342 



Gardening for Amateurs 



Carnation Duchess of Wellington, lavender coloured. 



a joint, and fix the resulting little tongue 

 into the ground, with a hairpin if you 

 like! 



In a general way I prefer to plant Carna- 

 tions out in the autumn, for reasons I will 

 touch upon later ; but I am inclined to 

 advise a beginner to buy them in pots in 

 March, and plant them in a border which 

 has been prepared at least a month before- 

 hand, and by preference longer. I said 

 before that Carnations are like human beings, 

 and one point of similarity is that beds for 



both should always be 

 well aired, also they 

 should be well made. 



At this point I expect 

 someone is interjecting, 

 " But I want to grow 

 Carnations in the mixed 

 border." My friend, if 

 you want to grow Carna- 

 tions in the mixed border, 

 do so ; but don't expect 

 me to help you. I should 

 object to sleep in a lodg- 

 ing house myself, so I 

 sympathise with the ob- 

 jection well-bred Carna- 

 tions have to a mixed 

 border. Place in the 

 mixed border, if you like, 

 Grenadin Carnations, or 

 Marguerite Carnations, or 

 even Perpetual Carna- 

 tions, and leave off read- 

 ing this chapter at this 

 point. Border Carnations 

 require a border to them- 

 selves, or if not that, then 

 flower-pots, concerning 

 which I will give direc- 

 tions in due time. 



But before I begin to 

 go into particulars con- 

 cerning the treatment of 

 Border Carnations from 

 their cradle to their 

 cremation (remember al- 

 ways to burn dead Car- 

 nations, to prevent the 

 spread of infection), I 

 wish to say this: it is 

 quite impossible to be 

 original. No new methods of dealing with 

 Carnations have recently been discovered; 

 the principles and rules laid down in various 

 publications by the late Mr. James Douglas 

 are still the last word on the subject ; they 

 continue to be carried out at his own Eden- 

 side ; and from Edenside still come each 

 year the Carnations which win very nearly 

 every first prize in the first division at 

 the National Carnation Society's Show at 

 the Royal Horticultural HalL 



There is one thing, hoAvever, to be borne 



