THE CARNATION. 245 



watching any practised operator in the end of July 

 or the beginning of August. The shoots should, in 

 fact, be cut and pegged down as soon as they are 

 ready, for in this, as in all other agricultural and 

 horticultural work, an early start is essential to 

 success 



" Dimidium facti, quo bene cepit, babet." 



In four or five weeks these scions will be independent 

 of their sires, and in a position to commence business 

 on their own hook, or rather without it, at the 

 beginning of October. They will require water in 

 time of drought. 



As to position, here in Eochester, where the 

 dianthus grows wild on the old city walls, and where 

 the light chalky soil and the climate, not far from the 

 sea, seem to be congenial, I grow them (I should say 

 we grow them, for my wife bestows most care upon 

 them) (1) In long beds by themselves, on sunny 

 slopes, with narrow paths, some six feet apart, between 

 them ; (2) here and there in our herbaceous border, in 

 clumps of twelve to twenty-four ; and (3) in alternate 

 rows with narcissus, so that when the Emperor and 

 the Empress, and Horsfieldii, and Sir Watkin, and 

 Cernuus, cum multis aliis, droop and die, they are 

 quickly succeeded by a new and beautiful display. 



Are they hardy ? The winter, or rather series of 

 winters, which we had in 1890-1, emphatically answer 

 Yes, but I give my plants a coverlet of light manure. 

 The roots may not require the protection, but they 

 like the enrichment of the soil. You do not positively 



