16 THE CARNATION. 



in all its stages. The florists in the immediate vici- 

 nity of the metropolis certainly labour under great 

 disadvantages in this particular, from the atmosphere 

 being almost always charged with clouds of unwhole- 

 some smoke, ascending from such an infinity of 

 chimneys. 



The Carnation is found to thrive best in a rich 

 loamy soil of rather a sandy texture and unless 

 some pains be taken to procure such a soil, the florist 

 can have no right to entertain any great hopes of 

 success in the cultivation of it; the dissertation on 

 which, with the account of the different manures 

 recommended, and which presents itself next to my 

 consideration, may perhaps appear tedious and too 

 minute to many, but certainly it is of the greatest 

 importance to every gardener as well as florist to 

 understand something of the nature and composition 

 of the soils most congenial to the plants he has to 

 cultivate : this is a point, in my opinion, which can 

 neither be too minutely explained, nor too strongly 

 inculcated. 



