EXTRACT. 333 



PART II. 



EXTRACT. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF PINKS. 



A brief account of the cultivation of Pinks pursued by me I now subjoin, hop- 

 ing, though the subject be trifling and unimportant in itself, it will afford some gra- 

 tification to those persons who are fond of flowers. 



I formed my Pink beds and planted them about the middle of October ; they 

 were raised six inches above the alleys, to enable the heavy rains to pass off during 

 the winter. The soil consisted of a sandy loam, or more correctly speaking, of a 

 commixture of yellowish loam, common black garden mould, road grit taken from 

 the entrance to Paddington pond, washed before it was used, and a good portion of 

 rotten horse-dung, well incorporated, with a good bottom of dung from the cucum- 

 ber pits : added to which, I top-dressed the beds in the beginning of May, after 

 weeding and lightly hoeing the surface, with nearly an inch thick of rotten dung 

 passed through a coarse sieve, in which was a small quantity one-year old sheep- 

 dung, the sweepings of the St. John's Wood-lane sheep-pens. 



I watered tliem freely with the pipe of the water-pot between the rows, when 

 the pods where swelling and showing bloom ; for if the plants lack moisture at this 

 stage of their growth, when the weather is generally hot aud the ground dry, the 

 flowers seem to languish, and never attain that degree of perfection they would do 

 if the beds were kept moist and cool. The top-dressing prevents the ground from 

 cracking, and the rains and water given from the pot passing through it, convey 

 gradually a wholesome nourishment to the plants. 



The effect of careful, over careless cultivation was never perhaps more clearly 

 evinced than in an instance in my own neighbourhood this season. A friend of 

 mine, who had received from him all the superior varieties of Pinks, planted them 

 in a bed in the common way ; and though they were pretty healthy, and sent forth 

 sufficient blooms, the\ T presented only a sort of uniform sameness, undistinguished 

 by that pleasing variety of bright colouring, and beautiful lacing peculiar to each, 

 which were so manifest in mine : a common observer would have said that they 

 were Pinks altogether different from mine. 



Florists contending for a prize, and anxious to get their flowers large, leave 

 three pods only upon each stem, and four or five stems to alarge plant, two or three 

 to a small one, cutting off the rest as they spindle up to flower : as soon as the 

 pods are full formed, they tie a slip of wet bass round them, to prevent their burst- 

 ing irregularly, and place a glass or other covering over them when in bloom, to 

 protect them from the sun and rain, thereby preserving their colours from being 

 soon faded and tarnished. 



If there has been much frost during the winter, and the earth is consequently 

 rendered light and loose when it thaws, the roots, by such extension of the ground, 

 will sometimes be raised almost out of it : in that case it will be necessary, any 

 time about the beginning of April, to tread the mould down lightly with the foot, 

 or at least to compress it firmly round the plants with the hand. 



A Pink bed will continue, and flower very well, for two years in succession, 

 though most florists renew their plants every year by piping the grass, in order to 

 have them young, healthy, and rigorous, and if they are confined to the same plot 

 of ground, they take care to add a little fresh loam and rotten dung to it, every 

 time they make up a fresh bed. 



Columella and Pliny, in their works on Agriculture, have given directions for 

 the selection of good soil, which cannot be amended at the present day : the fol- 

 lowing are some of the tests whereby they distinguish it. " That it is of a blackish 

 <oli. in- : glutinous when wet, and easily crumbled when dry; has an agreeable 

 smell; imbibes water, retains a proper quantity, and discharges a superfluity j" 

 fco. Gardeners who cannot meet with such soil ought to use artificial means to 

 form it, by bringing together different kinds : sand and still' loom bring the princi- 

 pal Ingredients required, the one for strong soils, the other lor light. 



F f 



