330 On the Cultivation of the Pink. 



fying odd, irregular) ; with flowers striped or variegated with three 

 or four different colors, with irregular stripes or spots. Third, 

 picotees, piquettes., or piquetees; edge fringed, usually having a 

 white ground, with spots or small stripes of scarlet, red, purple, 

 or other colors. To enumerate the varieties would be useless, 

 says Green, as they are not permanent, and every country pro- 

 ducing new flowers almost every year, which, though at first 

 raising they may be greatly valued, in two or three years become 

 so common as to be of little worth, especially if they prove de- 

 fective of any one good property, and are turned out to make 

 room for neiv sorts. I will therefore refer my readers to the 

 lists of the florists and nurserymen, who import them or raise 

 them from seed, who have a great variety under pompous names. 

 The following are what the florists call the good properties of a 

 carnation. The flower-stem should be strong, and able to sup- 

 port the weight of the flower in an erect position. The petals 

 should be long, broad, and stiff, and easy to expand, or, as the 

 florists terra it, should make free flowers; the outer circle of pe- 

 tals should turn off" gracefully, in an horizontal direction, and 

 should be sufficiently strong to support the inner petals, which 

 should diminish in size as they approach the centre. The petals 

 should lie over each other in such a manner, as that their beauties 

 can meet the eye at once ; the middle of the flower should not 

 advance loo high above the other parts, and the edges should be 

 entire, without fringe, notch, or indenture; the color should be 

 bright and equally marked all over the flower ; the flower, when 

 blown, should be very full of petals, and the outside perfectly 

 round ; the stem should not only be strong, but straight, not less 

 than thirty, nor more than forty-five inches high ; the flower 

 should not be less than three inches in diameter, and the petals 

 well formed — neither so many as to appear crowded, nor so few 

 as to appear thin ; the lower or outer circle of petals, commonly 

 called the guard-leaves, should be substantial, and rise perpen- 

 dicularly about half an inch above the calyx ; the calyx should be 

 at least an inch in length, and sufficiently strong at the top to 

 keep the bases of the petals in a close and circular body. 



Propagation and Culture of the Carnation. — Having obtained 

 a quantity of good seeds, prepare a proportionable number of 

 pots or boxes, filled with soil mixed with rotten cow-dung, &.c., 

 incorporated well together ; then sow the seed and cover them 

 with about a quarter of an inch of the same compost, sifted 

 finely; place the pots or boxes in an airy part of the garden; keep 

 the soil moist, and shade them from the mid-day sun and heavy 

 rains. The time for sowing the seed is about the first of May; 

 in about twenty days the plants will come up, and, if kept clear 

 from weeds and duly watered, they will be fit for transplanting 

 about the first of August, at which time prepare some beds of 



