338 
GLENNY ON THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 
to begin with, we can only recommend, as we 
have done twenty times before, in twenty 
shapes, the varieties mentioned in the Garden 
Almanac, which we repeat, with one or two 
additions that have been raised or recognised 
since. On procuring these, which should 
come to you well rooted in September or 
October, or potted, from November to Feb- 
ruary, they require to be treated according to 
their then state. If they have been well 
rooted, and are taken off the plant for you, 
they require potting, and placing in a cold 
frame. If they are already potted, they may 
be placed in the frame at once ; but all these 
matters will be treated of separately. It is 
only necessary to say here, that the best con- 
trivances for the cultivation of the Carnation 
and Picotee, are common garden-frames, on 
a hard bottom, impervious to water. In the 
first place, then, we must speak of the pre- 
parations for culture, which consist in pro- 
curing the proper frames and lights, and then 
preparing a place on which they are to stand. 
In a general way, we may be allowed to 
say, that there is not in all the evils with 
which the florist has to contend, one from 
which these plants suffer so much as the 
clamp, which engenders mildew, and, when 
suffered through a collection, goes well nigh 
to destroy it. Now the causes of damp are 
numerous and immediate. Persons fancy 
they can avoid it, while they are deceiving 
themselves into a fatal source of mischief. 
There is but one way — to exclude it altogether; 
although in many seasons the plants do not 
require such extreme caution. Among the 
contrivances to keep the pots and plants drj', 
or rather, we ought to say, free from damp, 
we have seen shelves just above the earth, 
slates covered all over the bottom, tiles, 
bricks, and such like, forming an excellent 
dry ground for the pots to stand on ; but in 
all these, there may be a creation of the very 
evil we endeavour to avoid ; on the other 
hand, we have seen the pots placed on the 
damp earth, and no kind of mischief ensue. 
This is very clear, however, that the evil is 
not so much in what the pots stand on, as in 
the capacity the bottom has for absorbing the 
water which is given to the plants, and goes 
through the bottom of the pots ; for when 
the bottom is soddened with wet, and the 
Perfect Petal. 
Imperfect Petal. 
frame closed, the damp will come up between 
the slates, or tiles, or bricks, and even the 
tiles and bricks themselves will absorb enough 
to keep a frame always damp. In whatever 
way, therefore, a floor can be best constructed 
to throw off the wet, that plan should be 
adopted. Some use a cement ground; some 
asphalte ; some lime and gravel, wetted and 
levelled ; some tiles, or slates, or bricks. Lest, 
however, it may be found to absorb the wet, it 
should be made rather sloping, that the water 
may always run off, and have a few grooves, 
or gutters, in it for that purpose. On this 
floor, the most common shallow garden-frame 
and light may be placed ; and it will form the 
best, the most unexceptionable, winter pro- 
tection. The ordinary dimensions of these 
frames are five feet six, to six feet, from back 
to front, and each light three feet six wide ; 
so that a three-light box, or frame, would be 
ten feet six inches from side to side, and five 
feet six inches, to six feet from back to front. 
The front should be nine inches high, and the 
back fifteen. Plaving provided yourself with 
such a frame, and a proper bottom, impervious 
to wet, on which to place it, we may just 
