50 ON THE CULTURE OF THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 



will have pushed fresh root, and be able to stand the open air. 

 My reason for advising the removal to be made by yourself is, 

 that they may not be exposed to the air for three or four days after 

 they are taken from the old plant, and before they are sent to you. 

 This is a common practice with knavish florists, that they may 

 engender the disease complained of by your Correspondent Iris, 

 viz. their dying when near blooming. This exposure to the air 

 causes every piece of grass then upon the plant to wither and die, 

 and to stick so firm to the main stem that it is impossible to remove 

 it without injury to the bark of the stem, where the water gets in 

 after every watering, and produces decay just above the earth, and 

 ultimately death. The next is the wintering your plants ; this 

 is generally done in common glazed frames. Having chosen a 

 warm south aspect, place your frame upon four bricks, one at each 

 corner, along the ends and middle ; in the inside lay a row of 

 bricks, and upon these splines of inch deal, three inches broad, and 

 the length of the frame ; set your pots upon these, and give them 

 all the dry fresh air possible, by keeping the lights off during the 

 day ; when wet, raise the frame upon extra bricks ; do this also 

 after you have given them six or eight hours' gentle rain ; if it 

 should not clear up so soon as you expected, the air passing in 

 under the frame will soon dry them, or possibly they might remain 

 wet for three or four days, which would certainly produce mildew 

 and unsoundness. In severe frosty weather shut down the frame 

 close, and cover with mats at night. Give no water whilst it con- 

 tinues. Keep them in this situation till the last week in March. 

 A week before you pot them into their flowering pots, expose them 

 night and day to the open air ; this will harden them to meet the 

 transplanting, which should now be done. The compost I have 

 found the most suitable is as follows : — 10 barrowfuls of well rotted 

 na<r, dug from an old pasture, two years before use, where the soil 

 is what farmers call heavy ; five barrowfuls of well decayed old 

 cucumber bed ; one barrowful of coarse sand, and one barrowful 

 of finely ground unbumt sulphate of lime (Gypsum) ; this last 

 tends greatly to invigorate their growth, and causes the white to be 

 beautifully clear. These should be put together in October, and 

 turned frequently during frost in winter. About the last week in 

 February put it under cover, that it may get moderately dry before 

 use. The flowering pots should be 16 to the caste (sixteens). Over 



