Treatment and Cultivation of the Carnation. 221 



Art. XII. An Account of the Mode of Treatment and Culti- 

 vation of the Carnation^ ^c, followed by Mr. Cornfield of 

 Northampton. By Mr. Cornfield. 



Sir, 



My friend, Mr. Brown, gardener to His Grace the Duke of 

 Buckingham, has, in your Magazine of November last (Vol. III. 

 p. 238.), paid me some high encomiums on the appearance of 

 my little garden, and particularly as to the healthy and vigorous 

 state of my carnations, &c., and has also expressed a desire that 

 I should give the public some account of my treatment in bring- 

 ing them to such perfection. With this complimentary re- 

 quest I now comply : but I should encroach too much on your 

 pages were I to do it in the way I could wish, I shall there- 

 fore only give a general sketch of my management, which I 

 hope may be useful to your readers. 



I have never yet made use of my pen to note down par- 

 ticulars of my process, though I have been a cultivator for 

 more than thirty years ; but, notwithstanding this, my mode 

 of growing, and especially my manner of exhibiting them, have 

 procured me the honour of visits from ladies and gentlemen 

 of the first distinction, from all parts of the kingdom, and 

 from whom I have had most liberal orders for carnation and 

 pLcotee layers, for which I shall always retain a grateful 

 remembrance. 



I shall proceed to give a brief outline of my treatment of 

 the carnation and picotee, intending, at a future opportunity, 

 to send you a fuller and more particular account, and which, 

 through your Magazine, may be also acceptable to my 

 friends in general. 



In the first place, I prepare my compost as follows, viz. 

 for my strong and high-coloured bizards I mix two parts 

 rich, maiden, yellow loam, rather light and sandy, with one 

 part well-rotted stable dung. This 1 also use for my crimson 

 bizards and strong-coloured picotees. For my scarlet rose 

 or purple flakes, and delicate picotees, I mix equal quantities 

 of loam and dung, which, from long experience, I am con- 

 vinced will bloom these flowers in as great perfection as all 

 the nostrums of every author I have read 



My soil being prepared, I commence potting my layers 

 about the middle of March, if the weather permits, and finish 

 about the end. After they are potted, there is little more to 

 be done than keeping the pots free from weeds, and moderately 

 moist. About the end of May, or beginning of June, I take 

 off about half an inch of the surface soil of the pots, and fill 

 up with the same compost used in potting. My sticks are 



