FLOWER-GARDEN. 411 



vious to the proper time of the blossoms opening, and will, if ne- 

 glected, by letting out the petals on one side, and thereby producing 

 a loose irregular appearance, totally destroy that compact, grace- 

 ful circular form, which a perfect flower ought to possess, and which 

 is one of its greatest ornaments : but this disagreeable effect may 

 be easily avoided, by fastening a small narrow slip of bladder round 

 the middle of the pod, where it is most swelled, and appears to have 

 the greatest inclination to burst. The slip of bladder should be 

 rather longer than is required to go once round, so that one end of 

 it may lay over the other a little, which by the application of some 

 strong gum water, will adhere firmly together, and answer the 

 purpose completely. Small slips of wet bass may be substituted 

 for those of bladder, and being tied with a single knot round the 

 same part of the calyx, will answer the purpose. 



Others, place upon the calyx, thin pieces of card cut circular, of 

 a proper size to suit the blossom, with a hole in the centre, adapted 

 to the size of the pod, and cut quite through, from thence to the 

 p eriphery, in order to admit the stem, after which, to draw them 

 up round the calyx: these are to be placed close to the guard 

 leaves, or outside petals, to support them horizontally ; and will, 

 when extended just as far as the extreme points of the petals, give 

 the flower a neat and pleasing appearance; but these are apt to 

 warp, when long exposed to the weather, especially after being wet, 

 and must, in such cases, be either taken off entirely or replaced 

 with new ones, as they will no longer answer the intended pur- 

 pose. 



Either of the above methods may, and should, be resorted to, in 

 order to have the fine large bursting kinds of carnations and pinks, 

 to blow to the greatest advantage. 



When the major part of your elegant carnations are in bloom, 

 an awning should be placed over the whole, so as to be drawn up 

 or let down by means of pullies. The same frame that was used 

 for tulips or hyacinths, would answer this purpose extremely well. 



In order that the flowers should appear to the greatest advantage, 

 it is necessary that the pots should stand upon a stage erected 

 theatre-like ; and it would be an additional advantage, to have the 

 flowers suspended from the sticks, placed in the pots for their sup- 

 port, by small pieces of fine elastic wire, of unequal lengths, to 

 support them in a natural, easy, and graceful manner, neither too 

 near together nor remote from each other; one end of the wire, 

 should be introduced into the stick by means of a small awl, and 

 there fixed sufficiently tight, to prevent its being drawn out by 

 the weight of the flower ; the other end of the wire should be form- 

 ed into a small ring, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, to in- 

 close the stem below the calyx ; this ring should be a little open 

 on one side to admit the stem freely without bruising it, which 

 would materially injure the bloom. 



The pots must be kept regularly and constantly watered during 

 the bloom, and no favourable opportunity should be neglected, to 

 allow them the full advantage of exposure to light and air ; but no 

 rain should be admitted to the blossoms, at any period of their 

 bloom. 



