808 



OPEN FLOWER-GARDEN. 



pinks and picotees. The early red pinks are 

 smaller than Cobs, but larger than Pheasant's 

 eyes, and are supposed to have sprung from 

 Cobs and Dianthus deltoides or armerius. 



Propagation. — By seed, to procure new or 

 improved varieties; by pipings, for general pro- 

 pagation ; and sometimes, but rarely, by layering, 

 and that chiefly in the case of any new or very 

 rare variety, as the process is more certain than 

 by pipings. What has been said of the carna- 

 tion is quite applicable in this case also. The 

 process of raising the pink by seed is in all 

 respects similar to that of the carnation ; but 

 the pink, being a much hardier plant, produces 

 seed very readily in Britain, and hence many 

 new varieties are annually obtained. 



Propagation by pipings. — This operation 

 should commence as soon as the grass, as the 

 young shoots are called, is of sufficient length 

 and firmness for the purpose ; every day is of 

 importance as regards time, that the young 

 plants may attain size and strength to stand 

 the winter. The usual time directed is imme- 

 diately previous or while the plants are in 

 bloom. In the neighbourhood of London, about 

 the 20th of June is a good time, but ten days 

 later is as early in the vicinity of Edinburgh 

 as the grass will be in condition. We do not 

 think it advisable, when many pipings are re- 

 quired, to take them off to such a degree as to 

 leave the plants too bare until the flowering 

 season is past, as the removal of so many leaves 

 at that time must weaken the plants very much. 

 It were better, therefore, to take only a few off 

 each plant to secure an early crop, and make 

 a second batch when the flowers are gone, or, 

 where the stock is large, to have a collection 

 grown in a bed for the express purpose of pro- 

 pagation, without interfering with those in the 

 blooming-bed. We speak here of choice varie- 

 ties ; for common border-flowers this precaution 

 is much less necessary. Pipings are most suc- 

 cessfully rooted on a slight bottom-heat, parti- 

 cularly when they are late in being taken off, 

 and also in all cold localities. In the south this 

 is less important, and many strike them under 

 hand-glasses placed on a warm common border. 

 The earlier in the season they are propagated 

 the better, and as soon as rooted they should 

 be transplanted into a bed, to gain strength, 

 before their final removal to the blooming-bed. 

 By September they should be fit for and set in 

 the bed in which they are to flower ; for if this 

 operation be delayed till spring, as recom- 

 mended by some, the plants will neither be of 

 sufficient strength, nor will they throw bloom 

 so fine as those plants arranged in autumn. It 

 is not desirable, however, to have over-strong 

 plants, and hence over - stimulating must be 

 avoided. Plants of moderate strength are far 

 preferable, as they in general send up only one 

 or two flower-stalks, producing three or four 

 fine fully-developed blooms each. Very weakly 

 plants, on the other hand, send up one small 

 flower- stalk, and the flowers produced are few, 

 small, and deficient in texture. The process of 

 piping is by some done by pulling off the grass 

 and sticking it into the ground without farther 

 ceremony. This is both slovenly and injurious 



to the parent plant, by lacerating its main 

 shoots to a very unnecessary extent. The pro- 

 per course is to cut off the best formed grass 

 close to the stem carefully with a sharp knife. 

 The pipings are prepared by cutting off the 

 lower leaves with a sharp knife, not pulling 

 them off, leaving about four leaves at top ; and 

 these are to be left entire, and not cut short, as 

 was long the practice. The base of the piping 

 is to be cut off close under a joint in a trans- 

 verse form. One variety at a time should be 

 operated upon, and when the number to be 

 struck is small, each sort may be planted in 

 a pot by itself ; but when the number re- 

 quired is considerable, it is better to prepare 

 the soil for them, placing it upon a mild bottom- 

 heat, such as a nearly exhausted hotbed, setting 

 the cuttings in rows, and covering the whole 

 with a frame and lights. The pipings should 

 be inserted about an inch in light sandy soil, 

 set about 2 inches apart each way, and gently 

 watered when they are put in. After this, 

 shading from the sun is necessary, but to guard 

 against neglect in this matter we place our 

 piping-bed behind a wall, by which shading is 

 scarcely required. Dampness, as well as undue 

 dryness, is equally to be guarded against ; and 

 while the first process of rooting is going on, a 

 close atmosphere is necessary ; but as it proceeds, 

 ventilation is day by day increased, until the 

 sashes are to be taken off altogether, which 

 should be the case for a few days before the 

 plants are taken up and transferred to a nursery - 

 bed, in which they are to remain till fit for 

 transplanting into the blooming-beds. 



Soil. — Although the pink prospers pretty 

 well in most good garden-soils, like all other 

 plants it likes what may be called a new soil, or 

 a portion of such mixed with that of the borders 

 or beds in which it is grown. Of course, when 

 a bed is especially set apart for its blooming, it 

 would be unwise to plant year after year in the 

 same soil. It is better, therefore, to change it in 

 part, if not in whole, annually. The majority of 

 florists recommend a good fresh loamy soil, and 

 of the depth of about 2 feet, manured with cow- 

 dung in a very decomposed state. If the loam be 

 stiff, a sufficient quantity of sharp sand and leaf- 

 mould, in equal proportions, may be added, to re- 

 duce it to a proper texture. The whole of this 

 depth need not be made yearly ; if half the quan- 

 tity of the previous bed be removed, and the defi- 

 ciency made up of new soil, and both thoroughly 

 incorporated, the compost will be all that is re- 

 quired. The blooming-bed should be elevated 

 from 6 inches to a foot above the alley, and 

 the soil surrounded by thin Caithness pavement 

 set on edge. Indeed, as we have more than 

 once remarked, the beds of all florists' flowers, 

 if we except the dahlia and hollyhock, should 

 be so elevated. It brings the flowers nearer the 

 eye, gives the appearance of greater neatness 

 and order, and in many respects is beneficial to 

 the plants themselves. The bed should be pre- 

 pared a month previous to planting — say by 

 the middle of August — at which time the bloom 

 will be over, so that planting may be done by 

 the middle of September, or the beginning of 

 October at latest. The blooming plants should 



