D I A N 
with the earth before-mentioned, cloftng it gently to the. 
plant with your hands, giving it a little water, if the 
weather is dry, to fettle the earth about it; then place 
thefe pots in a iituatidn where they may be defended 
from the north wind, obferving to give them gentle wa¬ 
terings, as the feafon may require. 
In this place they may remain till the middle or end 
of April, when you Ihould prepare a llage of boards to 
'fet the pots upon, which fhould be fo ordered as to have 
little ciflerns of water round each pod, to prevent the 
infects from getting to your flowers in their bloorn, 
which, if they are fullered to do, will mar all your la¬ 
bour, by deftroying all your flowers in a fhort time; the 
chief and molt mifchievous infedt in this cafe is the earwig, 
which will gnaw off all the lower parts of the petals of the 
flowers, which are very fweet, andthereby caufe the whole 
flower to fall to pieces. But, fince the making one of 
thefe ftages is fome,what expenfive, and not very eafy to 
be underltood by fuch as have never feen them, we fhall 
defcribe a very limple one, which anfwers the purpofe 
full as well as the belt and moft expenfive one can do : 
firft, prepare fome common flat pans, about fourteen or 
fixteen inches over, and three inches deep ; place thefe 
two and two oppofite to each other, at about two feet 
-diftance, and at every eight feet lengthways two of thefe 
pans ; in each of thefe whelm a flower-pot, which fhould 
be about fix inches over at the top, upfide-down, and lay 
a flat piece of timber, about two feet and a half long, and 
three inches thick, acrofs from pot to pot, till you have 
finifhed the whole -length of your ftage ; then lay your 
planks lengthways upon thefe timbers, which will hold 
two rows of planks for the fize pots which were ordered 
for the carnations. When you have fet your pots upon 
the ftage, fill the flat pans with water, which will effec¬ 
tually guard your flowers againft infeCts; for they do not 
care to fwim over water. This flage fhould be placed 
in a fituation open to the fouth-eaft, but defended from 
the weft: winds, left the pots fhould be blown down by 
the violence of that wind, which is often very trouble- 
fome at the feafon when thefe flowers blow ; indeed they 
fhould be defended, by trees at fome diftance, from the 
winds of every point ; but thefe trees fhould not be too 
near the ftage ; nor by any means place them near walls, 
or tall buildings; for in fuch fituations the ftems of the 
flowers will draw up too weak. About this time, viz. 
the middle of April, your layers will begin to fhoot up 
for flower; you rnuft therefore be provided with fome 
fquare deal flicks, about four feet and a half long, which 
fhould be thicker towards the bottom, and planed off 
taper at the top ; thefe flicks fhould be carefully ftuck 
into the pots as near as poflible to the plant, without in¬ 
juring it; then with a (lender piece of bafs mat, fallen 
the fpindle to the flick, to prevent its being broken; this 
you muft often repeat, as the fpindle advances in height, 
and alfo obferve to pull oft all fide fpindles as they are 
produced, and never let more than two fpindles remain 
upon one root, nor above one, if you intend to blow ex¬ 
ceeding large. Towards the beginning of June your flow¬ 
ers will have attained their greatefl height, and their 
pods will begin to fwell, and fome of the earlieft begin 
to open on one fide ; therefore obferve to let it open in 
two other places at equal angles; this muft be done fo 
foon as you perceive the pod break, otherwife your flower 
will run out on one fide, and be in a fhort time paft re¬ 
covering fo as to make a complete flower; and in a few 
days after the flowers begin to open, you muft cover 
them with glades which are made for that purpofe, in 
the following manner : Upon the top of the glafs, exact¬ 
ly in the center, is a tin collar, or focket, about three- 
fourths of an inch fquare, for the flower-flick to come 
through ; to this focket are foldered eight flips of lead 
at equal diftances, which are about fix inches and a half 
long, and fpread open at the bottom, about four inches 
afunder; into thefe flips of lead are faftened flips of 
Vol. V. No. 315. 
