study and patient work to his 

 beloved flowers. In addition to this he spared no 

 expense, and it is perhaps due to his efforts, more 

 than to those of all others, that this lovely flower 

 owes its popularity. It is a pleasing fact that he 

 left the whole of his collection to his gardener 

 (Mr. Blick), who is still going on with his magni- 

 ficent strains. 



The list which I append of the best varieties for 

 decorative work has been, in common with all my 

 lists, most carefully compiled, and none but the very 

 finest included. The majority of them indeed 



