THE MANSE GARDEN. 233 



Pinks Are much more easily propagated than 

 carnations. It is needless to sow seed except to 

 have plenty of trash. Cuttings or pipings taken from 

 good plants, when they come into flower, grow freely, 

 on being treated in the manner of those taken from 

 carnations. Pinks are divided by florists into classes : 

 namely damask, cobs, and pheasant's-eye. The first 

 are white, and flower early ; the cobs are red, and 

 flower late. The following are the characteristics of a 

 good pink : to be very double, and to open freely with- 

 out bursting ; to have the petals round like a rose 

 leaf, not ragged in the edge ; to have the body of 

 the flower a clear white, and the lacing, as the colours 

 displayed on the white ground are called, a rich black, 

 shaded towards the centre with red ; a scarlet or pur- 

 ple lacing, being more rare, is also more admired. 



Polyanthus. From long cultivation and the mix- 

 ture of pollen the varieties of this fine species are 

 without number. There is really something in the 

 rules of critics with regard to flowers. For though 

 the inexperienced would judge differently, yet culti- 

 vators come generally to esteem the same properties 

 -a fact which vindicates the rules of criticism in 

 other departments. In the polyanthus the tube 

 of 'the corolla above the calyx should be short and 

 well filled with anthers ; the circular of a clear yel- 

 low, and distinct from the ground colour; the ground 

 colour shaded with a light and dark crimson, resem- 

 bling velvet, with one stripe in the centre of each 

 division of the border, distinct from the edging, and 

 terminating in a fine point at the eye; the petals 

 large flat and round ; the edging, resembling a bright 

 gold lace, should be distinct, not joined to the colours 



