CARDINAL FLOWER. 97 



as the cuttings begin to grow. To divide the roots or suck- 

 ers, the fall is the best time ; protect them through the 

 winter in a pit. This plant is naturally hardy, but protec- 

 tion is best for those in pots. In the latter part of March, 

 bring them forward and place them in a saucer of water ; 

 being a swamp plant they should be kept as near its natu- 

 ral state as possible, guarding them against the spring frost, 

 and you will be rewarded with one of the finest displays of 

 flowers in cultivation. This fine flowering plant, if the pro- 

 duction of some foreign country, would be one of our lead- 

 ing pot plants ; being a native, the florists of this country 

 do not appreciate its merits. 



CARNATION. 



(DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLAS.) 



" E'en then she seomed a lovely flower, 



Though fragile was the stem; 

 She stands in beauty's garden now, 

 Its proudest diadem." 



The Carnation is an old established perennial of high 

 reputation ; it is an evergreen herbaceous plant, flowering 

 in June and July ; stem branching, flowers solitary, the 

 leaves channelled and linear, possessing all the attributes 

 necessary for a florist's flower, at the head of which it stands 

 pre-eminent. This flower was long supposed to be in- 

 digenous to England, but of late its parentage is attrib- 



9 



