MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 287 



explanation, and it may serve to show how seemingly only are the objections 

 which may possibly occur to the minds of some florists on this subject. I lay 

 hold of this fact, then, as very strong proof of the truth of my own opinion ; 

 and will show that when the stalk of a Carnation is thus cracked at a joint, the 

 flower-buds above will have a greater abundance of nourishment, and hence 

 will, in all probability, become clean. As thus: the nutritious juices absorbed 

 by the roots are propelled upwards, even through the small portion of the un- 

 cracked stem, and after being transmitted to the flower-buds, their course 

 downwards to the plant and roots is checked, obstructed, and rendered almost 

 impossible, at the cracked j oint ; hence an unusually abundant supply is 

 maintained at the top of the flower-stalk. The flowers there situated, thus 

 plentifully supplied with nutritious food, break into all those fine stripes which 

 cultivation has naturally induced in them. Further, it is especially worthy of 

 remark, as greatly establishing the truth of the above explanation, that when 

 the stalk of a Carnation is cracked at a joint (a circumstance not unfrequent in 

 wet seasons), the flowers are for the most part large, fine, and boldly developed. 

 Indeed, this is precisely what happens, and admits of explanation, on the same 

 principle as the ringing of apple-trees ; that is, making incisions through the 

 bark, to cause them to bear more plentifully; in other words, arresting the flow 

 of sap downwards from the branches to the root, and thus, by augmenting its 

 supply in the upper parts, rendering it subservient to the greater production of 

 fruit. 



The compost most suitable for the Carnation is, simply, two parts old pasture 

 sods, two years old, and one part old frame manure, three years old, with a 

 sufficient addition of coarse river-sand, to prevent tenacity of the soil. Pasture 

 sods reduced to mould are preferable to soil taken from a greater depth, inasmuch 

 as they contain the fibrous roots of the grass, which, during their gradual decay, 

 afford a constant supply of most acceptable nourishment. I must here close my 

 observations on this delicate, and, to the florist, most important subject; with 

 the assurance, however, that though more important engagements have compelled 

 me to dismount a favourite hobby-horse, the cultivation of florist's flowers, I 

 shall always be ready to communicate the reminiscences of a florist, when in- 

 formation is sought for, as in the present instance, on an important subject — for 

 he is, of all men. the greatest miser who is a niggard of knowledge. — 

 F. R. Horner, M.D., Hull, 10th August, 1841. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Fastening down Plants in Flower-Beds. — Instead of pegs, I employ 

 matting cut into lengths of four inches, and these divided into three or four 

 pieces : I double these pieces round the shoots, and fasten the end of the 

 matting in the soil with a small dibber. In this way, a boy or a woman may 

 trim and tie down all the plants in a flower-garden in less time than it would 

 require to procure pegs, while the work is much more neatly done than if the 

 best pegs had been used. — Amicus. 



Budding Roses, &c. — The bud for insertion is taken off the shoot very close to 

 the eye ; the tip or part of the bark below the bud is cut off quite close, to allow 

 the bud to be pushed closer into the stock without being bruised. It then re- 

 quires only to De tied above the bud, and a composition applied to exclude the 

 air and keep the bud cool, consisting of two-thirds cow-dung and one-third stiff 

 loam. The bud requires no untying, and generally grows so closely into the 

 stock as hardly to be distinguished horn a shoot, and is not so liable to he blown 

 out or injured. The composition is applied in a liquid state, wth a small brush. 



The large showy ruses that flower in June and July should be pruned 

 in February. As many of the strongest young shoots as the tree is capable of 

 supporting should be left, and the rest cut out ; the branches left for flowering 

 should be shortened back about one-third, and those intended for next year's 

 wood to be about three buds. By this method of pruning 1 have many 

 roses with shoots from three feet to six feet long, covered with blossom buds. 

 Those standards which have long shoots are hooped over each other, and vro- 

 duce a beautiful effect. Those dwarfs that admit of it have their shoots pejrired 

 down, or, if planted close together, they are intertwiued, and thus the ground is 



