1 8 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



of the old treasures most to be loved and prized. Nothing is a prettier 

 edging to a walk, for even when the bloom is over its neat tufts of 

 bluish foliage are charming ; and it should not be forgotten that in winter 

 the leafy tufts are at their best. This old favourite has been over- 

 shadowed by the larger-flowered Mrs. Sinkins, Albino, Mrs. Lakin, 

 Her Majesty, and Snowflake. Mrs. Sinkins is the variety more largely 

 planted, we think, than any other ; its double white flowers are filled with 

 perfume. Albino and Mrs. Lakin we appreciate also, and their flowers 

 are less apt to split than those of the more bulky varieties. Every fat 

 Carnation or Pink flower generally splits its calyx. Pinks must not be 

 planted in a soil likely to contain wire-worm, otherwise the tufts will 

 disappear wholesale ; but ordinary soil will suffice, not wet or badly 

 drained, however. The mauve-tinted Souvenir de Sale is very pretty, 

 but splits rather badly ; and one named Ledham's Favourite is more last- 

 ing than the others. Besides the true garden Pinks a charming group is 

 known as the "laced" kind, an appropriate name indicating that, the 

 colour is laced upon the pure white ground. When show Pinks were 

 more fashionable than they are at the present day their merits depended 

 in a large measure upon the purity and perfection of their lacing. 

 Pinks are so quickly and easily propagated by cuttings or pipings that a 

 few words will suffice to dismiss this subject. June is the month for 

 the work. Cut them just under a joint, remove the required number of 

 leaves to ensure a clear stem for insertion in the soil, and dibble them 

 in a shallow box of light soil or in well-drained pots. Put a hand-light 

 over the cuttings if they are rooted in the open ground, and plant out 

 in the autumn. Some growers layer them much in the same way as the 

 Carnation is increased. Another simple way is, in the autumn when 

 the clumps have become matted, to simply part them and get several 

 healthy little tufts. 



Poppies, Shirley. This race of annual Poppies has been singled 

 out for special reference. One of the first garden flowers chosen is the 

 Shirley Poppy, with its delicate colouring and pretty shape. Other 

 annual Poppies are described elsewhere, but the " Shirley " race de- 

 serves a paragraph completely to itself. It will interest gardeners to 

 know the origin of this dainty race. They were raised by the Rev. Mr. 

 Wilks, Vicar of Shirley, near Croydon, and secretary of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society hence the name. Mr. Wilks says: "My name 

 may have become known throughout the world as secretary of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, but my Shirley Poppies are even more widely 

 known, and that far more deservedly, for there is no country under the 

 sun (except perhaps Patagonia and Thibet) to which I have not sent 

 seeds gratuitously, and I am told that in the streets of Yokohama and 

 of Rio, of Vancouver and of Melbourne, of Paris, Shanghai, and Berlin, 

 of Cairo, Philadelphia, and Madrid, Shirley Poppies are freely adver- 

 tised for sale. They arose in this way : In 1880 I noticed, in a waste 

 corner of my garden abutting on the fields, a patch of the common Wild 

 Field Poppy (Papaver Rhoeas\ one solitary flower of which had a very 

 narrow edge of white. This one flower I marked, and saved the seed of 

 it alone. Next year out of perhaps two hundred plants I had four or 



