THE CAKNATION MANUAL. 63 



character, must necessarily be delicate in consti- 

 tution. Of course, those who have practical ex- 

 perience in the culture of these beautiful flowers 

 know this to be an entire error. There is hardly 

 any grower of them, even among those following 

 for exhibition purposes the system of pot-culture, 

 who does not grow them also in the open ground. 

 In fact, the Northumberland and great part of the 

 Lancashire growers of the exhibition or florist 

 Carnations grow them solely in the open ground, 

 and certainly no severer or more conclusive test 

 of the soundness and hardiness of the florist 

 varieties than is shown in the practice of these 

 Northern growers under the trying climatic condi- 

 tions of their districts could be devised. 



For the production of flowers for exhibition the 

 plants in the South at least are usually grown in 

 pots. 



The system of pot-culture for exhibition flowers 

 is one mainly of convenience, whereby the exhibitor 

 may have his plants more completely under control 

 than they could be in the beds or borders — this 

 more especially at the time of blooming, in July, 

 when, if the season be hot and dry, or prove a 

 period of violent storms of wind and rain, as we 

 have kno^vn it the last four years, the flowers have 

 equal need of shade or shelter to preserve them in 

 exhibition form. I would therefore advise anyone 

 desiring to exhibit, especially in the larger classes, 



