DIANTHUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DIANTHUS. 



447 



PIPINGS. When the plants throw 

 up shoots too numerous to layer, or 

 when the root is attacked by disease, 

 the shoots may be taken off as follows : 

 Take the shoot just above the fourth or 

 fifth joint from the top, and with a 

 sharp pull draw it out from the socket 

 formed by the next joint, which it will 

 pull away with it. Insert on sandy 

 soil under a hand-light, water thor- 

 oughly, and in three or four weeks the 

 pipings will be rooted. They may 

 then be potted off singly or bedded 

 like layers, and will flower the next 

 year. Plants thus struck are never so 

 good as those propagated by layers, 

 but this method is a useful expedient 

 to save a good sort or to get up a good 

 stock. 



LAYERS. This is the best and most 

 generally accepted method of propagat- 

 ing Carnations and Pico tees. It should 

 be commenced at latest the last week 

 in July, and finished by the second 

 week in August. It is performed 

 as follows : Scrape away the earth 

 round the plant to the depth of 

 2 inches, and substitute for the earth 

 removed the compost prescribed. 

 Strip each shoot up to the top three 

 or four joints, going all round the 

 plant before proceeding farther. Then 

 with a sharp knife cut half through a 

 shoot, just below a joint, make a 

 slanting cut up through the joint, and 

 bring the knife out just above it ; take 

 a peg with a hook in it and thrust it 

 into the fresh compost just above the 

 tongue, so that as the peg comes down 

 it will catch the tongue and peg it into 

 the earth. Cover it with a little more 

 compost placed firmly. Proceed thus 

 all round the plant, finally watering 

 carefully with a fine rose waterpot 

 to settle the soil around the layers. 

 In about a month the layers will be 

 rooted, and by the second week in 

 October all the young plants ought to 

 be in their winter quarters. 



Several diseases affect Carnations. 

 Two of the worst are fungoid growths. 

 One of these is a fungus which grows 

 between the membranes of the leaf, 

 and the only method of destroying it 

 is to pick off and burn every infected 

 leaf. It appears at first as a small 

 blister which bursts, scattering its 

 spores and leaving a dark brown scar. 

 A more familiar disease is that known 

 as spot ; a damp atmosphere or over- 

 crowding of the plants being the causes. 

 It spreads rapidly, but some kinds 

 enjoy a complete immunity from it. 



Dusting the plants two or three times 

 with a mixture of soot and sulphur 

 has been found effectual. The gout is 

 a swelling of the stem close to the 

 surface of the ground, which eventually 

 bursts, supposed to be caused by little 

 worms which eat their way into the 

 collar of the plant and lay eggs there 

 which hatch worms that feed upon 

 and eventually kill the plant. The 

 Maggot is a small insect with great 

 powers for mischief. It comes from 

 an egg laid no doubt in the skin or 

 tissues of the leaf, and eating its way 

 under the skin of the leaf, makes a 

 home in the main stem of the plant, 

 eating out the centre and killing it. 

 The only remedy appears to be dili- 

 gently searching for and hunting it out 

 before it has traversed the leaf. By 

 spraying with quassia and soft soap 

 the plants are made better and dis- 

 tasteful to the pest, which is deterred 

 from depositing eggs on the plants. 

 Wire-worm is a pest to be reckoned 

 with, but usually only gives trouble in 

 fresh soil. Spittle-fly, which appears 

 when the flower-spikes are growing, 

 must be destroyed, or it will do serious 

 harm. An open situation and a well- 

 drained soil are conditions unfavour- 

 able to the spot diseases, whilst rotation 

 in planting keeps the stock free from 

 the worm pests and maggots. 



D. DELTOIDES (Maiden Pink). A pretty 

 native plant, with bright pink-spotted or 

 white flowers, on stems from 6 to 12 inches 

 long. It grows almost anywhere, in bor- 

 ders or on rockwork ; does not so much 

 suffer from wire-worm. It may be 

 readily raised from seed, and is easily 

 increased by division. The variety glauca 

 has white flowers with a pink eye. It is 

 abundant on Arthur's Seat, near Edin- 

 burgh, and forms a charming contrast to 

 the crimson kind. 



D. DENTOSUS (Amoor Pink). A distinct 

 and pretty dwarf Pink, with violet lilac 

 flowers, more than i inch across, the 

 margins toothed, and the base of each 

 petal having a regular dark violet spot, 

 which forms a dark " eye " nearly \ inch 

 across in the centre of the flower. The 

 plant flowers from May or June till 

 autumn, and thrives in sandy soil, in 

 borders, or on rockwood. Seed. S. Rus- 

 sia. 



D. NEGLECTUS (Glacier Pink). A bril- 

 liant alpine plant, forming, very close to 

 the ground, tufts like short wiry grass, 

 from which spring many flowers, i inch 

 across, and of bright rose. It grows freely 

 in very sandy loam, either in pots or on 

 the rock garden, rooting into the sand 

 through the oottom of the pots as freely 



