232 GENERAL REVIEW. 



admired and cultivated by English florists during the past three 

 centuries. 



Pinks and Carnations are among the oldest of all florists' 

 flowers ; and faithful old Parkinson, at page 12 of his 

 ' Paradisus,' in discoursing on them under the head of what 

 he calls English Flowers, observes : " But what shall I say of 

 the Queen of delight and of flowers, Carnations and Gilloflowers, 

 whose bravery, variety, " and sweet smell joyned togeather, 

 tyeth every one's affection with great ernesstness both to like 

 and to have them ? Those that were known and enjoyed in 

 former times with much acceptation are now for the most 

 part lesse accounted of, except a very few ; for now there are 

 so many other varieties of later invention that troubleth the 

 other both in number, beauty, and worth." Among the 

 varieties which he quaintly says " troubleth the others " are the 

 Red and Grey Halo the old Carnation differing from them 

 both the Granpere, the Dover, the Oxford, the White Carna- 

 tion or Delicate, and many others. " But there is another sort 

 of great delight and variety called the Orange Tawny Gillo- 

 flower, which for the most part hath risen from seed, and doth 

 give seed in a more plentiful manner than any of the former 

 sorts, and likewise by the sowing of the seed there hath been 

 gained so many varieties of that excellent worth and respect 

 that it can hardly be expressed or beleeved." These last were 

 in all probability Picotees, or Yellow-grounded Carnations. 

 " Pinks, likewise, both single and double, are of much variety, 

 all of them very sweet, coming near the Gilloflowers, Sweet- 

 Williams, and Sweet-Johns, both single and double, both 

 white, red, and spotted, as they are kinds of wilde Pinks, so 

 far their grace and beauty help to furnish a garden." For 

 excellent old woodcut figures and quaint descriptions of 

 Carnations and Pinks cultivated in 1629, see Parkinson's 

 ' Paradisus in Sole,' p. 306-317. 



Seeds. New varieties are raised from seeds, which are 

 freely produced by healthy plants. If a ' double Pink or Car- 

 nation flower be examined, the feather-like tips of the 

 stigma will be seen in the centre of the flower, and these 

 should be fertilised by pollen taken from a single or semi- 

 double variety of good habit and colour. If the seed-bearing 

 plants are out of doors, fertilise the first two or three blooms, 

 which are always the finest, having previously thinned out all 

 the other flower-stems and the superfluous buds on those left 

 to bloom. By doing this the seed will be finer, and also ripen 

 much earlier. In wet, cold localities, the seed-bearing plants 

 may be grown in pots plunged in ashes or cocoa-nut fibre in a 



