ld state in England. It has long been held in high
estimation for the beauty and the delightful fragrance of its blossoms.
The varieties are numerous, and are ranged under three groups, called
_bizarres, flakes_ and _picotees._ The last, from their distinctness of
character, are now generally looked upon as if they were a different
plant, whereas they are, in truth, but a seminal development from the
carnation itself, their number and variety being entirely owing to the
assiduous endeavours of the modern florist to vary and to improve them.

The true carnations, as distinguished from picotees, are those which
have the colours arranged in longitudinal stripes or bars of variable
width on each petal, the ground colour being white. The _bizarres_ are
those in which stripes of two distinct colours occur on the white
ground, and it is on the purity of the white ground and the clearness
and evenness of the striping that the technical merit of each variety
rests. There are scarlet bizarres marked with scarlet and maroon,
crimson bizarres marked with crimson and purple, and pink and purple
bizarres marked with those two colours. The _flakes_ have stripes of
only one colour on the white ground; purple flakes are striped with
purple, scarlet flakes with scarlet, and rose flakes with rose colour.
The _selfs_, those showing one colour only, as white, yellow, crimson,
purple, &c., are commonly called _cloves_.

The _picotee_ has the petals laced instead of striped with a distinct
colour; the subgroups are red-edged, purple-edged, rose-edged and
scarlet-edged, all having white grounds; each group divides into two
sections, the heavy-edged and the light-edged. In the heavy-edged the
colour appears to be laid on in little touches, passing from the edge
inwards, but so closely that they coalesce into one line of colour from
1/12 to 1/16 of an inch broad, and more or less feathered on the inner
edge, the less feathered the better; the light-edged display only a fine
edge, or "wire" edge, of colour on the white ground. Yellow picotees are
a group of great beauty, but deficient in correct marking.

During the decade 1898-1908 a new American race of carnations became
very popular with British growers. As the plants flower chiefly during
the winter--from October till the end of March--they are known as
"winter flowering" or "perpetual"; they are remarkable for the charming
delicacy and colouring of the blossoms and for the length of the
fl