44 THE BOOK OF THE CARNATION 



wholly under glass. Under the protection of a thoroughly 

 ventilated pit, the shoots, while they do not become 

 etiolated, are without a doubt kept free from such dis- 

 eases as spot and rust, the only drawback being the 

 repeated assaults of green fly, which must be determinedly 

 met and repulsed. Another reason why Tree Carnations 

 are best grown wholly in glass structures is the very 

 important one that the plants bloom with more regularity 

 during winter than those not so favoured, and which 

 sometimes fail to bloom until the winter and early spring 

 has passed away. Named varieties are almost wholly 

 propagated during the three first months of the year by 

 means of cuttings, later than which the plants have too 

 little time to grow into a serviceable size. Under 

 favourable conditions the cuttings produce roots with 

 much facility and with few losses, the most important 

 factor governing the success of the operation undoubtedly 

 being the condition of the cuttings themselves ; those, the 

 shoots of plants grown in too high a temperature and 

 insufficiently ventilated, or any infected by eelworm or 

 rust being almost certain to fail. On the other hand, 

 shoots from plants grown in light airy positions, and in a 

 temperature of about fifty-five degrees, possess the con- 

 ditions that render rapid root emission certain. The 

 cuttings ought not to be large, as a fact rather small 

 cuttings are most generally satisfactory. Dibbled thickly 

 close to the inside rim of four- or five-inch pots in a 

 compost of equal parts loam, fine peat, and sand, the pots 

 plunged in a mild bottom-heat, with an atmospheric 

 temperature not exceeding sixty-five degrees, roots ought 

 to be freely emitted in three weeks, after which bottom- 

 heat becomes prejudicial, and the pots should therefore 

 be placed near the glass for a little time till a small tuft of 

 roots has been formed. At this stage the young plants 

 must be transplanted, either singly into small pots, or 

 they may be " boxed off"/' that is, a number planted out 



