CLOVE CARNATION. 171 



Soon after this, all the best flowers will require 

 additional assistance for the purpose of keeping 

 the flowers in due form. This is called carding. 

 Circular pieces of card-board, of any colour 

 which will best answer the purpose of a back- 

 ground to the flower^ are cut so as to surround 

 the pod immediately behind the spreading petals 

 of the corolla. They are about two inches and a 

 half in diameter. The usual form of making 

 them, is with a hole in the centre of the card, 

 large enough to fit the pod, with a slit from that 

 to the circumference, held open when put on. 

 But an improved card is made by first dividing 

 the circumference into six equal parts, and 

 marked : between the opposite points or marks 

 cuts are made through the centre, but not carried 

 out to the circumference ; a margin, nearly an 

 inch wide, being left entire all round, except at 

 one place, to admit the stem. When this card is 

 put on, the stem below the pod is first taken in, 

 and, by raising the card to its place, the angular 

 points, meeting at the centre, give way outwards. 



