38 DEVELOPMENT OF THE CARNATION 



A THIRTY YEARS SURVEY' 



The following most interesting account of the last 

 thirty years of American Carnation History, written by Miss 

 Sarah A. Hill, sister of Gurney Hill of the E. G. Hill 

 Co., Richmond, Ind., splendidly epitomizes the subject, 

 and will be read with pleasure equally by the old-timer 

 and the beginner: 



[When we began business in 1880, the Carnation was 

 classed among " miscellaneous plants "; it had not yet 

 become a specialty and was a " Pink," to all intents and 

 purposes, to most florists and to nearly all buyers of flowers. 



Up to 1885 the only varieties now remembered even 

 by name are probably Grace Wilder, Hinze's White, La 

 Purite (deep cerise), Mrs. Mangold, Pres. DeGraw and 

 Portia. 



In our catalogue for 1886, which has now become an 

 antique, we open a Carnation section with the remark: 

 " We depart from our alphabetic order to give Carnations 

 a place next to Roses, where they belong." Then follows 

 a list of new sorts, some fourteen in number, none of which, 

 except Buttercup and Peter Henderson, wake a responsive 

 chord of memory. In 1887, two of John Thorpe's seedlings, 

 Columbia and E. G. Hill, together with the English variety, 

 Pride of Penshurst, and the French sort, Mile. Carle, were 

 introduced as a " set " at 50c. each, and I can readily recall 

 the impression made by the last named, for Mile. Carle 

 was supernaturally white, on a slender, erect stem, and 

 every petal in place. We have nothing now of such per- 

 fectly chiseled form, nothing so dazzlingly white, but its 

 lack of freedom took it out of commerce completely. Many 

 a grower, and more laymen, fell under the spell of the Car- 

 nation from admiration of this lovely variety. 



