32 ON PINKS. 



Never did any author enlarge so much upon nothing, as he that wrote 

 the culture of Pinks has done upon this article : he has carefully 

 euumerated every particular, even to the minutest circumstance of 

 things, that he imagined only might happen : in short, he has forgot 

 nothing, yet all he says is, for the most part, empty words that prove 

 nothing. 



To make a mixture of earth proper for Pinks, that naturally love 

 the cool ; take one third of good kitchen-garden earth, one third and 

 a half of mould, and half a third of yellow earth ; sift them well and 

 mix them all together. When this composition is made, take pots of 

 a middle size, which are wider at top than at bottom, so that whenever 

 you think fit, you may the more easily take your Pinks out of the pots : 

 fill them with this earth ; press it down a little, to hinder it from sink- 

 ing down too much of itself, as it otherwise would : and when you 

 have filled them thus with the earth to within an inch or better of the 

 brim, fill them up quite with mould taken from an hotbed. 



Having done this, go to your suckers, take up the little hook that 

 holds them fast, and if you find they have taken root, divide them from 

 their stocks, by cutting them with a knife or some such like instru- 

 ment, as near as you possibly can to their stalk : take care that the 

 two shanks of your suckers, which are the lower parts of them that 

 spread themselves abroad, by reason of the incision which was made 

 on them, and to which the little fibres adhere, be always of a like 

 length ; gnaw off the ends of the leaves. This is a method which has 

 been hitherto constantly practised. 



Having exactly followed these instructions, take it for a certain rule, 

 that the true time to plant the suckers, is towards the beginning of 

 October ; and when you have divided them from their stocks, and 

 have nothing more to do, but to put them in pots, observe the follow- 

 ing method of doing it : 



Take your suckers, that are prepared in the manner I named, 

 hold one of them in your left hand ; with your fore-finger make in 

 the middle of your pot a hole large and deep enough to contain 

 your sucker ; put it in, and fill up the hole ; press down the earth 

 upon the suckers, water them, and when you have planted them all 

 in this manner, carry your pots into the shade : leave them there for 

 ten or twelve days, which is the usual time in which we suppose them 

 to have retaken root. 



The safest way to govern plants is, always to have regard to their 

 constitution, and to the places from whence they draw their first ex- 

 traction. The Pink comes from a temperate climate, and accordingly 

 desires but a moderate sun. Therefore, when the ten days the suckers 

 have been in shade are over, take them from thence, and place them 

 in an easterly aspect, which agrees with them the best of any. 



This Pink is not very sensible of cold, therefore, be not afraid to 

 let it weather out the first frosts : we see a great many endure the 



