JUNE. 119 



three sticks in upright and parallel directions, and 

 tying two or three hoops, (according to the growth 

 of the Dahlia,) horizontally round them. The plant 

 in the centre will be secure, if the sticks be suffi- 

 ciently driven into the ground. In the culture, leave 

 only one shoot, (the strongest,) on the tuber. Those 

 which you take off) (removed as low as possible, with 

 a portion of the tuber,) will become strong flower- 

 ing plants the same season. 



PIPING PINKS. 



This is the season for piping Pinks, to have which 

 in perfection, the plants now flowering should be of 

 last year's piping. The bed should be richly ma- 

 nured. If you neglect piping or slipping Pinks now, 

 you will fail in preserving a succession of plants. 

 The end of this month is the best time for piping, 

 (which is effected by pulling* the heart of the shoot 

 out of the stem at the second joint.) by layering, as 

 with the Carnation, (separating the young shoots 

 partly from the mother stem, and drawing the earth 

 about them) or by cutting the shoot across at the 

 same point, and sticking these shoots in a bed of 

 rich light compost, sifted fine and watered, about 

 one inch apart and half an inch deep. The first 

 method is resorted to when a large supply is wanted, 

 but it is not so certain as the other methods, which 

 will afford a moderate sufficiency. It is said that 

 pipings yield the largest flowers. If you have an 

 old hot-bed, of milk heat, it will be the best recep- 

 tacle for the abstracted parts ; cover them with a 

 cap-glass, or frame, and shade them from the sun, 

 occasionally watering them until they strike. 



* The least approved mode. 



