96 CARNATIONS AND PINKS 



as garden flowers. The seedlings flower so profusely 

 that I have had three hundred or more blooms on a 

 single plant. 



Sowing Seed 



To get strong plants sow the seed in gentle warmth 

 in February or early in March. The seedlings appear 

 in a week or so, and should be pricked out in boxes, 

 and gradually accustomed to the open air. Plant 

 them out in beds of rich soil about the last week in 

 May or early in June. They are not expected to 

 bloom until the year after sowing the seed, and a 

 selection can be made from them to be propagated 

 and flowered the following season. There are no 

 Pink shows, and the special Natural Pink Society has 

 disappeared. In 1839 there were ninety-five raisers 

 of Pinks known to us ; there were six shows of Pinks 

 in one town in one year. The Auricula, the Rose, 

 the Carnation, the Dahlia, and the Chrysanthemum 

 hold high festival through their special societies, but 

 there seems no room for the Pink. I do not regret 

 this, for it would be dragged from its quiet nook, where 

 it is tended by loving hands. Choice specimens are 

 culled and placed in glass vases or delicate china 

 ones, and the perfume is always delicious. Carna- 

 tions are sometimes sadly scentless, but never a Pink. 

 For perfume the Carnation is not in it as compared 

 to the Pink, and the latter is the more easily grown, 

 preferring the open air to an atmosphere under glass. 

 I have grown the Pink since I could cultivate any- 

 thing, and would sadly miss a bed of the fragrant 



