82 PICTORIAL PRACTICAL CARNATION GROWING. 
that the reward of his care is not snatched away from him at the 
last moment. 
Shading will have to be thought of. If the grower is in the 
happy position of having a large, roomy, airy house for his pets his 
trouble will be small, as with the usual blinds he can shade at will. 
Plenty of air will be needed, but insects are not wanted. Mr. Martin 
Smith has his houses fitted with wire doors in summer, so that 
abundance of air can be admitted without letting in swarms of bees 
and other undesirable insects. The grower prefers to do his own 
pollinating ; he does not want the bees to do it for him. 
The person who is engaged in the laudable task of trying to win 
first prizes in good company, without the aid of glass other than 
frames, is less favourably situated. His best plan will be to stand © 
the pot plants in a group, and fix an awning over them. At the 
very least the pots should stand on sharp cinders; it would be still 
better to knock up a stage for them, with the legs stood in pans of 
water, as not only will worms be excluded, but other creeping pests 
as well. Earwigs, it is well known, have wings, but it is certain that 
they do not use them as freely as they might, for, failing the ability 
to creep up a plant from the base, they will generally leave it alone 
altogether. 
Any provision of this nature should be ready by the middle 
of June, as from then onwards the plants may be expected to 
advance rapidly into bloom, and with no shade from the sun they 
might move too fast. A suitable height for the stage will be 
18 inches, as-this will bring the flowers nicely under the eye. 
If the wood is first of all dressed with a paint of Stockholm tar 
thinned with paraffin oil, three coats being put on in succession as 
each one dries, and then painted to the desired colour, it will last 
a lifetime. 
So much for the support. With respect to the shelter, something 
CULTURE IN POTS FOR EXHIBITION. FIG. 37 (NEXT PAGE).— 
STAKING. 
1 (left hand), plant staked with an ordinary deal stake, painted light green: 
o, points where lateral flowering shoots have been stopped or removed ; 
p, places where buds on the main stem have been removed; g, stake; 7, 
ligatures; s, lateral flowering shoots retained on a strong growing 
variety, all the buds but the terminal one of each being removed, and 
the shoot looped up with raphia, neither tied to the stake nor the shoot, 
but in the middle, ¢ ; «, main or crown bud. 
2 (right hand), a plant staked with a Bamboo cane; »v, clip (Sydenham’s 
Unique) by which the main stem is secured to the stake ; w, bass loop 
ties for preventing the breaking or the excessive drooping of the lateral 
flowering shoots. 
3 (centre), a plant staked witha coil stake, the wire galvanised and enamelled 
green; 2, the main stem gently twined in a spiral coil of the stake, and 
into the loop at the top; y, no ties on the main stem; 2, lateral flower- 
ing shoots looped up with Raffiatape or green soft cotton ligatures. 
