142 THE CARNATION MANUAL. 



of-doors in a border of well-prepared ground, or in 

 flower-pots to be placed under glass just before the 

 flowers open. This brings me to a point where it 

 is desirable to expose a fallacy in the cultivation 

 of these flowers. Because they are grown in flower- 

 pots some persons have arrived at the conclusion 

 that they are greenhouse plants, and must be 

 grown under glass before they can produce their 

 flowers. This is an error that thas been the cause 

 of much worry and heartburning, for some persons 

 eager to grow their plants well have crowded them 

 into a greenhouse amongst other plants, with the 

 inevitable result of such treatment — spindling 

 growths and poor flowers. The plants are merely 

 grown in pots so that they may be placed in a 

 light airy greenhouse when in flower ; and from 

 April to July are out-of-doors with no protection 

 whatever. Anyone can prove the two systems of 

 culture for themselves. Place so many plants out- 

 of-doors in April, and a similar number in a green- 

 house, and the superiority of the open-air culture 

 will be clearly demonstrated at flowermg time. 

 Another resultant evil of greenhouse culture is the 

 miserably attenuated young growths from the base 

 of the plants — technically termed " grass " — and 

 the difliculty of keeping such growths free from 

 green-fly, which crowd u23on them in a glass-house. 

 When the flowering period is over we place the 

 plants out-of-doors again, except such as are 



