GLENNY ON THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 
339 
observe, that whatever shifts may be made, 
and however well plants may thrive under 
other circumstances, there is no certainty in 
the wintering of Carnations and Picotees, 
without completely excluding damp ; and this 
can never be secured, unless the bottom of 
the frame is impervious to the wet which 
runs through the pots ; for, be it remembered, 
the ground, in such case, not only gets more 
water than the open space, but it cannot dry 
again, because it is covered with the pots, 
which prevents the sun and air from reaching 
it. The very act, therefore, of covering from 
frost, renders the inside of the frame damp, 
when the ground in the open air is either 
frozen or dry. . There are those who smile at 
these precautions : they manage their plants 
well, without half the trouble, and become 
heedless, from their success, until some un- 
lucky season mildews every plant they pos- 
sess ; and they send out stock, perhaps only 
a little speckled at the time, but which has 
been so far affected as to be past recovering. 
Then, and then only, do they begin to con- 
sider there is something wrong in what they 
have done, or omitted to do, and speculate on 
the means of preventing it for the future. 
Let not the trouble, then, of forming a dry, 
hard bottom, be a bar to doing it ; for, when 
once done, it is done for all times, and all 
things. Many there are, who think a good 
thick bed of coal-ashes a good bottom for the 
pots to stand on ; yet how completely do they 
absorb and retain the superabundant moisture 
until they are completely saturated, and re- 
tain in themselves the poison for whatever is 
placed on them, and shut up with them. 
THE SOIL FOR THE CARNATION AND 
riCOTEE. 
It is almost impossible to procure a better 
compost. for these plants, than that which is 
formed by cutting turfs, three inches thick, 
from a loamy field or meadow, and allowing 
all the grass and roots to rot together ; and as 
by looking out for such in time, there are 
many opportunities of obtaining turfs, there 
is hardly an excuse for making use of any 
thing else, after the first year, for the turfs 
rot well in that time. At the end of the year, 
these should be cut down perpendicularly, in 
thin slices, and thrown in a heap to lie 
together again. During this operation, the 
bots, or grubs, wire-worms, and all other 
living tilings likely to be prejudicial, should 
be carefully picked out ; for it will often be 
found that this soil, so highly advantageous to 
the growth and bloom of the plant, is full of 
mischief. If the wireworm, or hot, or grub 
abound, children should be employed to pick 
them out; for nothing but picking out and 
destroying them will do. Before using, this 
should all be rubbed through a coarse sieve, or 
screen, that would let a hazel-nut through ; 
and all the fibre should be rubbed through 
with the soil. It requires no more, then, but 
lying in the heap till wanted for use, save 
and except that, if you are not perfectly con- 
vinced that it is cleared of all kinds of ene- 
mies, it should be turned over, and picked 
once a week, until you are so. The soil, 
however, in which the Carnations are bloomed, 
and that in which they are potted in small 
pots, should be different. In the small pots, 
you do not want the plants to advance much : 
the less they are excited all the autumn and 
winter the better ; they require but healthy, 
steady progress ; and this can only be secured 
by clean pure loam, with but little vegetable 
matter, and no dung. The top-spit of a 
meadow, with its verdure rotted in it, would 
be as rich as it would be safe to use ; and 
they would be little the worse if even that 
were pared off before the loam was taken. If 
we were to analyze these two soils, the one 
from turfs cut only thick enough to secure all 
the vegetable matter, would be found half 
loam and half vegetable mould ; cut three 
inches thick, would give two parts loam, and 
one vegetable mould ; and that which was 
formed of the whole spit, with the turf on it, 
would be found, perhaps, seven and a half 
loam, and one and a half vegetable mould. 
But as the latter may often be had easier than 
the former, it must be made equal to the 
former by the addition of vegetable mould; 
than which nothing is more conducive to the 
healthy growth of nearly every florist's 
flower. If it happen, as it sometimes will, 
that the loam is more adhesive than is de- 
sirable, it may be tempered with very clean 
sand, until it is right ; for the soil should in 
all cases be sufficiently porous to allow the 
water to percolate freely ; but not so loose 
but that a handful, squeezed together, would 
hold its form ; though, on being pressed in an 
opposite direction, it should fall to pieces. In 
preparing to pot the plants for blooming, the 
soil already mentioned for that purpose should 
be used in the proportion of three-fourths to 
one-fourth of cow-dung ; or, in the absence 
of that, horse-dung, rotted into mould. These 
should be well mixed together, and will be all 
the better if prepared some time beforehand. 
The top spit for potting in small pots needs no 
other preparation than frequent turning over, 
after rotting the turf in it, and taking out all 
the living pests that may be there, and which 
destroy the plants, if they once attack them. 
Thus provided with good soil for both pur- 
poses, and pots of the small forty-eight size, 
or the large sixty size, for wintering, and size 
sixteen or twelve for blooming, the cultivator 
of Carnations and Picotees may commence 
7. I 
