THE PINK. 
257 
blooming seedlings, and throw away the worth- 
less ones : prick out seedlings if too thick. 
July. — Early in the month proceed with 
piping ; continue to weed and water seedlings 
of the present year: others, blooming seedlings, 
must be treated just the same as the named 
flowers. Towards the latter end of the month 
there may be other grass ready to pipe ; con- 
tinue to prick out seedlings of the present year, 
if too thick. 
August. — Continue piping the after-grass 
as long as there is any ; and now is the best 
time to bring in plants piped in June. If 
they are carefully removed from the piping- 
bed, with plenty of root, you can do as you 
like w T ith them. The seedlings require weed- 
ing and watering as usual. Towards the end 
of the month you may plant them out in the 
store-beds, the seedlings of the present year. 
September. — There is little to do but 
plant out late pipings, and pot those intended 
for the frames. Hoop over the beds intended 
to be protected with matting or cloths, and 
continue making blooming beds, and planting 
out. 
October. — Continue to plant out late pip- 
ings, and make blooming beds: pot pipings for 
frames : protect the seedlings of this year with 
matting or litter, in case of frost or cutting 
winds. 
November. — It is not too late to make beds, 
or plant out and pot late pipings and seedlings. 
Be careful of frost ; use litter or mats, and 
never put them on in mild weather, except at 
night. 
December. — Adopt the usual precautions 
for the winter months. Be always ready to 
cover against heavy rains, hail, snow, frost, &c; 
and give all the air you can in mild weather. 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
The Pink is called a monster flower, from 
the fact that although there are generally petals 
that would fall into their natural places with 
assistance, there is nothing to guide them in a 
general way, because the double flowers are, 
while in the pod, a solid mass of petals, 
crowded to the extreme, each swelling and 
growing as it may, on a base as fine as a thread, 
powerless in the direction of such a weighty 
upper portion. The flower, therefore, requires 
the aid of the florist as its petals are developed. 
In some very double kinds, the largest petals, 
that should be the first to fall down, are often 
crowded up into the centre of the bloom, among 
the small ones that should be uppermost. 
Those which have the thickest petals in a ge- 
neral way require the least aid ; and those 
which are not extravagantly double will fre- 
quently require little or no dressing. 
The cultivation of pinks in pots for exhibi- 
tion as such, has been frequently talked of as 
a desirable thing to accomplish ; but this, if 
done at all, will be done by the exhibitors of 
plants. Florists accustomed to cut off their 
blooms, and carry them in a small box with 
little or no trouble, cannot be reconciled to the 
practice of carrying a dozen, eighteen, or 
twenty-four pots, which will require a cart ; 
and if we look to the plantsmen to show 
them, they will never take the trouble to card 
and tie and dress the flowers. This has been 
considered the reason why pinks have not been 
shown in pots. 
Pink Societies generally give their new 
members a dozen pairs of pinks to begin with, 
and most of them give a prize for what are 
called maiden showers — that is, showers who 
have not exhibited before. This is to en- 
courage young beginners, whose productions 
are not expected to equal even the losing 
stands among the old ones. How much better 
is it to adopt this mode of increasing the 
number of pink growers, than it is to discourage 
any attempt, by showing them at the very first, 
that it is hopeless to compete with these who 
have the advantage of experience. 
It has been the strangest thing imaginable 
to see a perfect stand of pinks ; the very best 
we ever saw was exceedingly faulty : and such 
is the varied character in Avhich this flower will 
come occasionally, that we have known three 
or four blooms cut off the same plant and shown 
in a stand as different varieties. But although 
this was a manifest fraud upon the people who 
were competitors, it would not be so in the 
metropolitan society ; the rule there is, that the 
blooms shall be dissimilar : so that while two 
or three flowers might be cut off one variety, 
and pass because they were really unlike each 
other, two of different varieties might, by being 
too much alike, throw out the stand. 
48. 
