THE PINK AND CAKXATION HOUSE. 113 



the idea with a ' pooh/ simply because they have never 

 tried it, or never allowed their minds to think about it. 



The first thing to do is to get a stock of suitable 

 Pinks and Carnations, and the next thing is to know 

 how and when to propagate them. This is simple 

 enough if those who undertake the matter do but begin 

 at the proper place and persevere to the end. I will 

 suppose that a man wishes to produce 2,000 Pink and 

 Carnation plants for forcing, and such as will not dis- 

 appoint him in the results. How many stock plants 

 must he get at once to do this in one season ? and 

 when must he get them ? are the most important 

 questions. If he wishes to possess 1,000 plants fit for 

 forcing of each class, he must buy them in the month 

 of September : 50 or 60 well-established, early-struck 

 Pinks of the sorts recommended, and 150 old but good 

 plants of the Carnation. The last season pipings, or 

 layers, may be used, but unless the last of these are 

 very strong, they will not do. These must be two-year- 

 old plants in pots and of a good stocky character, for 

 the Carnation will not yield so many pipings as the 

 Pink per plant, at the same age. The 50 or 60 Pinks, 

 if good and early- struck stuff, will do ; but the Carna- 

 tions will not, unless they are healthy and stocky. 



Now we may suppose that we have the plants at 

 home, and in good pots, all growing. Place them in a 

 mild heat, in a pit or house ; continue to encourage 

 them to grow, and as soon as a batch of good pipings 

 can be had, take them off with three or four joints, and 

 prepare each in the usual manner ; then, having a lot 

 of deep seed-pans ready square ones are the best for 

 economising the room, but the former are necessary to 

 get depth enough previous to preparing the pipings, 



I 



