THE CARNATION. 



Most of the names by which we arc 

 accustomed to designate famihar forms 

 of the vegetable kingdom have descended 

 to us from remote times and from an- 

 cient associations. The old terms are 

 for the most part founded either on the 

 medicinal values of the plants or on some 

 mythological fancy that accounted for 

 their creation or form' 



The Carnation derived its generic name 

 from the latter source. The term Dian- 

 thus is derived from two Greek words, 

 signifying flov/er of Jupiter, while the 

 specific name, carophyllus, is obtained 

 from words meaning nut and leaf, origi- 

 nally applied to the clove tree, but later 

 given to the Carnation, because of its 

 spicy fragrance. Again, the word Car- 

 nation is from the Latin, meaning flesh, 

 and v/as deemed appropriate because of 

 the pink and white color of the petals. 



The name Dianthus, or flower of Jupi- 

 ter, originates in a Greek myth, that had 

 to do with the establishment of Olympus. 

 Jupiter had escaped the unpleasant fate 

 that befell his brothers, namely, of being 

 swallowed by their unnatural parent, Sat- 

 urn. Jupiter married Metis (Prudence), 

 who straightway demonstrated the fit- 

 ness of her name by bestowing on Saturn 

 a draught which caused him to disgorge 

 his domestic bill of fare, and the sons, 

 banding together, imprisoned their father 

 and his brother Titans and divided their 

 empire among themselves. Jupiter in- 

 herited the heavens and became king of 

 gods and men. When the Thunderer 

 came into possession of his kingdom 

 Vulcan, the celestial artist, crowned him 

 with a chaplet of beautiful flowers, whose 

 white petals Iris had marked with the 

 colors of the rainbow, their edges being 

 bright with the plumage of the peacock, 

 which was the favorite bird of Juno, as 

 was Iris, her chosen attendant, after she 

 espoused Jupiter and became queen of 

 the gods. Hence the Dianthus became 

 the flower of Jupiter. 



The Carnation has been under culti- 

 vation for more than two thousand years. 

 Theophrastus, who gave the plant its 

 technical name, states that ''the Greeks 

 cultivated roses, gillie flowers, violets, 

 narcissi and iris," gillie flower being the 

 old English name for the Carnation, hav- 

 ing been bestowed upon it for the reason 

 that it bloomed in July. It was also 

 called the Coronarium because it was the 

 coronation flower of a queen of Italy dur- 

 ing whose reign in the sixteenth century 

 the plants were introduced into England. 



From their first appearance in Eng- 

 land Carnations took a firm hold on the 

 popular fancy, varieties began to be 

 formed, the original flesh color being 

 broken up into red and white. The re- 

 markable susceptibility of the plants to 

 cultivation, their beauty and fragrance, 

 so appealed to the florists of Italy, 

 France, Germany and Holland that in 

 1.597 Gerard wrote that "to describe each 

 new variety of Carnation were to roll 

 Sisyphus' stone or number the sands." 



The Carnations of to-day originated 

 about 1840, as a distinct race. Special 

 attention was given in Europe to the elab- 

 oration of the plants by M. Dalmais and 

 M. Schmitt, and the varieties created by 

 them were imported to America in 1868. 

 Bench cultivation was started in the 

 United States in 1875 and became so 

 popular that in 1892 the specialist or 

 "Carnationalist" first became known. 

 At that time there were about five hun- 

 dred distinct varieties, all of American 

 origin. 



The Carnation is a native of Central 

 and Southern Europe. Since its intro- 

 duction into England it is said to have 

 escaped cultivation and to have become 

 fixed in several localities. In its cultiva- 

 tion three general classes have been es- 

 tablished by English specialists. The 

 selfs are plants whose flowers have a 

 uniform color. The flakes possess a pure 

 ground of white or yellow, flaked or 



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