LORISTS' FLOWERS : PINKS AND CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 71 



beautiful flowers, in all their varieties, need by no means be 

 neglected by persons who do not care for them as florists' 

 flowers, for their culture is quite within the scope of any 

 lady's gardening. Good carnations are often grown from 

 seed. Packets of seed of twelve choice kinds are sold for 

 3s. and 3s. d. by Messrs. Carter, of Holborn, and no 

 doubt by other first-class seedsmen. Sow the seed in 

 the spring, and when the seedlings have made six or 

 eight leaves prick them out in pots or prepared beds : 

 the next year will show their merits. 



Pinks naturally seem to follow carnations. The 

 commoner sorts are most useful in a garden, especially 

 the white, white and chocolate, and deep pink and 

 chocolate, which form great patches of their respective 

 decided colours, and keep flowering for a long time. 

 They will thrive in almost any garden, but require rich 

 earth to make the bloom fine and large. Beds for 

 choice, i.e. the laced pinks, should be made with loam 

 and a fourth part of well rotted manure, raised above 

 the ground around, and highest in the middle. Pinks 

 require similar cultivation to carnations, but they are 

 raised by pipings taken in May or June. Plant in 

 rows, twelve inches apart every way, shelter them in 

 winter (wet is more injurious to carnations and pinks 

 than a slight degree of frost), stir the earth round the 

 roots in spring, and mulch them with a little w r ell 

 decayed stable manure early in June. Pinks, when 

 good, have the edge of the petal white, the lacing dis- 

 tinct and fringed at both edges, and a distinct eye at 

 the base of the petal. The flower should be very large. 

 Old plants are not good for the florist, but form nice, 

 roots for the borders. 



That curiously stiff looking, yet pretty and varied 

 flower, the Sweet "William, belongs to the Dianthus 

 family also. 



The Chrysanthemum has even a greater merit than 

 the gaiety and endless variety of its handsome flowers : 

 there is no other plant so brilliant in bloom, that can 

 so easily be cultivated under the disadvantages of a 

 crowded smoky locality. All who have seen the eollec- 



