THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE 131 



early in January; they form roots in two or three weeks, 

 and should be removed from the frame as soon as they are 

 rooted ; pot them off into small flower-pots, and gradually 

 inure them to a cooler atmosphere. They do better out of 

 doors after the month of May, and should be taken into 

 the greenhouse early in September, when the earliest of 

 them will begin to flower. These one-year-old plants are 

 allowed to flower in five and six inch flower-pots, and the 

 same potting materials may be used as for the others. If 

 large plants are wanted, they may be repotted after flowering, 

 into eight and nine inch pots. For these larger plants the 

 soil ought to be packed in firmly over good drainage secured 

 by some quite fibrous loam over the potsherds. In the early 

 stages of growth the plants ought to be stopped. When they 

 are merely about four inches high the centre should be 

 pinched out, and this may be done a second time if the plants 

 are not bushy enough. The plants must be kept clean and 

 quite free from insect pests. An occasional fumigation with 

 tobacco smoke will effect this. 



There are some people who advise amateurs to plant per- 

 petual-flowering Carnations out in the border ; but although 

 in some instances they do very well, they will never take the 

 place of the true Border Carnaiion, and the Border will never 

 supply the place of the Tree. Tree Carnations can be planted 

 out in May and staked with tall stakes, for they grow to a 

 height of three feet or more. Under a sunny south wall is a 

 good position, where the locality is suitable for their culture 

 out of doors. There are so many on the market, and so many 

 growers of American sorts, that it is most difficult to please 

 every one in a limited list of favourites ; but there are many 

 varieties with high-sounding names and posing as elite, that 

 are still a little behind our charming first love Enchantress ; 

 and it has yet to be proved that the grand scarlet British- 

 raised Britannia has been superseded. A list is appended of 

 really first-class varieties : 



White- Write Enchantress, White Perfection and Wodenethe. Scarlet 

 and Red Britannia, Beacon, St. Nicholas, Victory, William Eccles, scarlet 

 glow. Pink Enchantress, Dorothy Gordon, Lady Meyer, Rosette (cerise), 

 R. F. Felton, Mrs. C. W. Ward, Pink Delight, Winsor (rose) Empire 

 Day, May Day. Crimson Triumph, Pocahontas, Sultan. Fancies 

 Bay State, Benova, Sunstar, Rainbow, Hon. Lady Neeld. Heliotrope 

 Geisha, La Mode,, Salome. Yellow Golden Pay. 



Diseases and Insect Pests. The most troublesome and 

 persistent is the " Rust " (Helminthosporium echinulatuni], a 



