ii6 JULY 



viding that each blossom shall have sufficient stem 

 to itself to allow of its being comfortably picked 

 when the flowering time comes. The Margaret 

 carnations which have survived the winter are as 

 forward as the ordinary border kinds, and require 

 more severe thinning than they. With a good 

 stock of border plants it is not worth while to keep 

 the Margarets through the winter, as the season 

 is not thereby prolonged. But all must sow seed 

 of these carnations under glass in February and 

 March, to ensure flowers for cutting in the autumn. 

 Last year I picked my last bunch of but half a 

 dozen blooms, I confess on Christmas Day, but 

 the weather would rarely in any season permit this 

 after November, if so late. I have just seen in 

 a friend's garden a dozen enormous clumps, over 

 a yard in diameter, of a certain border carnation 

 which he has had for years. The flower is some- 

 thing the colour of the rose Mrs. John Laing, but 

 deeper in tone, and I have begged some layers 

 from the lucky possessor. A carnation that will 

 increase and prosper in this manner, instead of 

 dwindling away in a decline after the first year 

 or two, is a valuable addition to a garden. 



This is a good time to look over the borders 

 and judge what things should be removed in the 

 autumn, whether through over-abundant growth 

 or by their present juxtaposition with plants whose 

 colours do not harmonise with theirs. The crimson 

 pyrethrums, for instance, though pretty enough in 

 themselves, rarely blend well with other flowers. 

 It is best to keep them in one part of the border, 

 and closely among them may be planted bulbs of 



