260 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



mixed with a sufficiency of sharp sand, will be found to answer per- 

 fectly for the growth of this plant. In potting care should be taken 

 to secure perfect drainage, and this should be effected by the careful 

 arrangement of a moderate quantity of crocks and not by half-filling 

 the pots with them. 



LAYERING CARNATIONS. 



JHE operation of layering is one of some nicety, and con- 

 sequently there are many who do not do it at all well. 

 Much has been written about it ; but it requires practice 

 and patience to do it properly. The system generally 

 followed, and the one that I find to answer best, is, 

 after having provided an equal quantity of road dust and decayed 

 leaves, or other vegetable soils, well mixed, and a quantity of pegs, 

 either made of fern, or what is better, leaden ones cast in a mould, 

 I place my pot in a wheelbarrow or on a low table, and take my 

 seat in front. I then, with a sharp knife, remove the lower leaves 

 close to the stem, and shorten the ends of the others ; but I am not 

 fond of cutting away too much. When all the layers are trimmed, 

 some of the compost must be put on the pot ; and having selected 

 the joint to cut through, I place my finger at the back, to keep it 

 steady, and gently insert the point of my knife in the centre of the 

 stem, pushing it gently forward with the edge downward, till the 

 blade is half through. I then give the handle a slight twist, and 

 bring the blade out below the joint on the under side, thus forming 

 a nice tongue. The nib is then cut back to a joint, and the piece of 

 leaf stripped off, leaving a small bud at the bottom. It is then care- 

 fully pegged down in the fine soil which had been placed on the pot. 

 Each layer is operated on in a similar manner. When all are down, 

 they have a little more soil put on them, but they should by no 

 means be buried deeply. It sometimes happens that there are 

 shoots so high as not to be conveniently brought down to the same 

 level as the others ; when this is the case, a large piece of broken 

 pot is placed within the rim, which holds up the soil, and makes a 

 higher surface, in which they are layered ; or sometimes they will be 

 long enough to insert in small pots placed close to the stem. After 

 having got all the shoots down and slightly covered with soil, I 

 place smooth flat stones, about the size of a halfpenny, over the cut 

 of each layer. This not only prevents the soil from being washed 

 away from that particular part, but it very much accelerates the 

 rooting ; for if the weather is hot, and the soil in other parts of the 

 pot dry, if you examine beneath these stones, a genial moisture will 

 be perceived ; yet the pebbles absorb heat, which they slowly give 

 out, much to the benefit of the layers. I must here notice the 

 operation of piping ; and though the Carnation is much more diffi- 

 cult to root than the Pink, yet I have adopted it with tolerable 

 the great matter is to do them early, for they require 



