THE PINK. 



385 



rest, and placed in an open situation, and shel- 

 tered from occasional heavy rains; they should 

 be moderately watered. When the bloom is 

 over, and the petals are dry and withered, they 

 should be carefully drawn out of tlie pod and 

 calj'X, so as to allow the seeds to dry and iipen 

 fully. So difficult is it to ripen the seeds, that, 

 according; to Hogg, very often not more than 

 one in a hundred plants pi'ove fertile. Seedlings 

 require two years to bloom, and, according to 

 the same florist, the chance of getting one good 

 new flower is as 1 to 100. If a florist raises 

 six new carnations in his lifetime, he is to be 

 considered fortunate. Seeds out of the same 

 flower will be found to produce all the different 

 varieties. The compost used for the carnation is 

 one-half rotten horse dung one year old, one-third 

 fresh loamy earth, and one-sixth coarse sea or 

 river sand. These ingredients are to be mixed 

 together in autumn, laid in a heap about two 

 feet thick in an open exposure, and turned three 

 or four times during winter, so as that the whole 

 may be frozen over. In March the whole should 

 be well mixed and incorporated together, and 

 passed through a coarse sieve. The common 

 sorts are planted in beds or borders; but the finer 

 sorts always in pots. These should be at least 

 twelve inches in diameter at the top, and ten 

 inches deep. 



The plants, after being dressed and prepared, 

 are to be put into the pots about the middle of 

 March, or first of April. They are then placed 

 in free, open situations, under an arch of hoops, 

 where mats may be placed to protect them on 

 occasion of heavy rains, or severe weather. 

 When the flower stems have gi-own to eight or 

 ten inches, they require support by tying them 

 to sticks placed for the purpose. All insects, 

 especially the green plant louse, are to be care- 

 fully picked off the stems or leaves, and de- 

 stroyed. Just previous to the expansion of the 

 flower, the petals are so large and numerous, in 

 some plants, as to burst the calyx at one side. 

 This disfigures the flower, and to prevent this 

 accident, a slip of bladder is to be tied round the 

 calyx, so as to give it support till the petals 

 burst forth at the top. When the first flowers 

 benin to open and expand, they should be covered 

 from the sun and rain by small pieces of paper 

 in the form of an extinguisher, lightly put over 

 them; and when the greater part are in bloom, 

 a general covering should be put to protect the 

 whole. 



The petals of the carnation, particularly the 

 high coloured ones, are very apt to return from 

 the striped or variegated, to the original plain; 

 they are then esteemed of little or no value by 

 the florist. When they show a tendency to this, 

 they may frequently be recovered by planting 

 them in a poor dry soil, that will but just afford 

 suflicient nourishment for their existence. The 



winter treatment of the carnation plants resem- 

 bles that described for auriculas. 



Tjie Pink (diantlms hortmsis). Pinks have 

 only been known as garden flowers from a very 

 modern date; indeed, the garden pink is sup- 

 posed by many to be only a sub-species, or, per- 

 haps, a cross of the carnation. Some have sup- 

 posed it to have been produced from the British 

 species, d. deltoides; and the pheasant eye pink, 

 from d. plumarius. 



The cob pink is a large sort, apparently inter- 

 mediate between the pink and picotee carnation. 

 There are a great number of varieties of the 

 garden pink. A first rate double pink should 

 have a strong, elastic, and erect stem, not less 

 than twelve inches high. The calyx should be 

 rather smaller and shorter, but nearly similar in 

 form and proportions to that of the carnation; 

 while the flower should not be less than two 

 inches in diameter. The petals should be large, 

 broad, and substantial, and have very fine fringed 

 or serrated edges, free from large, coarse, deep 

 notches, or indentures. In short, they approach 

 nearest to perfection when the fringe on the edge 

 is so fine as scarcely to be discernible; and it is 

 even desirable that they should be perfectly rose- 

 leaved, that is, without any fringe at all. 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, 

 ornamented by a continuation of the colour of 

 the eye, round, bold, clear, and distinct, leaving 

 a considerable proportion of white in the centre 

 perfectly free from any 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 

 or too small. 



The general mode of propagating pinks is by 

 pipings, or by layers to preserve rare sorts, and 

 by seed to procure new varieties. The proper 

 time to commence the operation of piping, is 

 immediately previous to, or during the bloom, 

 or as soon as the new shoots are grown of a suffi- 

 cient length for the purpose. The same method 

 is employed as that described for the carnation. 

 Some gardeners, instead of piping or laying, 

 half separate the j'oung shoots from the parent 

 stock; although this process is apt to injure the 

 latter, and is not to be generally recommended. 



There is also a process for procuring new var- 

 ieties, of impregnating double and semi-double 

 pinks with single kinds, which is thus described 

 by a French florist: "Just before sunrise open 

 carefully the flower to be operated on, and abstract 

 the anthers with a small pincei'S. About eight 

 or nine o'clock place the ripe pollen upon the 

 stigma of the flower, and repeat this two or three 

 times ill the course of the day. If the act of 

 4 K 



