DIANTHUS. 



93 



"be removed to a greenhouse or slied, 

 where they should be kept entirely 

 in the shade, merely protected from 

 the frost, as they will bear a con- 

 siderable degree of cold much better 

 than too much lieat. Here they may 

 remain till March or April, according 

 to the season, when they should be 

 repotted, and after a few days turned 

 into the open air. In May they may 

 be either planted out in beds or re- 

 moved to larger pots for flowering, i 

 v.'hich they will do in June and July, j 

 When the buds have formed, the ! 

 plants should be well watered morn- 

 ] ing and evening, and in the evening 

 j they should be syringed over the 

 1 leaves, always waiting till the sun | 

 ' has gone down. The principal points : 

 of beauty in a Carnation are, that the 

 stem should be strong and erect, the 1 

 calyx well and regularly opened, the \ 

 flower round, with the petals regu- i 

 larly disposed, the largest on the 

 outside, and gradually decreasing in 

 size to the centre, and the colours 

 clear and distinct, those with a white 

 ground being preferred. The stripes 

 should also be broadest at the margin 

 of each petal. As the calyx of the 

 Carnation is very apt to burst on one 

 side before it opens on the other, and 

 as this spoils the shape of the flower, 

 many cultivators gently divide the 

 sepals with a pin as soon as the buds 

 are fully swelled ; and others slip a 

 I'ound piece of card-board, with a hole 

 in the centre, over the bud while it is 

 yet quite small, and push it up over 

 the calyx, so as to force it to open first 

 at the top. This piece of pasteboard 

 is kept on after the expansion of the 

 flower, and serves to keep the petals 

 in their proper places. Others tie a 

 strip of bast-mat I'ound th e lower part 

 of the buds, to prevent them from 

 opening improperly. The 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. For | 

 this purpose, the outer, strongest, , 

 and lowest shoots of the plant should > 

 be preferred ; and each shoot should , 

 be cut about half through, in a slant- i 

 ing direction, at a joint. A furrow 

 should be made in the ground an i 

 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 com- 

 pletely covered, and the end of the 

 layer upright, an inch or two out of 

 the earth. The layer should be 

 moderately 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 Pipings), and some 

 sorts are raised from seed. 



The Pink {Didnthus j^liondnus) 



! is by some supposed to be a variety 



I of the Carnation ; but others make 



I it a distinct species, though it does 



j not appear to be known in a v/ild 



' state. There are many kinds, but 



j only what are called the laced Pinks 



! rank as florists' flowers. The 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 aU strongly marked, and quite 



clear and distinct. The culture of 



the laced Pink is exactly the same 



as that of the Carnation ; but the 



common Pinks may be planted in 



the open garden, and treated exactly 



the same as the other hardy perennial 



border-flowers. The Tree Pink (i>. 



