102 ON THE CULTIVATION 01' THE PINK. 



in order to throw off any excess of wet, which if iiot guai'ded 

 against wonld be jjarticularly injurious. 



I plant off my Pinks for blooming in September, for, as is very 

 properly remarked by Mr. Hogg, in his excellent Treatise on 

 Florist Flowers, Pinks transplanted in spring never do well, nor 

 show half the beauty which those do that ai-e planted in Septem- 

 ber ; the laced Pinks in particulai', appear almost plain, without 

 their distinguishing character. In order to have strong vigorous 

 blossoms, I raise fresh plants from pijjings every season, as they 

 bloom the best when one year old. 



I have often noticed in the plan of striking pipings which is 

 generally adopted, a very great failure to attend the practice ; in 

 numerous cases not more than one in twenty strike root ; the usual 

 method is to make a slight hotbed, and cover it either with a frame 

 or hand glass ; the pipings being inserted are accommodated with 

 dung bed heat, this is quite opposed to their striking, for at this 

 period it is indisjiensibly necessary to a successful striking that 

 they 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 first 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 far more vigorous gi-owth than 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. Hav- 

 ing taken off the pipings, I strip off the two lowest leaves, and 

 then stick the pipings into the puddle, at about three inches apait. 

 Having done this, I place a hand glass over them ; I do not 

 water them on insertion, for if 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 

 fur the first week, thus gi-adually 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 indis])cusible to make a new bed every year. I uuifonnly grow 



