ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE PINK. 219 



and rotten manure ; but if poor and stiff, I advise such soil to be 

 entirely removed to the depth of eighteen inches, and its place sup- 

 plied by the top spit from a rich meadow, mixed with well-rotted 

 cow manure, in the proportion of three to one. But before this is 

 placed in the bed, it must be carefully searched, in order to destroy 

 all grubs, which, at the season of the year alluded to, are very 

 numerous and destructive. As a considerable number of plants may 

 be cultivated in a small bed, they will amply reward if more than 

 ordinary trouble is taken to prepare the bed ; and in order to do that 

 most suitably, I would recommend four or six inches of stones, or 

 brick rubbish, to be placed at the bottom for drainage, Pinks always 

 suffering more from wet than frost; I would also introduce one or 

 two bushels of charcoal, after being steeped in a strong solution of 

 guano or pigeons' dung. A bed thus prepared would be ready for 

 the reception of the plants, which will be found to do best if planted 

 in September, in the manner I have before described ; they will, 

 after this, recpiire no further attention until February, when they 

 must be top-dressed with some choice old manure, such as sheeps' 

 or rotten cow-dung, mixed with a little pigeons' dung. In May, 

 the plants will throw up their stems for bloom, which recpiire par- 

 ticular attention properly to spindle them, as it is termed ; that is, to 

 remove all the weak and side blooms, so as to reduce the number 

 left to one, two, three, or four, as the case may be ; for instance, to 

 produce an extra fine flower of such kinds as Enchantress, Tom 

 Long, or Duke of Northumberland, there should be but one bloom 

 left to a stem ; while, on the other hand, such flowers as Rubens, 

 Great Britain, and Hero of Croydon, require that three or four 

 blooms be left on a stem, in order to weaken the individual bloom, 

 which otherwise would be almost impossible it could expand without 

 bursting the pod. At the time of these operations the stems should 

 be tied to neat sticks, and when this is completed I give the whole 

 bed a top-dressing, in the following manner : I procure a quantity 

 of fresh cow-dung, and place it in a large tub, adding thereto a 

 sufficient quantity of water to reduce it to a fluent substance, of such 

 consistency, that when poured over the bed it disposes itself in a 

 thick crust. The beneficial effect of this application is most distin- 

 guishable, and I will here observe, might not the same means be, 

 with the greatest advantage, employed to promote superiority in other 



tribes of flowers? 



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