544 



DIANTHUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



DIANTHUS. 



its culture is so easy, and it may be raised 

 from seed without the aid of glass. 



The Sweet William has been greatly 

 improved of late years, and the old 

 varieties are surpassed. The points the 

 "florist" improver aims at are a circular 

 flower, with no indentation where the 

 petals meet, thick in petal, and with all 

 the petals marked alike, the colours 

 meeting each other in clearly defined lines 

 without any feathering or flushing into 

 each other ; but in this, as in other flowers, 

 the more variety the better. In the Sweet 

 William colours vary, and they may be 

 classed under two heads — dark and light 

 kinds. Of the latter there is a strain 

 known as the Auricula-eyed, the blooms 

 of which have a clear white eye in a setting 

 of red or purple or some other rich dark 

 colour. Smooth-edged flowers, such as 

 Hunt's strain, have their admirers. Fine, 

 evenly rounded trusses are always present 

 in a good strain, but size is generally 

 allied to high culture. Except for shows, 

 however, very large trusses are not the 

 best, as they usually need support. The 

 finest strain is usually found where year 

 after year care has been exercised in 

 selecting only the finest flowers, with 

 the largest trusses and most varied mark- 

 ings. The only self-coloured flowers are 

 those of pure white, pink, or crimson ; all 

 the others are parti-coloured or variously 

 marked, some very prettily mottled, others 

 more or less edged with white or pale 

 pink. 



Culture. — This is very simple ; sow 

 the seed in April, in a well-prepared bed 

 in a sunny spot, thinning out the young 

 plants when they are large enough, or, if 

 a large stock is required, planting them 

 out about 6 in. apart in good soil. About 

 the end of September transplant them 

 to their permanent quarters, and in the 

 following summer they will bloom. When, 

 however, any particular strain is to be 

 rapidly increased the following plan is a 

 good one : Sow in pots, and allow the 

 seedlings to become a little drawn and 

 lanky before planting out. Plant out in 

 light loam, dressed only with a little leaf- 

 mould or loam from rotted turfs, placing 

 the seedlings so that a few of the lower 

 joints are under the soil. When the 

 blooming stems are well above the foliage, 

 prick in a dressing of guano all round 

 the plants, give plenty of water in dry 

 weather, and a further slight dressing of 

 guano just before the flowers begin to 

 open. The result will be vigorous stocky 

 shoots from the buried jomts, all rooted 

 and ready to plant out as soon as the 

 bloom is over. Sweet Williams may 



also be propagated by cuttings taken off 

 in early summer ; for the main stems, 

 which should rise for bloom, creep along 

 the ground, and throw up from every 

 joint shoots suitable for cuttings ; and a 

 little sheaf of cuttings may be taken from 

 the tips of the main stems, so that each 

 plant would furnish over a hundred 

 cuttings. 



Double-flowered kinds, as a rule, are 

 not desirable except the double dwarf 

 magnificus, the deep velvety crimson 

 flowers of which are the finest among the 

 double kinds : the large heads of flower- 

 are numerous, the colour is rich and 

 effective, it is a dwarf, vigorous grower^ 

 and soon forms a strong tuft. 



D. Caryophyllus {Carnation).— T\\\% 

 beautiful flower, so much loved in all' 

 countries where it can be grown both 

 under glass and in the open air, in all its 

 forms, is derived from a wild Dianthus of 

 Western Europe and the Alps, which as. 

 regards our own country is wild on 

 Norman castles such as Rochester. 

 From very early days it seems to ha\e been 

 a favourite flower, as in Dutch pictures 

 nearly 200 years old the Carnation, mostly 

 in its striped forms, is shown in perfection. 

 Clearly at this early date the tendency of 

 the flowers to vary in colour and markings 

 was greatly admired. At a very early 

 date the Carnation was divided into four 

 classes — viz. Flakes, Bizarres, Picotees, 

 and Painted Ladies. The Flakes had two 

 colours only, the stripes going the whole 

 length of the petals. Bizarres (from the 

 French, meaning odd or irregular) were 

 spotted or striped with three distinct 

 colours. Picotees (from the French, 

 piqt(otce) had a white ground with addi- 

 tional colours in spots, giving the flowers 

 the appearance of being dusted with 

 colour. Painted Ladies had the under 

 side of the petals white and the upper 

 side red or purple, so laid on as to appear 

 as if really painted. Unfortunately this 

 class has so entirely disappeared that 

 many growers are not aware that it 

 ever existed. The first two classes still 

 remain unchanged ; but the Picotee, 

 instead of being spotted, has the colours- 

 confined to the edge of the petals, and any 

 spot on the ground colour (which may 

 be either white or yellow) would detract 

 from the merits of the flower as an 

 exhibition flower. 



Another class, too long neglected, con- 

 sists of self-coloured kinds. A familiar 

 type is the old crimson Clove, a sweet 

 and lovely thing, which may be had also • 

 in several different shades of self-colour. 

 The florists of the old school did not pay 



