182 TREATMENT OF THE PINK. 



struck my dahlias. Having removed the frame I take off the top sur- 

 face until I come to the dung, I then take a fork and shake as 

 much of the dung as will cause a gentle heat; I afterwards lay a piece 

 of old matting on the top, to prevent the worms from working up, 

 covering it over with the mould as above described ; the next object 

 being to select the most rare and new sorts, which I pipe first, cover- 

 ing them with glasses varying in size from four to twenty- two inches 

 square, using the small ones for the best sorts, I generally take the 

 grass or side shoot from the plants with the number stuck to them, 

 keeping each sort separate ; I then proceed to cut off the pipings, 

 stripping the leaves to the second joint, and with a sharp knife cut 

 them close under the joint, taking care not to injure it. In those 

 sorts in which the joints are shorter, I cut the third or fourth joint, 

 and as I cut them I place them in small pans of water to stiffen, 

 which causes them to enter the ground more freely, taking care to 

 keep each sort separate. I then take the glasses and make a print in 

 the mould with them ; I next proceed to take each piping singly, and 

 stick them into the mould up to the first joint, three-quarters of an 

 inch apart ; after having filled the space I proceed to give them a 

 gentle watering, taking care not to put the glass down close until they 

 are dried, or it will cause them to damp off; I proceed in this manner 

 until I have gone through the whole of my collection, being particu- 

 larly careful to shade them from the mid-day sun, which I do by 

 placing hoops across the piping place, covering them with matting 

 from eight in the morning till five in the evening, giving them the 

 full benefit of the morning sun till eight o'clock ; in the course of 

 three weeks many of the glasses may be taken off, and at the end of 

 six weeks most of them will be fit for planting out into the bed, which 

 should be prepared ready to receive them, planting them three inches 

 apart in the rows, and each row four inches apart. In the middle of 

 September I generally begin to make up my bed for blooming, having 

 it four feet wide with border boards above the level, I take out one 

 spit of earth from end to end, replacing it with a layer of horse or 

 cow-dung quite rotten four or five, inches thick all over the bed ; I then 

 cover it with about six inches of earth, keeping it three inches higher 

 in the centre, gradually sloping to the edge, after which I mark out the 

 bed and plant the pinks seven inches apart : about the latter end of 

 March I top dress them with some old rotten horse-dung worked 



