6S CARYOPHYLLACE^. 



varieties of Pinks and Carnations even to be met with in 

 private gardens as in bygone days, certainly not nearly so 

 many as their surpassing beauty and fragrance would warrant 

 the expectation of; and these more simple but handsome forms 

 of nature are still more rare. The various species are not at 

 all difficult to cultivate, although there is a popular belief that 

 only the initiated can hope for a tolerable degree of success 

 with Pinks and Carnations, and that novices will have little 

 besides trouble and vexation for their pains when .they take up 

 the culture of these favourite florists' flowers. It does not fall 

 within the scope of this work to write a treatise on the culture 

 of the Pink and Carnation ; besides, it is a well-worn topic, and 

 will be found fully discussed from various points of view in dif- 

 ferent works on florists' flowers, easily obtainable by those who 

 desire more particular information regarding the principles on 

 which they are cultivated for exhibition than may be properly 

 included here. In order to have fine exhibition flowers there 

 must always be vigorous plants on hand from the previous 

 year's propagation, and they must be specially grown either in 

 pots or prepared beds, and the energies of the plants concen- 

 trated on the production of a minimum number of flowers. 

 But in growing them merely for the purposes of the ornamen- 

 tation of the garden, and for cut flowers, the reverse of this is 

 the best practice. The very plants that have yielded exhibi- 

 tion flowers, and which the enthusiastic florist would discard, 

 are just the most fit for our purpose, because at two or three years 

 old the Carnation and Pink produce their maximum of flowers ; 

 before that the flowers may be very fine but few, and after that 

 the plants decline in vigour, and often die out. Then instead 

 of being coddled up in pots, or confined to specially-prepared 

 beds, and surrounded by the paraphernalia that is indispensable 

 when they are grown for exhibition, they should be planted 

 everywhere that it is proper to place them, among mixed herb- 

 aceous plants for contract and sweetness, in lines along the 

 walks of the kitchen-garden, or in masses, wherever convenient, 

 for the purpose of cutting for room adornment. These remarks 

 apply in the main to the Carnation and the Pink, but all Pinks 

 are proper for such purposes, and for planting on rockwork, 

 and on the margins of shrubbery beds or borders — everywhere, 

 in fact, that colour and sweetness are desirable. The propaga- 

 tion of the large-growing kinds of the Carnation type is best 

 effected by layers made in July or August, and the Pinks gen- 

 erally are easily increased by cuttings at the same time or 

 earlier, planted in sandy soil under a glass on the north side of 

 a wall or hedge, where they may escape the direct rays of the 



