THE CARNATION FAMILY. 235 



or pipings as they are technically called, after which settle the 

 sand and earth about them by watering through a fine-rosed 

 can, afterwards placing the pans on a gentle bottom-heat of 

 5o-6o. in an ordinary pit or frame. Pipings put in on a layer 

 of sand on a shaded open border and covered with a common 

 hand-glass strike well, although not so quickly as those on 

 bottom-heat. Pipings or cuttings may be taken off in July or 

 August. Pinks are ready still earlier. 



The Sweet- William (D. barbatus) has been much improved of 

 late years, and is among Pinks what the Auricula is among the 

 Primroses, its flowers being borne in globose heads. It bears 

 seeds very abundantly without artificial fecundation, and these, 

 if saved from a good strain, give excellent results. This plant is 

 also readily propagated either from cuttings in June or July, or 

 by division in autumn or spring. Cuttings strike freely in a 

 cool shady border covered with a common hand-light. The 

 Sweet-William is supposed to have originated from D. pseud- 

 armeria, a hardy, purple-flowered perennial, native of dry stony 

 places in Tauria (see ' Bot. Mag.,' t. 2288). Many of the 

 Alpine Pinks or hardy mountain species of Dianthus seed 

 freely, and the seeds grow well sown in pans of moist peat and 

 loam, mixed with grit and lumps of sandstone. A cool shaded 

 frame suits them best. The quickest and readiest plan of pro- 

 pagating nearly all the hardy species is, however, by careful 

 division, either in spring or immediately after flowering. To 

 get the Sweet- William in fine form, fresh seedlings should be 

 raised every year : the seed should be sown in the open ground 

 thinly, early in May ; by so doing it germinates rapidly under 

 the influence of the summer's increasing heat, and compara- 

 tively large plants are thus ready for planting out in the autumn. 

 If, however, the seed be sown in a box or pan, or in any con- 

 fined space, the seedlings should be planted out into some 

 vacant piece of ground as soon as they are large enough to be 

 moved with safety, and then they may be transferred to their 

 permanent places at leisure in autumn. 



Diant/ms barbato-superbus is cited by Dr Clos (see ' Belgique 

 Horticole,' 1873, P- 2 54) as a hybrid between Dianthus super- 

 bus and the Sweet- William ; and the Montpellier Pink (D. 

 monspessulanus) and the Chinese Pink (D. sinensis] have also 

 produced hybrid offspring in Continental gardens. Hybrids 

 have also been produced between D. Seguierii and D. monspes- 

 sulanus ; and the common Sweet-William and the old Clove 

 Pink cross pretty freely. By crossing D. (sinensis) Heddewigii 

 with some of the Clove Pinks, Sweet- Williams, or with some of 

 the beautiful Alpine species, we might originate new races of 



