420 THE PLEASURE; OR [June. 
if not timely prevented: this will generally happen a few days pre- 
vious to the proper time of the blossoms opening, and will, if ne- 
glected, by letting out the petals on one side, and thereby producing 
a loose irregular appearance, totally destroy that compact, graceful 
circular form, which a perfect flower ought to possess, and which is 
one of its greatest ornaments: but this disagreeable effect may be 
easily avoided by fastening a small narrow slip of bladder round 
the middle of the pod, where it is most swelled, and appears to 
have the greatest inclination to burst. The slip of bladder should 
be rather longer than is required to go once around, so that one end 
of it may lay over the other a little, which by the application of 
some strong gum water, will adhere firmly together, and answer the 
purpose completely. Small slips of wet bass may be substituted 
for those of bladder, and being tied with a single knot around the 
same part of the calyx, will answer the purpose. 
Others place upon the calyx thin pieces of card, cut circular, of 
a proper size to suit the blossom, with a hole in the centre adapted 
to the size of the pod, and cut quite through from thence to the 
periphery, in order to admit the stem, after which to draw them up 
around the calyx: these are to be placed close to the guard leaves 
or outside petals, to support them horizontally, and will, when ex- 
tended just as far as the extreme points of the petals, give the 
flower a neat and pleasing appearance; but these are apt to warp 
when long exposed to the weather, especially after being wet, and 
must, in such cases, be either taker* oft' entirely or replaced with 
new ones, as they will no longer answer the intended purpose. 
Either of the above methods may, and should be resorted to, in 
order to have the fine large bursting kinds of carnations and pinks 
to blow to the greatest advantage. 
When the major part of your elegant carnations are in bloom, an 
awning should be placed over the whole, so as to be drawn up or 
let down by means of pullies. The same frame that was used for 
tulips or hyacinths would answer this purpose extremely well. 
In order that the flowers should appear to the greatest advantage, 
it is necessary that the pots should stand upon a stage erected 
theatre-like; and it would be an additional advantage to have the 
flowers suspended from the sticks placed in the pots for their sup- 
port by small pieces of fine elastic wire of unequal lengths, to 
support them in a natural, easy, and graceful manner, neither too 
near together nor remote from each other; one end of the wire 
should be introduced into the stick by means of a small awl, and 
there fixed sufiiciently tight, to prevent its being drawn out by 
the weight of the flower; the other end of the wire should be form- 
ed into a small ring about a quarter of an inch in diameter, to in- 
close the stem below the calyx; this ring should be a little open on 
one side to admit the stem freely without bruising it, M'hich would 
materially injure the bloom. 
The pots must be kept regularly and constantly watered during 
the bloom, and no favourable opportunity should be neglected to 
allow them the full advantage of exposure to light and air; but no 
rain should be admitted to the blossoms at any period of their 
bloom. 
