'YAi nC'ETICTTLTUEAL SOCIETY, 



the sorts named by Parkinson in 1629 had passed out of cultiva- 

 tion in 1676. for Kea says " now not any of them are to be 

 found in any of our gardens." I have lately taken a list of 320 

 varieties of carnations that were conspicuous in prize-lists in 

 exhibitions in 1822. and placed the list before my Mends Mr. 

 Samuel Barlow of Castleton, Mr. Dodwell of Oxford, and Mr. 

 Douglas of Hford, and they agree in saying they do not know of 

 a single one of the 320 varieties as being now in cultivation. Thus 

 fashion or whim may have something to account for ; or it may 

 be that actual improvement has put the newer kinds in place of 

 those in the list ; or it may be that the varieties die out after a 

 certain number of years and the flower can only be kept to 

 exhibition standard by the raising of seedlings and making new 

 selections to repair the ravages of time consequent upon the fact 

 that the plant is not perfectly hardy in this country. 



The life of floriculture is to be found in the capabilities of 

 flowers to vary from their original types. The carnation has 

 produced flowers with stripes, spots, and coloured edges, and 

 with different colours on the upper and under surfaces. Although 

 mere variation is common, and the number of varieties obtained 

 may almost be determined in advance by counting the seeds, yet 

 actual improvement is accomplished slowly, and the system of 

 judging followed appears to ensure that every year the very best 

 in technical properties shall be placed conspicuously in the front. 

 I will ask you to compare Franklin's Tartar, a beautiful bizarre 

 carnation that forms the subject of plate 39 of the Botanical 

 Magazine, with any of the finest bizarres of the present day. 

 The comparison will show that the flower of 1788 was not quite 

 so good as the best of to-day, but the difference appears not 

 great for the work of a hundred years. The picotees are some- 

 times referred to as evidence of rapid production, but it has really 

 taken centuries to form them. Parkinson had spotted flowers, 

 and these were the parents of the piquetted group in which the 

 spots formed a kind of fringe on the outer margin of each petal, 

 the spots being in reality contracted rays or lines radiating from 

 the centre. A clear description of a piquetted flower of 17-57 is 

 given in Hills "s M Eden M as consisting in M a simple colour laid 

 on in spots. " In the time of Hanbury, 1770. the classification 

 of carnations comprised Flakes, Bizarres, Piquettes. Cloves, and 

 Painted Ladies ; these last having a different colour on the upper 

 and under side of the petals. 



