264 
CULTURE OF THE GARDEN-PINK. 
slices of either potatoes, turnips, parsnips, apples or carrots, sticking 
in each slice a small wooden skewer, to take it easily out of the soil 
with, also to mark the spot where the bait is buried. Examine these 
baits every day, or at farthest every other day, and kill the insects 
collected upon them. Some gardeners give preference to sliced beet 
root, or cabbage stumps, or young lettuce plants; whatever is used, 
there must be no neglect in examining and destroying the worms 
on them. After they have fed for five years, they go into the pupa 
state, and shortly appear as a chesnut-coloured beetle, when their 
existence appears to be very limited. 
Culture of the Garden-Pink —Dianthus plumarius.—The 
pink has not been grown as a florist flower so long as the carnation. 
Till within the last fifty years, they were merely grown as border 
flowers; but so many new and beautiful varieties have since been 
raised, that it is now much prized and cultivated by amateurs. It is 
more hardy than the carnation, and much less expensive. Make the 
beds as follows:—Mix a quantity of fresh loamy soil with an equal 
portion of cow-dung, which has lain to rot for two years; and after 
having removed the old soil a foot and a half deep, make the deficiency 
up with the new compost, raising it somewhat higher than the 
surrounding surface, falling on each side from the centre, to cast off 
any excess of wet, and this should be repeated every successive 
year. Plant out in September those intended for blooming the 
following summer, for if delayed until spring, they never flower 
so well or show half the beauty as under other circumstances. 
To have good flowers, the plants must be young, it is, therefore, 
indispensable where this is a desideratum, to raise new plants from 
pipings every year, because one year old plants bloom very superior 
to those of any other age. Put in the pipings about the middle or 
end of June, but never later than the first week in July; they will 
then be about two inches long. Prepare them after the manner re¬ 
commended for Carnations. When the pipings are prepared, choose 
a shady part of the garden to plant them, and having dug the soil, 
which must be light and sandy, and smoothly raked the bed, water it 
with a rose watering pot, until the soil is completely saturated ; then 
stick in the pipings about three inches apart, and place a hand glass 
over them. They will not require watering at that time if the soil 
be well wetted previous to inserting them in the bed. 
When the pipings have begun to grow, and not till then, the glass 
may be removed for the first time ; this will happen in about three 
weeks after they are planted. They may then be gradually exposed 
every fine day, until they are able to bear the open air. In hot wea- 
