GARDEN PINKS 61 



of Mrs. Sinkins and His Majesty will throw up fugitive blooms 

 as late as August and September, removes this from the category 

 of the impossible. These, however, are more or less intelligent 

 speculations, engendered by our interest in the future of a flower 

 which, as much as the rose and the pansy, has been beloved by our 

 forefathers for hundreds of years, and we cannot complacently 

 contemplate a future time when the evening air of June shall be 

 no longer redolent of its perfume and it shall no more offer its 

 modest charms which make a stronger appeal than those of many 

 a more pretentious and gaily dressed companion. So we will leave 

 that and come to business, for sentiment and tradition, likes and 

 dislikes, are not going to contribute to the successful upkeep of 

 our nurseries, or pay our men their weekly wage. 



It is principally as an edging plant that the pink is held in high 

 esteem, its dwarf and compact habit marking it out for that purpose. 

 Its steely-grey foliage, so distinct from the green, gives it a decorative 

 value throughout those many months when it is flowerless. 



We have regretted the shortness of its season ; it is shortest 

 when it is dry and hot. In times of exceptional drought and heat 

 we have seen whole beds come out into full bloom and go off again 

 within a week or ten days. In cooler, damper weather they will 

 last three weeks. It is a fact, too often taken advantage of, that the 

 pink will grow in almost any soil, no matter how shallow, how light, 

 or how poor. We do not contradict this, but what we do urge is 

 that it will thrive and do its best, last longer, and carry larger blooms 

 if it is in a good, deeply worked soil. We would beg this much 

 consideration for it wherever it is practicable, and so give this 

 much neglected flower a fair chance. 



The finest pinks we ever saw were a magnificent lot growing 

 along the edge of a raised vine border in a private garden. The 

 soil was of the richest, as of course it would be, and it was 3 feet 

 deep. We cannot even approximate those conditions for our 

 ordinary beds of pinks, but that object lesson convinced us once 

 for all that they will generously respond to better conditions and 

 that because they refuse to die in poverty they will thrive and excel 

 themselves when properly provided for. Ever since we saw those 

 pinks in the vine border we have always used beds, double dug, 

 manured and limed, and shall never again go back to the more 



