169 



DISEASES AND PESTS. 



Bij Martin Rowan 



Of the diseases troubling the Carnation there are 

 the gout, as it is called, and spot. The former, 

 which shows itself first in a swelling, and often 

 results in the rotting away of the stem of the 

 plant, seems to be engendered in the first instance 

 by rank sappy growth acted on, it may be, by the 

 winter frost, or, what is probably more common, 

 a rank growth forced on by a high temperature, 

 in early summer, has encountered a check through 

 a change to colder weather which its original 

 unhealthy state has rendered it unable to with- 

 stand. A well-drained soil for the border plants, 

 and plenty of air during the winter for the plants 

 in the frames, once they are properly established, 

 are the best preventives of either of these diseases. 

 Light and air are alike the preventive and the 

 cure for spot. Young plants shoAving symptoms 

 of gout I pot in pure sweet loam, with which 

 is mixed a little coarse silver sand and some 

 lime rubbish, all manurial matter, even leaf- 

 mould, being excluded. A little watchfulness and 

 care as to the watering will, if the disease has not 



