CARNATION. 99 



it is filled with disappointment ; even when you procure the 

 best seed from choice flowers, the probability is that you 

 will get single flowers, or, if double, they may not prove bet- 

 ter than a common pink, for we find that men who follow 

 raising Carnations for sale as a living, that annually save and 

 sow their own seed, completely fail. Take twelve of the most 

 successful of these gardeners, and you will find on an aver- 

 age that they have not raised six good flowers during their 

 lives. With this fact before a person's eyes, it is futile for 

 amateurs to throw away so much time and labor, besides 

 expense, on such uncertainty, when all the varieties so de- 

 sirable can be purchased, taking a choice of the labors of 

 hundreds of gardeners for about two hundred and fifty 

 years. When you have good flowers, the best way is to 

 increase your stock by layering, just as the flowers are on 

 the wane in July, and so continue through the month of 

 August, but the sooner the better. The operation is per- 

 formed in the following way: the night before, or twenty- 

 four hours previous, water your plants copiously, by this 

 means your plants will be more pliable and bend to the 

 operation with greater facility, if not, your plants will be 

 brit*le, and snap off] frustrating your object. The soil, 

 where your plants are to be layered, should be light and 

 rich, on the surface in particular ; then get some sticks with 

 a crook at one end, and the other sharp, to pin the part 

 firmly Co the ground ; when this is done, take a sharp pen- 

 knife aid make a slit in the lower part of the branch next 

 to the soil, commencing in the centre of a joint, cutting 

 up the middle near to the next joint, then take the peg and 

 fasten fit to the ground, leaving the slit open, bringing the 

 top of the branch as near upright as you can conveniently 



