32 QUALITIES OF PINKS. 



side. Pinch off the smaller bud, which \voull 

 only weaken its companion. Keep the plants fre 3 

 from decayed leaves, and gently stir the earth round 

 them occasionally with your small trowel. This 

 operation refreshes them. Stake them neatly, that 

 they may not fall prostrate after rain. 



If you wish to preserve any particular pink, let 

 it grow in a pot, or upon a raised platform, that it 

 may be placed beyond the reach of hares, rabbits, 

 or poultry, and be more easily sheltered from lon;&amp;gt;- 

 and severe frost or rains in winter, and from tho 

 dry heats ;n summer, either of which destroys tho 

 beauty of the flower. The pots can be sunk in tho 

 ground in fine weather. Do not hide your pinks 

 among larger flowers ; let them be distinctly seen. 

 If you water pinks too much, their roots become rot 

 ten ; and if you suffer them to be to dry, they be 

 come diseased. Beware of extremes. The bes: 

 rule is to keep them just moist. A fine pink should 

 not have sharp-pointed flower leaves ; they shouk 

 be round and even at their edges, and the colors 

 should be well defined, not running one into the 

 other. The flower should be large ; it should pos 

 sess a great many leaves, and form a sort of dome. 

 Piping and slipping is the most expiditious mode 

 of propagating plants from any selected pink. 



Pa?isics, violets, &c. are very easily propagated 

 by parting the roots when the flowers are past. 

 Pansies are very beautiful flowers; and cuttings of 

 their young shoots will grow very freely if kept 

 moist and shaded for some little time. By refresh 

 ing the soil every year, you insure large flowers. 

 Pansies and violets bloom early in the spring. 



Hepalicas must be parted like violets. They ap 

 pear so very early in the year, that no garden should 



