CARNATIONS, PICOTEES, AND PINKS 65 



pasture, he had better dress the soil with vaporite or 

 apterite, which seedsmen sell, a few weeks before plant- 

 ing. These compounds are not expensive, and they 

 certainly tend to reduce wireworm. Another plan is to 

 work in kainit, a cheap chemical manure, at the rate of 

 half a pound to the square yard, when the ground is 

 being dug. It worries wireworm, and acts as a fertiliser 

 to the soil at the same time. If the plants still refuse to 

 grow, and, on one being taken up, hard yellow worms 

 about an inch long are found at the roots, pieces of 

 potato and carrot may be impaled on sticks and 

 thrust in near the plants. It is better to keep taking up 

 these than to take up the Carnations themselves ; and 

 they form good baits. 



Planting. When the grower is making a start with 

 bought plants, he should buy in October or March. He 

 can get nice young plants growing in small pots at a 

 low rate, except in the case of novelties, which are dear. 

 He should make the surface soil level and fine, and 

 plant at once fifteen inches apart, making large holes for 

 the plants with a trowel, sinking them to the lower 

 leaves, and pressing the soil firmly round them. If 

 making a bed, he should plant in diagonal lines thus 



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After planting, the soil should be raked over and the bed 

 left neat. 



If the plants are being grown in the borders, they 







