THE BORDER CARNATION 19 



This raising of plants from seed may seem a long 

 process, but patience is everything in gardening, and 

 the reward will come when the plants are showing 

 a mass of buds which are eagerly removed every 

 morning. Now, one word of warning you must 

 not expect too much ; there will be many not worth 

 keeping, owing to the flowers being badly formed, 

 and there will be a certain percentage of singles ; 

 but amongst the rest there should be, if the seed has 

 been good, a nice lot of plants that you can layer for 

 producing plants to bloom the next season. These 

 layers will be found for the most part stronger and 

 naturally more likely to suit the climate and soil than 

 layers obtained elsewhere. When it has been deter- 

 mined which of the seedlings come up to expectation, 

 mark them and make a note of their colour and habit 

 of growth. 



LAYERING 



Next comes the layering, which is generally done 

 about the end of July or the beginning of August. 

 A sharp knife, layering pins or pegs, and some fine 

 prepared soil mixed with road scrapings or leaf- 

 mould and sand will be required. The best layer- 

 ing pins are those made of flat galvanised wire, 

 and the "Sydenham" is the best. This has a loop 

 at the top, which serves as a handle and makes 

 it much easier to fix into and remove from the 

 ground. Many other things are used as pegs for 

 layering, but there is nothing better than the pin 

 wires described ; they are quite inexpensive (about 



