PINKS AND CARNATIONS. 115 
manure it well, and dig it, breaking it fine, and mix 
the manure thoroughly with the soil; and just here I 
would say that there is no manure which suits Pinks 
and Carnations so well as horse droppings from the 
roads, swept up with some sand. Put the manure on 
pretty thick: six barrowfuls to one perch, or about thirty 
square yards, is not too much. It will take about six 
square perches of ground to hold 2,000 plants, includ- 
ing the paths, &c., at ten inches apart. The ground 
should be manured and dug in the month of March, 
then it will get well pulverised, and when a nice shower 
of rain comes about the end of April, it will be in first- 
class order for the young plants. Strike the ground 
out into four-feet beds, work over the surface with a 
hoe, and then rake it over with a coarse rake, and put 
out the plants with a trowel, letting them down into 
the soil quite up to the leaves; and when a bed is 
planted, give it a good soaking with water to settle the 
soil well to the plants. 
As the plants advance in growth, nip out every young 
shoot to induce a bushy habit ; and when September 
comes they will be, or should be, large and fine plants, 
of the size of a cheese plate, compact and full of young 
stuff that will give flowering stems; but none of these 
must be allowed to remain on the plants that spring up 
from them while in the beds; if any do come, nip them 
off at once as soon as they appear. 
About the end of September the plants may be 
zarefully lifted with a large trowel, having a good ball 
of earth to each plant. To make sure of doing this 
properly, before taking them up give each bed a heavy 
soaking with water the previous evening. As each one 
is lifted, place it in a plant-barrow direct, and when it 
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