CHAPTER XIII 



" ALLWOODII " 



ANY treatise dealing with the carnation would now be incomplete 

 without some reference to that new and useful introduction, 

 Dianthus Allwoodii. Evolved and placed before the horticultural 

 world by a firm which is perhaps the most enthusiastic of all our 

 carnation specialists, this hybrid between the perpetual flowering 

 carnation and the old garden pink established itself almost immedi- 

 ately entirely on its merits ; and not only so, but constant and 

 rapid improvements are practically placing k on a plane entirely 

 its own. 



In the fusion of the parents the result has not been a compromise 

 the carnation has yielded none of its own graces and perfections 

 in order to meet the pink half-way, but rather, it is the pink which 

 has come all the way, bringing with it what was its best, and blending 

 it with all that was best in the perpetual carnation, so that in some 

 varieties we get flowers equal to the latter in form, size, and useful- 

 ness, with a habit of growth which, approximating that of the pink, 

 has inherited some of the characteristics of the other parent. 



The history of this hybrid may well be left for those to tell who 

 know it far better than we do ; we have only to concern ourselves 

 with its commercial possibilities, and here we say, at once, that 

 these are very considerable indeed. We can call to mind no other 

 introduction within our experience so promising, nor any plant 

 more likely to become " everybody's flower," because its merits 

 lie not alone in its chaste flowers continuously produced, but in 

 its adaptability to various conditions of soil, situation, and climate, 

 the numerous uses to which it can be put, and the ease with which 

 it is propagated. 



With regard to the latter point, we venture upon a warning note. 

 It is no small testimony to the esteem in which it is held, and the 

 belief of the Trade in its future, that it is being intensively pro- 

 pagated and herein lies a possible danger. It has been proved to 

 be possible that a too intensive propagation can impart weakness 

 and so affect the constitution of plants that it virtually opens the 



54 



