PINKS AND CARNATIONS 
of the plant selected for the operation are prepared by loosening the 
surface and adding to it a couple of inches of a special compost consisting 
of equal parts of leaf-mould, sand, and loam. This mixture is specially 
favourable to the emission and development of roots. Now suitable 
shoots should be selected, and where the new wood joins the old the 
leaves should be detached, for this is the point to be operated upon. 
With a sharp knife make a clean cut half through the shoot, from the 
under side, commencing a little below the joint, then running along the 
centre of the wood, upwards, and through the joint. In the slit thus 
made a splinter of wood or a morsel of clay should be placed to prevent 
contact and probable healing of the cut surfaces; for the success of the 
operation it is essential the cut should remain open. It should now be 
pegged down to the special compost, covered with the same to the depth 
of an inch, and watered. This operation requires care, as the shoots 
easily break off Thereafter the compost must not be allowed to get 
dry; and in about a month the tongue will be found to be well furnished 
with roots. Pot-plants may be treated in similar fashion, but they must 
be turned out of doors until well-rooted. There should be no haste in 
separating new plants thus formed; better to leave them a few weeks 
longer than is necessary, rather than move them a few days before the 
proper time. 
Another method is by means of pipings (cuttings), and this is the 
way in which Pinks are chiefly propagated. With some specimens of 
Carnation from which it is desired to obtain a good number of young 
plants, there will not be sufficient room to make many layers. In such 
a case layering may be supplemented by pipings; and where accident 
causes broken shoots or stems the detached portions may be utilised for 
pipings. They should be cut on the slant through a joint, and inserted 
one inch apart, in several inches of light sandy soil on a gentle hot-bed. 
The soil should be pressed firmly round them, and well watered; then 
the lights must be put on, and kept close and shaded until the roots 
are formed, when air should be admitted in gradually increasing 
quantities. 
h bridisin The genus Dianthus is a very suitable one for the 
y n smg. ama ^. eur eX p er j men t; upon in the way of hybrids, for not 
only will the different cultivated forms of one species—as the Carnation_ 
cross-fertilise, but good seed may be obtained by fertilising, say, Sweet 
William with pollen from the Carnation, or either with that of the 
Chinese Pink. In attempting hybridisation, regard should be paid to 
the suggestions made on page 25 in this connection; the principles 
involved are the same in each case. 
