Border Carnations. ak 
order of the day. Raisers should also bear this in 
mind when selecting parents with the object of 
raising new border varieties. 
Renovating Old Borders. 
_ Carnations like other plants grown . under 
artificial conditions, abstract the available plant food 
in the soil at a greater rate than can be maintained 
without artificial assistance. The available mineral 
ingredients of the soil are absorbed by the root 
system and built up into roots, stems, leaves, flowers 
and seeds, all of which ultimately get carried off the 
ground. During a single year there is a consider- 
able loss of soil fertility, if the crop removed has 
been heavy or even good. This loss must be 
returned in some form or other if an equally good 
display of Carnations is expected from the same 
ground the following year. Gardeners usually 
restore the fertility by the application of natural 
and artificial manures when digging cer trenching the 
ground ; and also by the application of fertilisers in 
the hquid form during the period of growth. In 
unusually dry seasons the plants may be unable to 
avail themselves of the fertility of the soil owing to 
the lack of sufficient moisture, which is the vehicle 
for carrying the mineral ingredients into the plant 
body. For the same reason they may only become 
soluble and available in small quantity, and the 
plants cannot make satisfactory growth. — Artificial 
watering then becomes a necessity, and even that has 
less effect than rain on account of the aridity of the 
atmosphere which soon evaporates the water 
artificially applied to an overheated soil. 
Amateurs unacquainted with manures and the 
proper use of them have recourse to fresh or virgin 
loam, frequently at considerable expense. This is 
undoubtedly an excellent plan for restoring the soil 
to its pristine fertility, but many object to it on the 
score of labour, time and expense, as well as on the 
score that it introduces that aggravating and 
destructive pest, wireworm, if the soil is taken, as it 
should be from an old pasture, full of the roots of 
grass and other herbage. (See chapter xvi. on 
“Insects and other Pests”). Much can be done, in 
the first place, by carefully selecting the ground on 
which Carnations are to be grown. Although they 
will make fair growth in almost any garden soil the 
mechanical and physical character of the same 
