34 PICTORIAL PRACTICAL CARNATION GROWING. 
Chapter Ill.—Raising from Seed. 
We have seen how the flowers of Carnations may be cross fertilised 
with a view to the production of new and improved varieties ; and 
we may now proceed to consider the raising of the plants. 
To the everyday amateur there is but one means of propagating 
the Carnation, and that is by layers. That this system is generally 
the best for increasing the stock of established varieties is readily 
admitted, and in due course copious and complete instructions for 
practising it will be given ; but it is obvious that it is only a secondary 
process, inasmuch as it cannot be practised until a plant has already 
been produced. . 
The natural means of incréase is by seed. If the beginner asks 
why it is not always resorted to, and artificial systems such as layer- 
ing abandoned, he is reminded that what is the strength of the plan 
—namely, the variable and unexpected results which accrue from it— 
is also its weakness. A new variety may be secured from seed by 
cross fertilisation, and fixed, but that variety could not be increased © 
regularly and kept true through the medium of seeds. The more 
nearly a flower approaches to perfect doubleness the fewer repro- 
ductive organs it has, and that means little or no seed. To put the 
RAISING FROM SEED. FIG. 14 (NEXT PAGE),—SOWING. 
A, the seed: a, dark or black, natural size and magnified; d, light or white, 
natural size and magnified. 
B, thin and thick sowing: ¢, seeds placed separately, about 1 inch apart; 
d, seeds broadcasted at irregular distances. 
C, section of a 38-inch pot: ¢, drainage; f, layer of rough siftings of soil ; 
g, compost; fh, seeds placed on a layer of fine soil, 5 inch apart; 7, 
covering of fine soil; 7, space for holding water in watering; 4, 
sheet of glass. 
D, sowing in a 6-inch pot: 7, drainage; m, layer of moss or fibre; n, 
rougher parts of the compost; 0, soil; p, seeds; g, covering of fine soil; 
7, space for holding water; s, pane of glass. 
E, sowing ina pan: ¢, drainage; wu, soil; v, seed; w, fine soil covering; z, 
space for holding water ; y, sheet of glass. 
F, sowing in a box about 14 inches long and 10 inches wide inside, and 
4 inches deep: z, drainage; @, soil; 4, seed; c, fine soil covering; 
d, sheet of glass. 
G, sowing in the open ground: ¢, drills made with the finger about } inch 
deep, and seeds placed in } inch apart; f, portion of a drill covered 
with fine soil, drills 1} inches apart. For general outdoor sowing the 
situation may be open but sheltered, 
