148 THE CARNATIOX MANUAL. 



The propagation of the Winter-Flowering 

 Carnation is effected by means of pipings or 

 cuttings, which can be taken and struck at any 

 time. The best period to do this is in the months 

 of January, February, and early in March. Eight 

 or ten pipings can be put into a four-inch pot ; a 

 light, free soil should be used, largely of a sandy 

 character, which should be pressed firmly about the 

 pipings ; they should then receive a sprinkle over- 

 head, and be placed in a bottom heat of a tem- 

 perature of from 60° to 70°. In three or four 

 weeks they will be rooted, and should then be 

 potted off singly into three-inch pots. When well 

 established in a warm temperature, they should be 

 gi-adually hardened off and shifted into larger pots 

 to keep them growing. 



Constitution and habit of growth are also 

 important points which should be kept in view. If 

 seed is sown in January in pots or pans and placed 

 on a brisk bottom heat it germinates quickly. 

 The plants, as soon as large enough, should be 

 pricked off into shallow boxes, grown on into size 

 in a gentle warmth, and as soon as they are 

 strong enough they should be hardened off and 

 planted out in a well-prepared bed in the open 

 ground. Here they will put on a fi'ee growth, 

 and if the forwardest plants be lifted and potted 

 early in the autumn they will bloom during the 

 winter. 