T IIUS. 79 ? 
glafs, cut according to the diftances of the lead, which, 
when they are fixed in, are bordered round the bottom 
with another flip of lead quite round, fo that the glafs 
has eight angles, with the focket in the middle, and 
fpread open at the bottom about eleven inches wide. 
When your flowers are open enough to cover with 
thefe glatles, make a hole through j our flower-flick, ex¬ 
actly to the height of the under part of the pod, through 
which put a piece of fmall wire about, fix inches long, 
making a ring at one end of the wire to contain the pod, 
into which ring fix the fler.i of the flower; then cut off all 
the tyings of bafs, and thruft the flern of the flower fo far 
from the flick.as may give convenient room for the flower 
to expand without prefling againft the flick ; to which 
diftance you may fix it by turning your wire fo as not to 
drawback through the hole.; then make another hole 
through the flick, at a convenient diftance above the 
flower, through which put a piece of wire an inch and a 
half long, which is to fupport the glafies from Aiding 
down upon the flowers; and be fure to obferve, that the 
glades are not placed fo high as to admit the fun and 
rain under them to the flowers, nor fo low as to fcorch 
their leaves with the heat. At this time alfo, or a few 
days after, as you fhall judge neceffary, cut fome ftiff 
paper, cards, or fome fuch tiling, into collars about four 
inches over, and exactly round, cutting a hole in the 
middle of it about three-fourths of an inch diameter, for 
the bottom of the flower to be let through ; then place 
thefe collars about them, to fupport the petals of the 
flower from hanging down; this collar fhould be placed 
withinfide the calyx of the flower, and fhould be fup- 
ported thereby: obferve from day to day what progrefs 
your flowers make ; and if one fide comes out falter than 
tiie other, turn the pot about, and fhift the other fide 
towards the fun; and alfo, if the weather proves very 
hot, (hade the glades in the heat of the day with cab¬ 
bage-leaves, &c. to prevent their being fcorched, or 
forced out too foon. When the middle pod begins to 
rife, take out the calyx thereof with a pair of nippers 
made for that purpofe ; but this fhould not be done too 
foon, left the middle part of the flower fhould advance 
too high above the fides, which will greatly diminifh the 
beauty of it: and you fhould alfo obferve whether there 
are more leaves in the flower than can properly be ex¬ 
panded for want of room ; in which cafe you fhould put 
out fome of the lowermoft or moft unlikely leaves to 
fpread, drawing out and expanding the others at the 
fame time : and, when your flowers are fully blown, if 
you cut them off, put on a'frefli collar of ftiff' paper, 
which fhould be cut exactly to the fize of the flower, 
that it may fupport their petals to their full width, but 
not to be feen wider than the flower in any" part : when 
this is put on, draw out the wideft leaves to form the 
outlide of the flower, which, although they fhould be in 
the middle, yet, by removing the other leaves, they may 
be drawn down, and fo the next longeft leaves upon 
them again, that .the whole flower may appear equaily 
globular without any hollow parts. In the doing of 
this, fome florifts are fo curious as to render an indiffe¬ 
rent flower very handfome; and on this depends, in a great 
meafure, the fkillof theartift to produce large fine flowers. 
During the flower feafon, particular care fhould be 
taken not to let them fuffer for want of water, which 
fhould by no means be raw fpring-water; the belt and 
moft natural water is that of a fine foft river; next to 
that is pond-water, or flanding-water ; but, if you have 
no other than fpring-water, it Ihould be expofed to the 
fun and air two days before it is ufed, otherwife it will 
give the flowers the canker and fpoil them. 
The directions here given are chiefly for the manage¬ 
ment of thofe large carnations, which require the greatefl 
fkill of the florift to have them in perfection ; but of late 
years thefe have not been fo much in efteem as formerly, 
and thofe flowers which do not break their pods, and are 
9 R 1 termed 
