The American Carnation. 121 
the largest plants, which will come into bloom during 
September, and reach their stage of greater produc- 
tiveness about Christmas or the new year. Better 
results are usually obtained from cuttings inserted 
in February and the first half of March, because the 
light 1s improving by that time and the cuttings 
grow away with more vigour. Those taken later, say 
during the second half of March, and the first half 
of April serve to continue the display of flowers till 
well into spring. As in the case of Chrysanthemums 
AMERICAN CARNATION MRS. M. A. PATTEN 
the flowers may be timed to bloom at a given period 
by inserting the cuttings during a given month, by 
stopping the shoots at stated times, a certain num- 
ber of times, and housing early or late according to 
the individual characteristics of the variety. Early 
varieties may be propagated late and stopped a 
greater number of times than late flowering sorts, 
which require a longer period to come to maturity 
and to be stopped earlier for the last time. In other 
words they do not require stopping so often as 
