TO THE FLOWEE GAEDEN. 91 



^vllen they send up their bloom-stalks, remove all but the best 

 from each plant, and as these adyance take off all but two or 

 three buds from each stalk ; and when these have swelled 

 almost to bursting, but not quite, tie them fast round the 

 middle with a piece of bass matting, and tear the bud-cover 

 down to tlie tie at its five natural divisions. After the bloom 

 is over, the grass, as it is called — that is, the young shoots — 

 will be ready to strike for the next year. The best double 

 Pinks do not seed freely, but they do occasionally ; and such 

 seed should be prized as a means towards obtaining new 

 varieties of merit. The seed should be sown in wide-mouthed 

 pots or seed-pans, not too thickly, and placed in a cold frame. 

 If not too much crowded when they come up, the plants may 

 remain there till they are large enough to plant out, in like 

 manner with the pipings or cuttings, and the treatment is 

 the same throughout. As they bloom throw aw^ay instantly 

 every one that is semi-double or single, and all that are not 

 as good or better than the varieties already in cultivation. 

 A veiy few of the seedlings may be worth trying again, and 

 of these a few cuttings should be reared. The flowers of 

 seedlings should be examined daily, almost hourly, in order 

 to destroy at once those that are good for nothing, for single 

 and semi-double kinds can only spoil the seed of the better 

 sorts. It is not to be expected, with every care and advantage 

 in seed-saving, to get one improved variety out of fifty, or 

 even a larger number of seedlings. For list of the best 

 varieties see the latest trade catalogues. 



Carnation and Picotee (Dlanthus caryojjhyllus, vars.). — 

 These superb and highly-scented flowers are precisely similar 

 as to the requirements of their cultivation. They are pro- 

 pagated chiefly by layering. The shoots at the bottom of the 

 stems being longer than those of the Pink, can be pegged 

 under the surface to strike root, which they do when half 

 divided from the parent ; for by cutting them half way 

 through, and pegging the cut part firmly under the surface, 

 the supply of nourishment from the parent plant being 

 diminished, they endeavour to compensate for their loss by 

 forming roots. The shoots in this case do not droop, because 

 the connection with the old plant is not cut off, as in the 

 removal of a piping ; consequently there is not so much risk 



