DIANTHUS. 
- 
flower is also furnished with a stake 
to tie it to, and a paper or tin cap, 
to shade it from the sun. June 
and July are the months for making 
layers. 
strongest, and lowest sheots of the 
plant should be preferred; and each 
shoot should be cut about 
through, in a slanting direction, at 
a joint. A furrow should be made 
in the ground an inch or two deep, 
in which the cut stem should be 
buried, and fastened down with a 
bit of hooked twig, so as to have 
the wounded part completely co- 
vered, and the end of the layer up- 
right, an inch or two out of the} 
earth. The layer should be mode- 
rately watered as soon as it is made, 
and the plant should be shaded 
after the operation. It may be ob- 
served with relation to Carnations 
grown in pots, that as their stems 
are generally very brittle when 
they are moist and succulent, it 
may be as well to set the pot in the 
hot sun for about an hour before | 
the layer is made, to render the 
stalks flaccid. Carnations are also 
propagated by cuttings (see Pip- 
INGS), and some sorts are raised 
from seed. 
The Pink (Didnihus plumdrius) 
is by some supposed to be a variety 
of the Carnation; but others make 
it a distinct species, though it does | 
not appear to be known ina wild 
state. 
laced Pinks, to be esteemed by 
florists, should have their flowers | 
about two inches and a half in 
diameter; and the petals should be | 
white, with rose edges, and a broad | 
ring of rich dark purple or crimson, 
as nearly black as possible, in the | 
centre ; the colours being all strong- 
tinct. The culture of the laced 
Pink is exactly the same as that of 
the Carnation; but the common 
188 
For this purpose. the outer, | 
half | 
There are many kinds, but | 
only what are called the laced | 
Pinks rank as florists’ flowers. The. 
DICTAMNUS. 
Pinks may be planted in the open 
garden, and treated exactly the 
/same as the other hardy perennial 
border-flowers. 'The Tree-pink (D. 
arboreus) is merely a woody kind 
of Carnation ; and the Mulepink is 
_a hybrid between the Carnation 
and the Sweet-William. They both 
require only the common treatment 
of border flowers. The leaves of 
'all the kinds of Pinks and Carna- 
tions are called by gardeners the 
grass. 
The greenhouse species of Di- 
anthus grow freely in light rich 
inould, with a moderate allowance 
of air and water; and they do not 
require any particular care in their 
culture. They are all very orna- 
mental, and they are propagated by 
cuttings, which strike readily, and 
do not require bottom heat. 
batus, 
Chinénsis, the Chinese-pink, is 
generally treated as a hardy annual ; 
but it may be preserved in dry soil 
for two or three years. 
DicoryLeponous plants have seeds 
which separate into two or more co- 
tyledons, or seed-leaves, when they 
vegetate; and this class compre- 
hends three-fourths of all the known 
| plants in the world. They have 
all reticulated leaves, that is, leaves 
the veins in which appear lke net- 
work when held up to the light; 
and the ligneous species have the 
thickness of their stems increased 
every year by successive layers of 
/new wood, deposited on the outside 
of the old wood, immediately under 
the bark. In all these points, and 
many others less conspicuous, they 
differ from the monocotyledonous 
plants, or those the seeds of which 
have only one seed-leaf, or cotyledon 
nella. There are two species, the 
_purple and the white, both hardy 
perennials, and both natives of Ger- 
many. The leaves havea pleasant 
For the culture of Dianthus bar- _ 
see Sweet-Wiiuiam. D._ 
| Dicra’mnus.—Rutdcee.— Fraxi- - 
ly marked, and quite clear and dis- | 
oO 
ae 
