62 BRITISH FLORAL DECORATION 



petals do not fall neither do they easily bruise; thus 

 it is one of the safest flowers for bouquets, sprays, 

 buttonholes or personal adornment of any kind. 

 For long journeys to the provinces or abroad it 

 stands alone, and as an illustration of this fact 

 I recall with satisfaction an order I had last year 

 to send a large supply of flowers three times weekly 

 to a client of mine in Venice, for on her return she 

 told me that the Carnations always reached her in 

 perfect condition and lasted many days after their 

 arrival. I have also sent them to Davos Platz 

 and St. Moritz (both three days parcel post) in 

 the depth of winter with the same satisfactory 

 result. 



Some thirty years ago, when I first became 

 interested in Floriculture generally and the 

 arrangement of flowers in particular, we had, 

 I believe, only two Winter-flowering Carnations, 

 namely, Miss Jolliffe and La Belle, but owing to 

 their having stems, under the most favourable condi- 

 tions, less than twelve inches long, we never thought 

 of using them for anything but quite small work. 

 We are now able to carry out the entire decoration 

 of large country or London mansions with various 

 colour- schemes in Carnations, and it is no uncommon 

 thing to use many thousands of them, with stems 



