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THE FLORIST. 



This is our practice; and perhaps we disbud harder than any 

 other grower. The state of the plant should in a certain degree be 

 considered. It must be borne in mind also that our plants are for 

 exhibition : more blooms should remain if grown for other purposes. 



Varieties throwing up blooms too early to be of service, and 

 which have short thick pods, should have the leading bud pulled out, 

 leaving two side ones. Whether for exhibition or not, the buds of 

 all full flowers should be secured, either with India-rubber bands 

 or bass : some use silk ; we prefer bass. The tying of the buds is 

 simple enough ; but care should be taken in splitting open each divi- 

 sion of the calyx, otherwise the guard-petals may receive some injury. 

 There has not been much improvement in the method of carding 

 and securing the blooms since Mr. Hogg's time ; we will not there- 

 fore enlarge on this point. The cards cannot be put on too soon 

 after the guard-petals have dropped. With regard to dressing Car- 

 nations and Picotees, as well as Pinks, those that have a good per- 

 ception of what a flower ought to be, as well as a quick eye to its 

 imperfections, will soon be able, with a little patience and persever- 

 ance, to accomplish all that can be done in hiding its faults and in 

 shewing its beauties to advantage. It is superfluous to add, that 

 Carnations and Picotees cannot be bloomed in any thing like per- 

 fection without some kind of shelter during the time they are open- 

 ing and in flower ; we prefer an erection with a glass roof, open at 

 the sides, shaded with canvass blinds, similar to those of a Geranium- 

 house, but the canvass should be thicker than for that flower. As 

 soon as the bloom is over, lose no time in getting them down, as it 

 is termed, or layering them. 



We have observed that almost every grower recommends piping 

 as the best method for propagating these flowers, yet very few follow 

 this practice, and those few to a very limited extent only. W T ho 

 would like to see the finest Carnations and Picotees staged without 

 the green foliage to set them off? which must be lost if piping is 

 resorted to as a method of increasing the plants. But little good 

 will be done if this operation is performed after June : we only pipe 

 such cuttings as are too high up the plant for layering ; and having 

 no reason to complain of our plants from layers, and this mode being 

 the least trouble, we prefer it. 



We hope this brief account of our practice will be of service to 

 some. It will at all times give us the greatest pleasure to offer 

 information on the cultivation of any flower we grow for exhibition ; 

 and we should be still more pleased if others would use the pages 

 of The Florist, and communicate the results of their practice more 

 liberally than they do. We have many first-rate growers of the 

 Carnation and Picotee, who perhaps think they are tco much en- 

 gaged to do so. Might not we say the same ? Are we not as fully 

 occupied as any of our brethren ? In The Florist and Garden Mis- 

 cellany we have a really independent organ. Our expectations of 

 its success are being realised. We can bear witness to its having 

 made many cultivators. We wish to see our place in its pages 

 taken by others ; and in retiring, after two years' humble services, 



