12 THE CARNATION MANUAL. 



to the depth of about eighteen inches, and culti- 

 vated for some years, so that the mould is in a 

 friable, open condition. A good dressing of farm- 

 yard manure should be added to it; but the 

 manure ought not to be placed in immediate 

 contact with the roots. If the soil at the top is 

 a heavy, sticky clay, the plants will not take kindly 

 to it, unless the following precautions are taken : 

 Take of good fibrous loam three parts, leaf-mould 

 one part, decayed manure one part, and one part 

 coarse sand ; mix the whole well up together, and 

 place a handful or so around the roots of each 

 plant to give them a start. If the young plants 

 are taken carefully out of the boxes with all the 

 roots and soil attached, they will start away freely 

 without any check, and, of course, they must have 

 been gradually inured to the open air before being 

 planted out. Given good soil to grow in, and the 

 plants in good condition, the ground stirred up by 

 the Dutch hoe to kill weeds, they will make large 

 specimens by the end of the season, and produce 

 such a superabundance of flowers the year following 

 as to be almost beyond belief. I have counted up- 

 wards of two hundred flowers on one of these seed- 

 ling plants. It is a daily pleasure at flowering time, 

 in July and August, for the amateur to visit his 

 bed of seedling Carnations, watching the develop- 

 ment of the flowers, and carefully noting those 

 that will have to be propagated for flowering next 



