66 THE CARNATION MANUAL. 



squally and rainy, keep them close in the frames 

 for a week or ten days while they are establishing 

 themselves, and remove them in batches as they 

 have been done to the stage. 



Uj) to the end of May the plants will need only 

 the same attention as to staking, and tying, and 

 watching for insect-pests, as those in the borders. 

 Green-fly will need to be specially watched for, and 

 may be removed with a camel-hair brush. If the 

 plants should be much infested, it will be necessary 

 to dust them with tobacco-powder, which must be 

 syringed off again. The soil should be stirred 

 occasionally, as it may have got hardened or green 

 through rain or watering, the opportunity being 

 chosen for this when it has become dry. A top- 

 dressing of equal parts of loam, leaf-mould, and 

 manure is commonly given at this time, but I do 

 not myself regard it as a very essential matter, and 

 as it takes time to go through the whole collection 

 I have never practised it except in a very partial 

 way. 



Only the main stem of each plant is allowed to 

 go up for bloom, the lateral flowering-shoots being 

 stopped. Disbudding should be commenced as 

 soon as the buds can be taken between the finofer 

 and thumb. Usually only two are left on the 

 plant, but in the case of some very vigorous 

 varieties three. These are the crown or main bud, 

 of course, and the third and fourth from the top. 



