THE PERPETUAL FLOWERING CARNATION 3 



his inability to dispense with it if for any reason he was asked to. 

 And he would be right, for he literally cannot do without it. Can 

 we imagine his windows shorn of those elegant vases of scarlets and 

 crimsons, pinks and whites, and bizarres ? Can we suggest to 

 him an efficient substitute which could make his mid-winter display 

 as varied and as glorious as that of midsummer ? So, while we 

 can very heartily deplore this lack of perfume, we cannot see in it 

 anything likely to interfere with the further development of the 

 carnation as a great commercial flower. None the less, we trust that 

 raisers and specialists will explore this matter, even if they have to 

 take some retrograde steps to do so, and we entertain very lively and 

 reasonable hopes that ere many years have passed they will be able 

 to re- endow it with its most precious attribute, which somehow or 

 other slipped from it in the course of its evolution. 



Nor should we refrain from referring, in this connection, to its 

 excellent keeping qualities. As florists ourselves, with all the 

 florists' doleful experiences of consigning daily large quantities 

 of flowers to the rubbish heap, all of which cost hard cash, we can 

 testify to the fact that our losses in carnations from that cause 

 have been practically nil, and that during the cooler months of 

 the year we have frequently found blooms quite saleable after being 

 cut from the plant nearly three weeks. Compare this with roses 

 and many other popular flowers, and its economic value is apparent. 



