ON THE CARNATION. 115 



down upon them. At this stage of their growth they are exposed to 

 the attacks of the ant, or pismire, and the earwig ; the latter is very 

 destructive to the blooms, eating away the bottom of the petals. They 

 may be caught by placing the bowls of tobacco-pipes on the top of 

 the sticks, but they must not have been smoked with, as the smell of 

 the tobacco is very obnoxious to them. Crabs' claws are a good 

 substitute, and the dried hollow stalks of beans, laid on the surface of 

 the pots, into which they will retreat, must be examined every morn- 

 ing, and the enemy destroyed. The ants may also be killed by watch- 

 ing their track, when, having found the nest, a dose of boiling water 

 will generally be found sufficient. 



The flowers having escaped, by the vigilance of the growers, the 

 various vicissitudes to which they are liable from the time they are 

 planted out to the period of perfecting their bloom, the florist feels a 

 conscious pride in exhibiting his beauties to his various visitors, and 

 names and titles without number are brought forward in rapid suc- 

 cession ; and Kings and Queens, Dukes and Duchesses, Squires and 

 Councillors, Prophets and Lord Chancellors, Romans and Philoso- 

 phers, Actresses and Prime Ministers, Missionaries and Doctors, 

 Sweethearts and Soldiers, Archbishops and Racers, all pass in re- 

 view ; and, in fact, a florist's vocabulary seems to have no end. He 

 descants on their various perfections, and praises their shape and 

 colour, till he fancies himself invincible, though perhaps he may puff, 

 and say he has no chance. The exhibition day arrives, and "all his 

 trouble and care is rewarded, provided a few of his favourite flowers 

 are successful. 



And here it will be proper to observe, that it is by no means cer- 

 tain that the most careful, or the most extensive grower, will excel 

 at an exhibition, unless he either is a good dresser of a flower him- 

 self, or gets some one else to do the needful for him. This arranging 

 the petals, or, as it is technically called, dressing, is an art of consi- 

 derable nicety, and a grower who is an adept at preparing his flowers 

 for the stage, has a much better chance of obtaining the prize than 

 his neighbour who cannot "dress," even though he be otherwise an 

 inferior grower. 



Whilst on the subject of dressing, I may just observe, that many- 

 tricks are played with flowers for exhibition which are extremely re- 

 prehensible ; and where the various plans are adopted, let them be 



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