PIANTHUS 



CABNATION OBDEB 



DIANTHUS 241 



piece of raffia or worsted may be carefully 

 and not too tightly tied round it, so that 

 the flower can open freely. It may be 

 mentioned that there are many Carnations 

 — like the Tree section and others — which 

 have fringed or toothed petals, many of 

 them very beaiitifol. 



Culture and Propagation. — This is 

 precisely the same as detailed for Carna- 

 tions below. 



Marguerite Carnations.— A new and 

 distinct race remarkable for the rapidity 

 with which they produce their flowers 

 after sowing the seed. About 70 or 80 

 per cent, of the flowers (which are 

 beautifully fringed and of many charming 

 shades) come double. Seeds, if sown in 

 gentle heat in early spring, will produce 

 flowers out of doors by July or August. 

 Or better still the seeds may be sown in 

 cold frames about August and September, 

 and after the seedlings have been pricked 

 out once, they may be grown in the cold 

 frames until the following April and May, 

 when they may be planted out in mild 

 weather. The plants should have as 

 much light and air as possible during the 

 winter months on all favourable occasions. 

 They are very useful for room decoration, 

 in a cut state. 



'Jacks.' — This peculiar name is 

 apphed to the large and vigorous growing 

 Carnations which are grown in hundreds 

 of thousands annually, chiefly to supply 

 the great trade done in them by coster- 

 mongers. There is no doubt whatever 

 that nearly 100 per cent, of the amateurs 

 who buy these plants do so in the belief 

 that they are obtaining some very choice 

 double-flowered kinds, such as they see in 

 florists' windows or in other amateurs' 

 gardens. These ' Jacks ' are mostly 

 single-flowered Carnations, raised from 

 seeds in spring, and afterwards planted 

 out and grown on untU the following 

 spring. They are then taken up for sale, 

 and as they are apparently remarkably 

 cheap, they find a ready sale among 

 cottagers and the iminitiated. As a rule, 

 however, the purchasers are disappointed 

 when the plants bloom, owing to the 

 prevalence of single flowers among them. 



CULTIVATION 



Although there are naturally many 

 ailures in Carnation growing, the plants 

 are not really difficult to grow. The 

 failures usually result from too much 

 coddling and shifting about, and never 



allowing the plants to have a fair chance. 

 Of course where plants have been accus- 

 tomed to the protection of frames during 

 the winter, and grown in pots, they are 

 not nearly so hardy and vigorous as those 

 grown without any protection, and what 

 is worse, they are not so well able to ward 

 off or withstand the attacks of insect and 

 fungoid pests. Of late years great efforts 

 have been made to secure a really hardy 

 race of Carnations, for the flower garden, 

 and there are now a large number of 

 varieties which will grow without any 

 protection in winter in almost any part 

 of the British Isles. Where, however, 

 any one does not wish to run risks with 

 extra fine varieties whose actual hardiness 

 has not been tested by experience, it may 

 be well to give some slight shelter ; but 

 the hardiness or otherwise should be 

 tested as soon as a plant can be easily 

 spared for the experiment. 



Soil. — The best soil for Carnations is 

 a rich loamy one, with plenty of leaf 

 soil, and a portion of well-rotted stable 

 manure, and enough coarse sand to keep 

 it open. Light hot soils are quite unsuit- 

 able for Carnations, and should be well 

 enriched with leaf soil, farmyard and 

 other vegetable manure with a view to 

 making it cooler and more retentive of 

 moisture. Soil should always be well 

 dug some time before planting except in 

 cases where the plants succeed a totally 

 distinct crop. 



Manure. — This should never be 

 applied in a fresh state, and certainly not 

 to the roots when planting. It is best 

 applied in a rotten state and as a mulch 

 on top of the soil in spring. Soot is an 

 excellent fertiliser; it tends to give the 

 foliage a fine ' bloom,' and is also more 

 or less obnoxious to slugs, snails &c. 

 Various artificial manures, such as nitrate 

 of soda and sulphate of ammonia, are also 

 beneficial, but their use is attended with 

 great risk — the inclination for a beginner 

 being to give an overdose which would 

 probably kill the plants. If given at all, 

 these are best in a Hquid form, say a tea- 

 spoonful to a gallon or two of water. 



Planting amd Layering. — Late plant- 

 ing is responsible for many deaths during 

 the winter. In Scotland planting should 

 be finished by the first or second week of 

 September, and practically about the 

 same period in England and Ireland. 

 In order to be able to do this the layers 

 should also have been made at a period 



