BOOKS RECEIVED, 



717 



illustrations -'are admirable. In the preface the editor remarks on the 

 practice of exhibiting Carnations. " The showing of Carnations in paper 

 collars is grotesque and without reason." Many persons fancy that this 

 practice was handed down to us by the old florists, but it is not so. 

 When Carnations were exhibited thirty years ago, they were all shown in 

 paper collars ; but the old florists who exhibited before 1850 knew 

 nothing of paper collars and objected to their use. One old florist has 

 remarked " that it was very easy to show flowers on cards, but it was very 

 different when we had to show them with the flowers standing well out of 

 the tubes on long stems." The National Carnation Society wisely provides 

 many classes where the flowers are shown without cards, but at the same 

 time they should object to wires, as a Carnation should not only have a 

 calyx that does not split, but also a stout stem needing no artificial 

 support when cut and placed in a vase. 



There is a learned introductory chapter by the Eev. Prof. Henslow, 

 M.A., V.M.H., in which he traces the history of the Carnation from its 

 cultivation in England in the sixteenth century. It certainly was very 

 widely cultivated in England at the end of that century, and in the seven- 

 teenth century, as we know from Parkinson and other writers, the 

 varieties were numerous and of various colours, striped and edged. The 

 first hybrid plant produced in England by cross-fertilisation was raised 

 from a Carnation impregnated by the pollen of a Sweet William. This 

 plant was (in 1717) cultivated in the garden of a Mr. Thomas Fairchild, 

 and was probably raised by him. 



Mr. E. H. Woodall, who dearly loves the Carnation, has a chapter on 

 " The Carnation in the Garden." He grows a choice collection of border 

 Carnations in his garden at Scarborough, and places it before the Lily, 

 second to the Eose, and adds that " in gardens near to towns or in 

 smoky districts it will thrive quite as happily as in pure air, while the 

 Rose demands both shelter and the country." Mr. Woodall suggests that 

 the Carnation might well be cultivated in England, as it is almost univer- 

 sally in Spain, in boxes or pots, placed on balconies or housetops, so that 

 the flowers may hang down naturally, allowing the guard petals to fulfil 

 their function, and shelter the centre of the flower from sun and rain, 

 thereby causing it to fill up perfectly. Mr. Woodall does not advise 

 growing many varieties. ' Trojan ' is the best white ; ' Mephisto,' deep 

 crimson ; ' Miss Audrey Campbell,' yellow ; ' Belladonna,' rose-red ; 

 ' Midas,' orange. 



Mr. W. A. Watts, of St. Asaph, also writes of the border Carnation 

 and its propagation by " Hybridising in the Open," but he evidently 

 means cross-fertilisation ; the two processes are different. If one Carnation 

 is pollenised by another variety, it is cross-fertilised. If a Carnation is 

 similarly treated with the pollen of a Sweet William, or any other 

 species of Dianthus, it is hybridised. Sowing the seed, layering, propa- 

 gating by cuttings, staking, disbudding, &c. are well explained by Mr. 

 Watts. The culture of the border Carnation is also fairly dealt with by 

 Mr. James Douglas. The same cultivator has chapters on the Picotee — 

 white and yellow ground, another chapter on the " Malmaison Carna- 

 tions," and the " Tree or Perpetual-flowering Carnations." These papers 

 extend through a considerable portion of the book, and contain useful 



