388 
dark blood colour, with the stigmas protruding beyond the 
petals. 
Var. £, cardiinus (Ser. mss.) leaves, calyx, and petals beset 
with fistular prickles. D. caryophyllus var. Tratt. in flora, 
1821. p. 717. icon. 
The flowers of the Clove are very variable in size and colour, 
the double varieties of which are called Carnations, and the 
smaller flower of the latter are called Picotees. 
D. caryophillus is considered the source whence have sprung 
the numerous varieties of the Carnation and the Picotee. The 
Carnation seems to have been unknown to the ancients, at least 
in its cultivated state, not being mentioned by Pliny, or sung by 
any of the Roman poets. It has, however, been cultivated from 
time immemorial in Europe, and is in the highest favour for its 
beauty and rich spicy odour. It is the principal forist’s flower 
in Germany and Italy, from which countries the British florists 
procure their best Carnation seed, and also some esteemed 
varieties. The varieties amounted nearly to 400 named sorts in 
the beginning of the eighteenth century, and the number has 
not since diminished. They are arranged in three classes, flakes, 
bizarres, and picotees. Flakes have two colours only, and their 
stripes large, going quite through the leaves of the flower. 
Bizarres, (Fr. odd, irregular,) are variegated in irregular spots 
and stripes, and with no less than three colours. Picotces, (Fr. 
piquettee, pricked or spotted,) have a white ground, spotted 
or pounced with scarlet, red, purple, or other colours. Of 
each class there are numerous Varieties, arranged under farther 
subdivisions, according to the predominance of the colours, as 
scarlet-flake, pink-flake, purple-flake, yellow-flake, &c. ; scarlet- 
bizarre, crimson-bizarre, &c. ; and purple-picotee, yellow-pico- 
tee, &c. Picotees are rather smaller flowers than Carnations, 
and are distinguished by the serrated margins of their petals ; 
the colours are principally yellow and white spotted, and the 
plants are considered hardier than the other sorts. Whatever 
colours the flowers may be possessed of, they should be per- 
fectly distinct, and disposed in long regular stripes, broadest at 
the edge of the Jamina, and gradually becoming narrower as 
they approach the claw or base of the petal, there terminating in 
a fine point. Each petal should have a due proportion of white, 
i. e. one-half, or nearly so, which should be perfectly clear and 
free from spots. Bizarres, or such as only contain two colours 
upon a white ground, are esteemed rather preferable to flakes, 
which have but one, especially when their colours are remark- 
ably rich and very regularly distributed. Scarlet, purple, and 
pink, are the three colours most predominant in the Carnation, 
the two first are seldom to be met with in the same flower, but 
the two last are very frequently. New varieties are procured 
from seeds, and thousands of seedlings are annually blown by 
florists and amateurs, sometimes without one being found worth 
keeping. Established or approved varieties are continued by 
layering or cuttings, or as they are commonly called pipings. 
The soil in which the Carnation thrives best is a rich loam 
rather sandy than otherwise; the climate should be free from 
extremes of every kind, for which reason they are commonly 
grown in pots, and protected by a frame during winter, and 
covered by an awning while in bloom. Carnations grow ex- 
ceedingly well in beds of properly prepared soil, over which 
frames are placed in winter, and an awning of canvas or bunting 
when the plants are in blossom. 
_ Propagation by layers. The time of performing this opera- 
tion is when the plants are in full bloom. Layering, by the 
wounds it inflicts, considerably impairs the bloom, and generally 
kills the parent plant. The practical part of the operation has 
nothing remarkable in it; a sufficient quantity of hooked pegs 
and of compost being provided ; the pot containing the plant to 
be laid is placed on a table, and the layers prepared by cutting 
CARYOPHYLLE. 
HI. Drantuvs. 
off their lower leaves, the earth is then stirred and the pot filled 
up with light rich mould, not of too fine a grain. The incision 
is made by entering a quarter of an inch below the joint, and 
passing the knife up through the centre of it; the shoot is then to 
be pegged down, and buried not more than half an inch deep. 
Maddock says it is adviseable to peg down the layers when in a 
dry state, being then less brittle than when they are wet and 
succulent ; for this after the layers have been dressed, the pot 
should be placed half an hour in the sun, in order to render them 
more flaccid and pliant than they otherwise would be. When 
the layers have been properly rooted, which will be the case 
with most sorts in about three weeks after laying, provided 
due care be taken in keeping them regularly moist, and shading 
them from the heat of the meridian sun; they are then to be 
cut off from the old plant with about half of the stalk which 
connects them with it, and be immediately planted in small 
pots, three or four plants in each, placed round the sides. The 
pots are to be placed under an arch of hoops, where they can be 
covered with mats in case of excessive rains, till the severity of 
the winter renders it necessary to remove them into their winter 
repository, which is to be constructed as follows :—there should 
be a bed of coal-ashes formed in the place where it 1s to be 
erected, six inches thick; or a platform of square tiles, closely 
fitted together, rows of bricks are to be placed in lines, 3 inches 
asunder, which will allow a free circulation under and between 
the pots placed upon them. Two rows of substantial stakes 
should be stuck into the ground on each side, 3 or 4 inches dis- 
tance from the outer pots, and have notches cut on their tops to 
receive the edges of the shutters. Three shutters, which will 
reach the whole length on one side, and three of the notched stakes 
will be sufficient to support the shutters, and will give room to 
move them backwards and forwards without any chance of slip- 
ping. It is necessary that a row of stakes should be placed between 
the two middle rows of pots to support the shutters when closed. 
The south side should consist of frames of glass in severe weather, 
so as to admit light when they cannot be opened. - ntl 
Hogg commences laying when the flowers are sufficiently 
expanded to shew which are in colour or true to their kinds, or 
which not; this he finds to be about the 21st of July, and he 
continues laying from that time to the 21st of August. n 
plants receive a good watering the day previous to layering; 
because they can receive it only through a fine rose of a waters 
pot for some time after, for the purpose of preserving the ear 
on the layered shoots. In performing the operation he cuts heft 
the extreme end of the tongue below the joint, because if eft 
on it is apt to decay and prevent the protrusion of the gran” 
lous matter from which the fibres issue; under favourable cit 
cumstances they will be fit to take off in 6 or 7 weeks, “a 
may then be planted 2 or 3 ina no. 48 pot. The pots are t F 
to be set on tiles, slates, or boards, there to remain till the mı 
dle or end of October. Hogg’s Treatise, p. 56. 
Propagation by pipings. This mode of propag trike 
tions is very precarious, as seldom so many as the half ove 8 b 
root; nevertheless some sorts succeed.better by pipmgs than a7 
layers, and make healthier plants; it requires attention to ry 
cover such sorts from the rest. Pipings, however, are a ing 
necessary resource, where the shoots are too short fory ay first 
or where the laying shoots are broken by accident. 5 inches 
thing to provide is a slight hot-bed, cover it 4 or The 
thick with. fine light mould, laid regularly and even. mye 
piping should have two or even three complete joints ; they ch ne 
be cut horizontally, close under the second or third joint- g we 
people recommend the shortening of the leaves, but ! an 
think is rather deleterious than otherwise, both in pip! e 
in laying. The earth of the bed where the pipngs are small 
planted should be moderately moistened, then take a 
ating Carna- 
