16 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
are held in esteem by most Carnation fanciers; the 
various shades of pink, rose, and salmon colours are held 
in high estimation ; scarlet, crimson, and maroon colours 
are appreciated by many, whilst yellow of various shades, 
apricot colours, maize tints, and lavender tints have their 
admirers. The quality of scent or perfume is essential, 
and any flower that lacks perfume is far from perfect, 
no matter what other qualities it may possess. 
Next to the selfs must be placed the flowers designated 
fancies, or what are termed in Germany Bizarres. (The 
British Bizarre is quite a different flower.) The flowers 
known as “fancies” possess a wide range of colour, but 
most of them have one or two colours irregularly marked 
on a white, cream, apricot, or yellow ground. These were 
doubtless the first variations from the self colours, and 
they were generally cultivated with the selfs early in 
the seventeenth century. Rea, writing about the middle 
of the century, stated that the “selfs were little esteemed, 
but those flowers are chiefly valued, which are well flaked, 
striped, or powdered.” 
Flakes and Bizarres are comprised in the section be- 
loved of the old florists. For many years they were 
grown to the very highest pitch of perfection as flowers 
for exhibition. There is no positive evidence as to the 
period when the break occurred which was the fore- 
runner of this section. The chief beauty of a Bizarre 
or Flake Carnation consists in the perfect form of the 
flowers. The ground should be white, and in the case 
of the Bizarres, the petals are marked with irregular 
longitudinal stripes of colour. The Scarlet Bizarres are 
marked with scarlet and maroon, evenly distributed over 
