402 
requires no protection in winter, is easily managed, and 
| as easily jiropagated, and lastly, is not expensive. All 
1 these are characteristics that especially recommend the 
Pink to our favourable notice and best attention, in culti¬ 
vating it carefully and well. We propose on this occasion 
to detail—1st. The best soil, including situation. 2nd. 
Tl.ie best modes of propagating it; and 3rd. The general 
management throughout the year. 
Soil and Situation of the Bed .—The best situation to 
grow the Pink in, is, where choice can be had, the slope 
of a bank, or even the top of a middling-sized hill, 
where the bottom is dry and rocky. This situation will 
J answer much better than a low one, because the early 
i and late frosts do not prevail so much on an elevated 
situation as on a low one. This fact is well-known to 
I florists, especially the growers of the Dahlia. Frequently 
have we seen them destroyed early in September, where 
i they were grown at the bottom of a valley, whilst those 
growing fifty or sixty feet higher escaped scatheless. 
Now, though the Pink is not so tender as the Dahlia, 
yet the difl'erence of temperature between the hill and 
the valley affects even this comparatively hardy flower 
pretty considerably, as the American would say. Again, 
the situation is of importance, in consideration of the 
root. If moderately elevated, it may, if of a wet bottom, 
be more easily drained, because there would be a better 
descent for the superfluous moisture, especially in a wet 
season. If possible then, search or look out for the j 
right sort of place to grow this fine, elegant flower in. 1 
Having obtained this, examine the soil, and if not j 
naturally of good quality, and not more than three i 
years under culture for a florist’s or amateur’s gardening, I 
it is well. The Pink, to grow it fit to be seen on a stage, 
requires a generous soil, moderately manured with 
thoroughly-decayed stable litter. This, if the soil is 
good, may be laid upon the bed intended for Pinks two 
inches thick, about October, and it should be imme¬ 
diately dug in deep, and the soil well mixed with it To 
accomplish this well, it is of advantage to dig the bed or 
piece of ground two or three times over. This does 
good, not only as a means of mixing the soil and 
manure well together, but it pulverises and ameliorates | 
[September 25. j 
the soil much, by exposing it from time to time to the 
influence of the air and heat of the sun. 
We once knew a very successful florist in Yorkshire, 
who grew the Pink remarkably well in his day, and the 
only manure he used, when we knew him, was old \ 
thatch. This, he always said, suited the Pink better 
than any other kind of manure he ever tried—but then, 
again, the situation had a good deal to do with it. His 
garden laid low, and his natural soil was heavy loam. I 
The old thatch served not only as manure, but as a 
lightener of the heavy soil. On a dry hilly bank, or even 
an elevated plain, this manure would be found too light 
and open, the stable-dung would suit better. If the soil 
is heavy, and the situation low, it will be necessary to 
adopt measures to improve it. Where expense is no 
consideration, the soil had better be entirely removed, 
and the bottom of the bed be well drained, then bring 
: in some good light loam, the top spit of an old pasture 
! that has been laid up, and turned over and mixed with 
dung twelve months previously, liaise it from four to 
six inches above the natural level of the garden, keeping 
up the edges either with long slates or boards. In 
this bed, so drained and raised, they will thrive and 
flower satisfactorily. 
Great care and attention must be bestowed upon this 
new soil, in diligently looking out for that pest, the 
wireworm. A quick, careful eye will detect the most of 
them during the operation of turning over the soil, from 
time to time. Let not our amateur friends think this 
of little consequence, or a matter that may be omitted, 
or be slightly attended to. They will find to their cost 
that the enemy will be active in search of their best 
Pink plants as soon as they are planted, and will eat 
their way into the very pith and marrow of such plants 
as they meet with, and the mischief is not perceivable 
till the plant is quite destroyed. We cannot press this 
matter too much upon the attention of growers, especially 
young ones, or new beginners; old hands are wide 
awake on the subject, and will watch with the most 
jealous care for this insidious enemy, and destroy him 
without mercy. T. Appleby. 
(To he continued.) 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
ALLOTMENT FARMING— October. 
Potatoes. —Our pen turns almost instinctively to this 
valuable root, which, in spite of the disasters which have 
attended its culture of late years, may still be termed the 
poor man’s stay; long may it remain so. Still, we would 
advise every poor man to endeavour to wean himself from 
a sole reliance on it at his own table, inasmuch as it is, 
perhaps, possible, that the use of other roots may be one 
day forced on him; and in such an event, it is easy to 
loresee how much more readily those who practised such 
provident forecast would be able to adapt themselves to 
their altered circumstances, than those who pertinaciously 
I adhered to this one root alone; which is at present too 
much the case with thousands. As to the utter extermina¬ 
tion of the root, we do think it sheer nonsense thus to 
conjure up and meet evils which can scarcely happen. 
Which of our vegetables that endure the open air in summer 
in this country have we ever lost, whether indigenous or 
foreign ? The most fatal thing of the kind we remember in 
our day, was the rapid decay of the Oriental Plum trees, 
which happened some forty years since; some kind of so- 
called blight injured most if not all, the trees in this island; 
but still the Oriental Plum is surely not exterminated. 
We would have every cottager, and especially our amateurs 
who have leisure, raise seedlings every year; for although 
seedlings have suffered in common with established kinds 
Irom the disease, there is no questioning the fact, that 
superior cropping powers are possessed by the seedlings in 
general. Of this we have been a constant eye-witness 
during the last twenty-three years, living, as we have done, 
in a district so noted for potatoes. In this quarter, during 
that period, several kinds which were in their day considered 
perfection, have come and gone, no one knows how, each in 
its turn ceasing, after a given period, to prove remunerating. 
In those days we had the old lied Apple in perfection, the 
Blue Roughs or Perrins, the old Black Potato , &c., &c.; these 
are all gone, and it is easy to trace in Cheshire, amongst the 
existing crops, various modifications of these types; very 
many of the newest kinds carrying unmistakeable signs of 
renewed vigour, through the agency of the Scottish Pink-eyes, 
introduced subsequently. So now we have as local names 
Ink-eyes as well as Pink-eyes; also Pink-eye-Farmers and 
Ink-eye-Farmers, and these respectively, no doubt, crosses 
between the Scotch pink-eye and the Farmer's ylory , or old 
ox-noble, and so likewise as to the blacks, from whence have 
sprung the Ink-eyes. However, we must not speculate too 
much, real business demands our consideration. 
Let us first advise, that extra care be taken in storing 
potatoes. Fermentation must either be avoided or provided 
for, that is to say, an escape for the damp air, which is sure 
to be generated. Those who possess outhouses, or sheds, 
will do well to throw them over the floor about four or five 
potatoes deep, covering them with straw or old cloths in 
order to prevent greening. The latter advice must be 
! particularly attended to, and the place should be kept as dark 
