52 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



Of course it accords with the laws of progress that the old- 

 fashioned, unimproved type must give place to the newer and the 

 better, and there are existing forms which we already greatly prefer ; 

 but they carry the same old valued characteristics as the type. 

 The powerful perfume is unabated, its deep crimson hue is as deep 

 as ever, its outlines are the same, its healthy vigour has not been 

 sacrificed ; only its blooms are stouter and larger and " improved," 

 without a deviation from the type. Naturally when we- now 

 propagate the " old " Crimson Clove we do not use the old but the 

 newer forms. Soon, a few old-fashioned enthusiasts will be setting 

 out on a pilgrimage to rediscover the real old favourite of their 

 fathers, but they will not have far to go, even though they delay 

 their setting-out for a score of years. They will find it in every 

 English village, in nearly all the cottage gardens where their perfume 

 has throughout so many years made the evening air redolent. 

 And if they look closer and closer they will find the roots firmly 

 embedded in the hearts of the cottagers, who year after year take 

 the " slips " and rejuvenate and increase their stock, gladly giving 

 plants to their friends and neighbours who lack them. 



MALMAISONS 



Malmaisons are a very old and well-known type of carnation, 

 characterised by possessing stouter and thicker foliage and large, 

 massive blooms borne on stout stalks. It is more a plant for the 

 greenhouse than for the border, for though it will grow in the border, 

 its blooms are seldom perfect unless opened under glass. In fact, 

 it demands almost the same conditions as those given to the perpetual 

 flowering carnations. The old varieties stood out as giants compared 

 with the ordinary border varieties of their day, but the disparity 

 between them is being gradually wiped out as the latter increase 

 in size and substance. 



We always grew them in pots, either from cuttings or layers and 

 looked to get them into their flowering pots by July. We wintered 

 them in a cool vinery, under the vines, on dry, airy shelves and gave 

 them dry treatment until the spring. Before the vines made too 

 much foliage the plants were in bloom, say at the end of April 

 and throughout May. More than one market grower of our 



