THE CARNATION MANUAL. 131 



planted in autumn or in spring, on the tops of 

 old walls and ruins, and I hope readers of these 

 notes may try them m this way. They revel if old 

 lime rubbish, or shell-sand, or sea-side shingle, be 

 mixed with the loam in which they are grown. 



A friend of mine in Dublin, a clergyman, once 

 complained that no flowers would thrive in his 

 garden, as the soil was pure sea-sand, and swept at 

 times by the salt spray from the bay. " Try Car- 

 nations," I said ; and he did so, and now has beds 

 and borders of them fresh and healthy, and so 

 floriferous that he confesses that he now has more 

 flowers during their blooming season than he can 

 use or give away, notwithstanding that the children 

 of a neighbouring school are permitted to gather 

 flowers for their church every Sunday during the 

 season. 



Once I walked by accident up the high terrace 

 at Dalkey, near Dublin, and overlooking the bay, 

 and amid a plantation of New Zealand Veronicas I 

 suddenly came on a garden having a long bed of 

 Carnations on the grass beside the little drive. I 

 never saw such a sight before ; and wherever soil 

 and climate are suitable the Carnation is, as a 

 hardy plant, a very fine and enjoyable thing. A 

 friend from England also by accident peeped over 

 the same low wall fringed by Veronicas a few days 

 after I had done so, and the sight made of him a 

 confirmed Carnation grower, and to-day he is 

 J 2 



