FOREWORD 



We have in the Carnation one of the great flowers of 

 the ages, ranking only second to the Rose in universal 

 esteem. The Carnation has i^een a favorite flower of the 

 peoples of all degree for at least 2000 years. It is a flower 

 older than any earthly dynasties, and has been the subject 

 of consideration by poets and philosophers these hundreds 

 of years. 



In memory we go back to the time when it was culti- 

 vated, probably as a single-flowered plant in the gardens 

 of the Greeks and Romans. By selection and care the 

 Clove Carnation in many varieties had already become a 

 handsome double flower some 400 years ago, at which time 

 records of it again emerge. Its elasticity of constitution 

 made it highly susceptible of improvement and in patient, 

 careful hands it divided into several distinct types, and 

 down to the present day new sections are still being 

 evolved. 



It is doubtful whether the older, hardy kinds, so much 

 beloved by European fanciers, have been greatly improved 

 in the last two or three generations. There are, ,. indeed, 

 one or two varieties whose history goes back nearly a 

 century. Progress, nevertheless, has been made, especially 

 among the yellow-ground Carnations. 



Then the uprise of the American Carnation marked a 

 very distinct divergence, the climax of which has not yet 

 been reached. Only a few years ago the late John Thorpe 

 predicted that the diameter of our Carnation blooms would 

 one day be 4 in. His prediction was soon fulfilled. Since 



