256 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



plants will do better in a garden frame than in a heated greenhouse. In the greenhouse 

 they are drawn up and weakened for want of light and air, whereas in a frame the lights 

 can be entirely drawn off in fine weather. Cold and frosts are not injurious, and they 

 can have plenty of air and light by having the lights well tilted in wet weather. 



Carnation Treatment Month by Month.— It may be well to give the details of 

 the work' for out of doors Carnations during a period of twelve months, beginning, say, in 



JANUARY. — In that month the plants may be frozen into the ground. If so, hares 

 or rabbits will be the only pests that will attack' them. But if the weather is mild, slugs and 

 the leather-coated grubs may be active. In changeable weather, such as alternate frosts 

 and thaws, the plants are sometimes thrown a little out of the ground ; if so, see that 

 they are gently pressed in again. 



FEBRUARY. — This month is much like January. The weather is varied by frosts 

 and thaws, and the same attention is necessary. 



MARCH. — When the weather is favourable about the end of this month the plants 

 that have been wintered in garden frames may be set out in the beds or borders prepared 



for them, putting the plants deep enough into 

 the ground, and about 14m. asunder. Sow 

 Carnation seed in flower -pots or seed -pans. 

 The seed will, if good, germinate freely in a 

 hothouse temperature of 6odeg., but more slowly 

 in a greenhouse. When the plants appear above 

 ground carry the seed-pans into a greenhouse 

 or garden frame. When the seed-leaves are 

 fully developed, the young plants may be pricked 

 out into boxes, or into a garden frame. In 

 line weather hoe the ground between the rows 

 of Carnations that were planted out in the 

 autumn, and make good any losses from plants 

 wintered in frames. 



APRIL. — The same treatment may be 

 continued. Examine the plants carefully for the 

 Carnation maggot, and endeavour to capture 

 the small black fly, which much resembles the 

 house-fly, as it is now depositing its eggs on 

 the leaves. Any maggots in an active state 



LADY ARDIL i UN. J bb 



should be destroyed. 



May. — The plants will now be growing freely, and sticks should be placed to them 

 about the end of the month. When this is done, stir up the ground well between the rows with 

 the Dutch hoe, and if dry weather sets in mulch the surface of the ground with decayed 

 stable manure, and in light soils it may be necessary to water. In heavy soil caution is 

 necessary, and it may be well not to apply water thus early in the season. 



JUNE. — Growth will now be well advanced, and in this month buds are formed. 

 Those who wish for large, handsome blooms thin out the buds to three on each plant, 

 and as the stems lengthen they must be tied to the sticks. In dry, hot weather syringe 

 the plants freely at night. This keeps off thrips and the aphis tribe. Keeping the plants 

 growing freely by judicious watering when necessary is a great aid to healthy development. 



JULY. — In this month Carnations will be in flower, and those flowers that have a 

 tendency to burst their calyces should have india-rubber bands put round them, and the 

 stems should have a final tying to the sticks. In ordinary seasons the flowers are developed 

 late in the month, but sometimes not fully so until the first week in August. About the 

 end of July, or early in August, the work of layering may be begun. This process is now 



