184 TREATMENT OF THE PINK. 



be kept quite cold. In the mode I practise, ninety-nine will usually 

 strike out of every hundred. 



" My piping season is' from the middle of June to the fiist of July, — 

 that is, when the plants are in bloom ; for if later, the shoots get too 

 long for successfully striking root. I find it best to take them off 

 when about two inches long, and plants raised from such pipings make 

 a Air more vigorous growth that those which are struck from older 

 pipings. The mode I pursue in striking is as follows : — I select a 

 shady situation in the garden ; having dug the soil over, I then with 

 water make it a complete puddle. Having taken off the pipings, I 

 strip off the two lowest leaves, and then stick the pipings into the pud- 

 dle, at about three inches apart. Having done this, I place a hand-glass 

 over them ; I do not water them on insertion, for if this were done, 

 the pipings would be very liable to damp off. The hand-glass is not 

 removed till I perceive the pipings have begun to push shoots ; this 

 is generally in about three weeks ; I then take it off for about half an 

 hour each day for the first week, thus gradually exposing them to the 

 air. By the above mode of striking, for the last four years I have 

 not lost one dozen of pipings. 



" In order to grow pinks producing the finest and best flowers, it is 

 indispensible to make a new bed every year. I uniformly grow the 

 most esteemed varieties in beds prepared as above, where 



" Varied beauties shine upon her face; 

 Where all is beauty, harmony, and grace." 



" The properties of a good pink are, the flower must be two inches 

 upwards across, broad petals, of pure white, quite distinct from the 

 eye, unless the flower be a laced pink, in which the colour of the eye 

 must go round the edge of the petals, and be free from any tinge or 

 spot ; the colour of the eye and edge should consist of a bright, or 

 dark rich crimson, resembling velvet, the darker the colour, the more 

 to be valued. 



" When the weather is hot, I find it necessary to shade the flowers. 

 This is done by placing small boards over them. The boards are five 

 inches broad, and about half an inch thick, each fixed upon a stick 

 that supports it above the flowers — for 



" Touch'd by the sun, the lustre fades 

 And weeps itself away." 



