53 DIANTHUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



DIANTHUS. 



joint, which it will pull away with it. Just 

 through the joint make a little upward 

 slit in the cutting, and thrust it firmly into 

 a pot filled to within i in. of the top with 

 the compost described, and the rest with 

 silver sand. Water the pot and plunge it 

 in fibre under a hand-light for three or 

 four weeks, when the pipings will be 

 rooted. They may then be potted off 

 singly or bedded like layers, and will 

 flower the next year. Plants thus struck 

 are never so good as those propagated by 

 layers, but this method is a useful ex- 

 pedient to save a good sort or to get up a 

 good stock. 



BY LAYERS. This is the best and 

 most generally accepted method of pro- 

 pagating Carnations and Picotees. It 

 should be commenced at latest the last 

 week in July, and finished by the second 

 week in August. It is performed as 

 follows : Scrape away the earth round the 

 plant to the depth of 2 in., and substitute 

 for the earth removed the compost pre- I 

 scribed. Strip each shoot up to the top i 

 three or four joints, going all round the 

 plant before proceeding farther. Then | 

 with a fine sharp knife cut half through a 

 shoot, just below a joint, make a slant- 

 ing cut up through the joint, and bring 

 the knife out just above it ; take a peg 

 with a hook in it, and thrust it into the 

 fresh compost just above the tongue, so 

 that as the peg comes down it will catch 

 the tongue and peg it into the earth. Cover 

 it with a little more compost placed firmly. 

 Proceed thus all round the plant, finally 

 watering carefully with a fine rose water- 

 pot to settle the soil around the layers. 

 In about a month the layers will be rooted, 

 and by the second week in October all the 

 young plants ought to be in their winter 

 quarters. 



SEVERAL DISEASES affect Carnations. 

 Two of the worst are fungoid growths. 

 One of these is a fungus which grows 

 between the membranes of the leaf^ and 

 the only method of destroying it is to pick 

 off and burn every infected leaf. It 

 appears at first as a small blister which 

 bursts, scattering its spores and leaving a 

 dark-brown scar. A more familiar disease 

 is that known as spot; a damp atmosphere 

 or overcrowding of the plants being the 

 causes. It spreads rapidly, but some kinds 

 enjoy a complete immunity from it. 

 Dusting the plants two or three times with 

 a mixture of soot and sulphur has been 

 found effectual. The gout is a swelling 

 of the stem close to the surface of the 

 ground, which eventually bursts, supposed 

 to be caused by little worms which eat their 

 way into the collar of the plant and lay 



eggs there which hatch worms that feed 

 upon and eventually kill the plant. The 

 Maggot is a small insect with great 

 powers for mischief. It comes in the 

 spring from an egg laid no doubt in the 

 skin or tissues of the leaf, and, eating its 

 way down under the skin of the leaf, it 

 makes a home in the main stem of the 

 plant, eating out the centre and killing it. 

 The only remedy appears to be diligently 

 searching for and hunting it out before 

 it has traversed the leaf. Wire-worm 

 is a pest to be reckoned with, but usually 

 only gives trouble in fresh soil. Spittle 

 fly, which appears when the flower-spikes 

 are growing, must be destroyed, or it will 

 do serious harm. An open situation and 

 a well-drained soil are conditions un- 

 favourable to the spot diseases, whilst 

 rotation in planting keeps the stock free 

 from the worm pests and maggots. 



D. caesius (Cheddar Pink}. One of 

 the neatest and prettiest of the dwarf 

 Pinks, the fragrant and rosy flowers 

 appearing in spring, on stems 6 in. high, 

 and in good soil sometimes taller. This 

 Pink requires peculiar treatment, as in 

 winter it perishes in the ordinary border, 

 while quite happy on an old wall. It is 

 a native of Europe and Britain (the rocks 

 at Cheddar, in Somersetshire). To 

 establish it on the top or any part of an 

 old wall sow the seeds on the wall in a 

 little cushion of Moss, if such exists, or, if 

 not, place a little earth in a chink with 

 the seed, and it may also be grown upon 

 the rock-garden, in firm, calcareous, or 

 gritty earth, placed in a chink between 

 two small rocks. 



D. deltoides (Maiden Pink}. A pretty 

 native plant, with bright pink-spotted or 

 white flowers, on stems from 6 to 1 2 in. long. 

 It grows almost anywhere, in borders or 

 on rockwork, does not appear to suffer 

 from wire-worm, like most other Pinks, 

 and often flowers several times during the 

 summer. It may be readily raised from 

 seed, and is easily increased by division. 

 The variety glauca has white flowers with 

 a pink eye. It is abundant on Arthur's 

 Seat, near Edinburgh, and forms a 

 charming contrast to the crimson kind. 



D. dentosus (Amoor Pink}. A distinct 

 and pretty dwarf Pink, with violet-lilac 

 flowers, more than i in. across, the margins 

 toothed, and the base of each petal having 

 a regular dark-violet spot, which forms a 

 dark " eye " nearly in. across in the 

 centre of the flower. The plant flowers 

 from May or June till autumn, and thrives 

 in sandy soil, in borders, or on rockwork ; 

 seed. South Russia. 



D. neglectus (Glacier Pink}. A 



