THE CARNATION MANUAL. 23 



A light addition of bone-dust may be used 

 safely and with effect. 



The heavier the loam used the more liberal 

 must be the additions of the other constituents of 

 the border to keep it well 02')en. 



On no account should rank fresh manure be 

 used ; the plants appear unable to assimilate it. 

 When used the foliage is apt to turn yellow, and 

 the plant to deteriorate distinctly under its in- 

 fluence. Nothing can beat thoroughly rotted old 

 hotbed manure. 



It is also a point of great importance that the 

 border should be trenched and thoroughly remade 

 every year before new layers are planted. This is, 

 in the writer's opinion, the one thing most need- 

 ful, and, unfortunately, the one thing also which 

 is most frequently neglected on the ground of 

 trouble, expense, or want of time. There is no 

 more certain method of securing vigorous growth 

 and plentiful bloom than the addition, when the 

 border is remade, of a liberal supply of fresh 

 loam, if not to the whole border, at any rate 

 immediately round the plants. 



It is true that Carnations are year after year 

 successfully exhibited by growers who have no such 

 supplies of new soil at their disposal, but they 

 achieve their success by the use of a skill and ex- 

 perience which is less attainable by the majority of 

 Carnation growers than fresh loam. 



