ON WINTERING THE CARNATION, 151 



Were constantly kept down, and always during the winter nights. 

 I found my plants with this treatment, do very well till some time 

 after Christmas, when we had a long continuance of rain, snow, 

 and frost, and all the care 1 took by supplying extra mats, I could 

 not help the plants being constantly damp, both in grass and 

 roots, they soon began to shew a sickly appearance, the hearts 

 becoming a pale green, and eventually a great many dying alto- 

 gether, those that survived becoming very weakly, and the 

 flowers of course very diminutive. 



After the failure in my last attempt I thought I would try the 

 method of a friend of mine who was supposed to be a Carnation 

 grower of great eminence, his plan was in a great measure si- 

 milar to the last, with the exception of his being more careful to 

 exclude the external air during severe frosts, and used raised 

 frames, Although the plants were certainly more healthy by fol- 

 lowing this method of treatment, yet they did not produce such 

 fine flowers as I had anticipated, perhaps it was only the mild 

 winter that gave them the superiority over the others. After 

 having tried various experiments repeatedly for several years, 

 altering my mode of treatment each year, I found that the Car- 

 nation was a very hardy plant, and would, if placed in a southern 

 aspect, stand in the open border during the severest winters in 

 this climate ; it is a plant of all others, that delights in a free, dry, 

 and brisk circulation of air. 



Being thus convinced of its perfect hardy nature, and seeing 

 the bad effects resulting from nursing and confinement, having 

 observed that when the plants were placed in an airy situation 

 they throve much better than when they were confined, I erected 

 a glazed roof about eight feet in width and between fifteen and 

 and twenty in length, just as it suited my convenience ; this roof 

 I had supported with uprights, about nine feet high in the front, 

 and seven at the back, perfectly open on all sides, so that a free 

 current of air might pass through it ; the front or higher part faces 

 towards tbe south ; from the back uprights, about four feet from 

 the ground, I caused to be made a series of shelves, wide enough 

 to bold two pots, and graduate them to about three feet high, the 

 lower shell' being as wide as convenient, by this means 1 have 

 a complete command of my plants. 



The layers, when taken off, I frame for a week or ten days 

 closely, or until they arc well-rooted, and appear healthy, when 

 I take them out and stage them, by this mode of treatment they 



