THE FLORISTS' FLOWER GARDEN. 



807 



their carnations in pots should give them their 

 last shift about the latter end of March. The pots 

 should be ll-inch ones, and thoroughly drained ; 

 it is also of much importance that the compost 

 be dry at the time of potting, and for this end 

 it should be kept for some weeks under cover. 

 It should not be sifted, only broken with the 

 back of the spade. Some people plant them in 

 pairs — that is, two in each pot : this is a matter 

 that ought to depend on the size and strength of 

 the plant. If weak plants, two may be placed 

 in one pot ; if strong, and as far as relates to 

 the tree or perpetual bloomers, one is decidedly 

 sufficient. When they are all potted, they should 

 be set upon a prepared bed of coal-ashes, watered 

 with lime-water previous to the pot being set 

 upon it for the destruction of worms. The spot 

 chosen should be somewhat sheltered, yet well 

 exposed to the sun. Attention must be paid 

 to staking the flower-stems as they extend in 

 growth ; the best support is wire of the dimen- 

 sions known as No. IV. cut into suitable 

 lengths, and painted green or a soft stone-colour. 

 When the flower-buds appear too thick, thin 

 out the smallest with fine-pointed scissors ; and 

 as the buds begin to open, place an india-rubber 

 ring or ribbon of soft matting round each, to 

 prevent their opening on one side before the 

 other. At this period of their growth, particu- 

 larly in cold climates, and such as are very wet, 

 the choicest kinds should be placed under cover, 

 and of course none is so good as a covering of 

 glass. Some occupy the shelves of their green- 

 houses with them as soon as the other plants are 

 taken out ; but this can only be considered ap- 

 plicable to places where greenhouse plants of 

 the most ordinary kinds are cultivated. Shad- 

 ing from intense sun must be attended to while 

 the plants are in bloom ; and a similar pre- 

 caution must be taken, as well as against heavy 

 rains, with those grown in the open air. Carna- 

 tions grown in beds should be accommodated 

 with the same soil as those in pots, and care 

 taken that they be not destroyed by vermin. 

 When the blooming season is past, the flower- 

 stems should be cut off, and the plants fully ex- 

 posed to the sun and air. As soon as the layers 

 have taken root, separate them from the old 

 plants, and pot them immediately. Some use 

 5-inch pots, placing two plants in each ; for 

 ourselves, we prefer to use smaller pots, each to 

 contain one plant. By the latter process the 

 plants can be shifted into larger pots in spring 

 without disturbing the roots; while if two p]ants 

 are in each pot, the ball has to be broken in 

 two, and some danger to the roots may result. 

 Whichever of these modes is followed, it is 

 necessary that the plants be set upon a dry 

 flooring of ashes, and protected during winter 

 by frames and sashes, admitting abundance of 

 air on all favourable opportunities, even to the 

 extent, during mild weather, of leaving them 

 uncovered during the night. The season in 

 which the carnation naturally flowers is about 

 the end of June and beginning of July. None 

 of the very high-bred sorts submit without de- 

 terioration to be forced into bloom much earlier; 

 but the tree varieties do, and these, if intended 

 for forcing, should have a year's previous culti- 



vation — that is, they should not be allowed to 

 flower at all the year after they have been pro- 

 pagated, but stimulated into vigorous growth, 

 and have the tips of their shoots pinched back 

 to cause them to become bushy and stocky. 

 The autumn of the second year they will show 

 abundance of flower-buds, which should be 

 encouraged, and these will flower during the 

 whole winter profusely. Exhibition plants, as 

 they advance into a flowering state, should be 

 set on stages of a height sufficient to bring the 

 flowers within a proper distance of the eye, 

 and the whole covered with a portable frame- 

 work, for the support of canvass for protecting 

 them from rains, and at other times of thin gauze 

 netting for shade. Without these precautions 

 the chances are great against securing a perfect 

 bloom. Growers on a small scale shelter and 

 shade their flowers by a variety of means suit- 

 able to their circumstances ; one of these is a tin 

 cap about 1 0 inches in diameter, elevated on a 

 stalk a little higher than the bloom, one 

 attached to each plant. All metallic caps 

 have a tendency to forward the opening of 

 the bloom, in consequence of their being con- 

 ductors of heat. Non-conducting materials, such 

 as wood, felt, &c, have an opposite effect, and 

 hence the day of blooming may be accelerated 

 or delayed to a certain extent at the will of the 

 florist. Besides the ring of india-rubber above 

 referred to, a little care should be bestowed at 

 the time of the opening of the flower, by gently 

 slitting with a very fine pointed penknife or 

 lancet those sections of the calyx which do not 

 open freely. Something may be done to regu- 

 late this opening of the calyx — namely, by turn- 

 ing the plants round, that the side opening first 

 may be set towards the north. The bloom is 

 shown to greater advantage when circular cards 

 of white thin pasteboard, or stiff paper, are 

 placed behind them, on which the petals are 

 spread out. Some object to this as unnatural, 

 but the whole of the manipulations of the florist 

 are so truly artificial that we see little reason 

 for the objection in this case. 



The pink. — The origin of the garden pink is 

 involved in great obscurity, although named by 

 Wildenow Dianthus hortensis — a name which 

 cannot well apply to it, as Dianthus hortensis is 

 stated in our leading plant- catalogues as being 

 only introduced to Britain in 1805 from Hun- 

 gary. However, our recollection of the pink 

 carries us as far back as that period, when it 

 was by no means a rare plant. Some think the 

 pink sprang originally from the carnation ; but 

 others, with more apparent reason, consider it de- 

 rived from some of the smaller-growing species, 

 as armeria, plumarius,deltoides, carthusianorum, 

 &c. The pink is, as compared even with the 

 carnation, a plant of modern date, being scarcely 

 mentioned by our earliest authors, and until 

 within the last sixty or eighty years it was not 

 regarded otherwise than as a border flower. 

 Pinks are divided into the following sections by 

 growers — viz. Pheasant's eyes, or our most com- 

 mon sorts, thought to have sprung from Dian- 

 thus plumarius ; Cob pinks, which are a larger 

 sort, and thought to have sprung from the car- 

 nation, and seemingly intermediate between 



