On the Cultivation of the Pink. 333 



bloom so fine as layers or pipings, it is a desideratum to raise new 

 plants every year, either from layers or pipings, as one year old 

 plants bloom very superior to those of any other age. When 

 your pipings are prepared, make choice of a shady part of the 

 garden; let the soil be light and sandy; put your pipings in after 

 the same manner as recommended for the carnation, watering 

 them with a fine rose watering-pot, until the soil is completely 

 saturated; cover them with a hand glass, which should not be 

 removed until they begin to grow ; after that they may be expos- 

 ed in the morning and evening, until they are able to bear the 

 open air. The usual time for piping the pink is July; but I 

 have succeeded much better when I have attempted it in Sep- 

 tember. Our dog-day weather is generally very much against 

 the propagating of pinks by piping. The pink may be cultivat- 

 ed from seed in the same manner as the carnation, and in the 

 same compost, with the addition of a little horse manure. Mad- 

 dock gives the following as the criterion of a fine pink: " The 

 stem should be strong and erect, and not less than twelve inches 

 high; the calyx smallerand shorter than the carnation, but nearly 

 similar in proportion, as well as in the formation of the flower, 

 w^hich should not be less than two inches and a half in diameter. 

 The petals should be large, broad and substantial, and very fine 

 fringed or serrated edges, free from notches or indentures ; in 

 short, the}^ approach nearest to perfection when the fringe or 

 edge is so fine as scarcely to be discernible; but if they could be 

 obtained entire, it would be desirable. The broadest part of the 

 lamina, or broad end of the petals, should be perfectly white, and 

 distinct from the eye, unless it be a laced pink, that is, one orna- 

 mented with a continuation of the color of the eye round it, bold, 

 clear, and distinct, having a considerable proportion of white in 

 the centre, perfectly free from tinge or spot. The eye should 

 consist of a bright or dark rich crimson or purple, resembling 

 velvet, but the nearer it approaches to black, the more it is 

 esteemed: its proportion should be about equal to that of the 

 white, that it may neither appear too large nor too small." 



The importation of the pink and carnation into this country, 

 from England or from France, is very rarely successful: the close 

 air and the scent of the ship is, in nine cases out of ten, fatal to 

 the plants; hence these fine and odoriferous flowers are so little 

 known or cultivated. We, indeed, find pinks and carnations of 

 a certain sort^ in almost every garden, but we rarely meet with a 

 good one. I have met with specimens of the carnation, with 

 high-sounding name, admired by its owner for its great size; but 

 if the color of the petals had been green instead of " brick-dust- 

 red," it would have readily passed for a cabbage-sprout. With 

 such specimens, how can we expect to enlist the cultivated mind 

 and tasteful admirer of nature, in the cultivation of this lovely 



