Cultivation of the Carnation and Picotee. 355 



ceeded with snfRciently early to enable the plants in their 

 advanced state to withstand the severity of a hard winter 

 considerably better than layers, the early propagation of which 

 cannot be pursued so satisfactorily, for want of the requisite 

 length of shoots, those for layering being required of greater 

 length than for piphig. A piping that has rooted and been 

 properly treated during the autumn will the following sum- 

 mer produce a principal flowering shoot and sev^eral laterals 

 that will not bloom : these laterals are the shoots by which 

 to perpetuate the existence of the choicest sorts, in the man- 

 ner following : The best method for piping will be to have 

 octagon-shaped glasses, about nine inches in diameter, six 

 inches deep at the sides, and raised about two inches at the 

 top. Although larger glasses are sometimes used, which may 

 be suitable for pinks, as these are less difficult to strike than 

 carnations, the latter do not strike root so regularly altogether 

 under them ; it is therefore of some consideration that the 

 size prescribed above should be adhered to as nearly as may 

 be found convenient. They should have leaden frames, and 

 be made as air-tight as possible : bell glasses may be even 

 preferable. The pots should be of such dimensions that 

 the glasses will reach over them fully an inch all round ; 

 say seven inches wide by four and a half deep, outside 

 measure ; but these pots should not be burnt too hard, nor 

 manufactured of a very dense material, it having been proved 

 by experience that pipings do not strike root so freely when 

 set in pots made of a hard substance. If the pipings are 

 planted in a circle about two inches within the scope of the 

 glasses, without pots, they are in some seasons attended with 

 equal if not more success ; but pots are more convenient, as 

 they can be readily removed to any part of the garden to 

 receive the advantages of sun or shade. These preliminaries 

 being arranged, before the flowers are in bloom the parent 

 plants should be relieved of their superabundant shoots ; 

 selecting them where they appear most crowded, and either 

 too low down or too high up the stem for layering, but not 

 such a number as to endanger the plants by over-pruning. 

 Let them be cut pretty close to the stem ; not stripped, as 



