292 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 6, 1894. 
FliORICUliTURE. 
A Pleaforthe Pinks. 
Up to the present, Pinks have done wonderfully well 
in the open ground. All my plants of border and 
laced varieties are from layers, and I am not sur¬ 
prised in the least to find this method of propagation 
is being generally followed. Altogether I have a 
plantation of about a quarter of an acre of different 
varieties including seedlings, and all being well, there 
is the promise of a good display in the blooming 
season. Planted out in deeply dug and well-manured 
ground, with some fine light soil placed about the roots 
the layers admirably rooted, soon laid hold upon the 
soil, and the plants are now bushy, clean, and healthy, 
and full of promise. There is one great advantage 
the Pink has over the Carnation—the plants if care¬ 
fully planted in somewhat raised beds in the autumn, 
so that the water can drain away in some measure 
from the roots, will live through the hardest 
winter, and though they may become a bit 
rough through exposure, and appear browned and 
battered, as soon as the season sets in they soon 
recover, burst into growth, and make surprising 
headway in a very short time. What appears to me 
to disfigure the plants most is when bitter wintry 
winds are in combination with sharp frost, hence the 
value of giving a bed of plants a good mulch of short 
dung and leaves, which acting as a valuable protector 
during January and February, becomes also a valu¬ 
able fertilizer in March and April. It need scarcely 
be said that if any of the older plants have long 
shoots, they should be secured by pegging, as if 
blown about by the wind they are apt to snap off, 
and a good deal of bloom be lost. 
I think a good deal of the interest which of late 
years has clustered about the Carnation is shifting 
over to the Pinks. That appears to me to be seen 
in the enlarged attention the Pink is receiving, and 
in the production of new varieties. The fact that it 
is so hardy that it can be planted in the open ground 
in autumn to stand the winter, gives it an advantage 
over the Carnation. We are almost daily receiving 
intelligence that the spot, which is a fungoid growth, 
is showing itself in collections, even after an autumn 
so highly favourable to the well-being of the plants. 
The presence of this fungoid growth is attributed to 
several causes, mainly to a damp and stagnant 
atmosphere, to soddened or unsuitable soil, to severe 
check or chill, or to the overcrowding of plants. 
These are the causes set forth on the authority of 
the Carnation Manual, which further states that the 
spot " is rapidly developed under any and all of these 
conditions, and hitherto no application has been 
discovered which can be said to be a cure for it. 
It certainly affects some varieties much more than 
others, and it is difficult authoritatively to state that 
it is infectious, for healthy, vigorous plants will stand 
in actual contact with the disease, without becoming 
affected by it. It would, however, be most unwise 
to rely upon such immunity.” I have known collec¬ 
tions of Carnations and Picotees to be badly affected 
by the spot, even when wintered under the most 
favourable conditions in cold frames, on a dry ash 
bottom, well looked after in the matter of necessary 
ventilation. 
No such dread visitation affects the Pink, and 
perhaps that is one reason why it is being preferred 
to the Carnation, and then while many of our finest 
Carnations lack the quality of fragrance, there is 
scarcely a Pink but possesses it, which is an 
additional recommendation to the popular favour. 
Let anyone make a list of fragrant Carnations, and 
they would find it a comparatively small one, but 
fragrant Pinks form a long and imposing compilation. 
Seeing then the fact of the rising popularity of the 
Pink,and how it lends itself to conditions of cultivation 
that the Carnation does not; seeing also that most 
useful varieties of fine character are multiplying on 
every hand, there is urgent need for a re-institution 
of the Pink Society. The machinery exists, but the 
engineer lacks activity. Why should there not be a 
Pink show somewhere in London in May next. It 
is likely there will be a horticultural exhibition at 
the Royal Aquarium at the end of May next, and 
that would afford an excellent opportunity for a 
display of Pinks, if the season were at all favourable 
for an early bloom. If not then, the show of Pinks 
must take place in June, and it might be made to fit 
in with one of the meetings of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society. A Pink show is more than ever a 
necessity, and I shall be glad if Pink growers will 
ventilate the matter in the columns of the Gardening 
World so that some action may be taken in good 
time.— R.D. 
- 
THE DIVINING ROD. 
Cruel! "The divining rod, ” p. 215, induces me to 
give you my experience. But before doing this let 
me quote from the newly published Vol. V. of "The 
Silva of North America,” p. 5. "The popular name 
of this plant (Hamamelis) is due to the fact that it 
was early used by imposters to indicate the presence 
of precious metals in the soil and to discover springs 
of water. For this purpose a forked branch is 
twirled between the fingers and thumbs of the two 
hands, then at the place where the fork points water 
or gold is declared to exist.” 
To live twenty years in America without getting 
caught in some wild-cat scheme seldom falls to the 
lot of modern men, and it hasn’t to mine. It was in 
the winter of ’8o-’8i that along wdth a few warm 
masonic friends I got in upon the " ground floor ” of 
a copper mine speculation—The Megantic Copper 
Mining Company—away up near Quebec. Of course 
I was but a banstickle among the whales. The vice- 
president, however, was my warm friend ; he held 
the office because of the money he could supply. 
Unable to visit the mines himself then, and believing 
I had plain Scotch horse sense, he sent me to examine 
them in his and his friends'interest. The organizer 
of the company, an " expert ” mining engineer, and an 
attorney, accompanied me. We were a happy party 
notwithstanding a long and dreary ride on an abomin¬ 
able new railroad up there, 20° below zero, and a 
seven miles sleigh ride in a driving wind with drifting 
snow. We stopped at the. house of the superinten¬ 
dent of the mines. Within an hour after our arrival 
we were in the bowels of the earth—for it was an 
abandoned mine taken up again—and I was beginning 
to see visions of an estate in England, endowing a 
hospital, and other wealthy habits, in fact I was 
almost convinced of a bonanza. Further investiga¬ 
tion, however, rather lessened my ardor. In the 
morning the organizer came to me sub rosa fashion 
The engineer and himself had gone all over the 
property last night after I had gone to bed, and the 
engineer had a divining rod, and with it he traced the 
veins of copper hither and thither in undreamt-of 
richness, and so on. He was preying on my super¬ 
stition. He didn’t know that I was a disgrace to my 
family and was minus an atom of that salt of my 
nationality. It saved us from ruin, however; we lost 
every penny we had invested in the concern, but 
after that divining rod knowledge not one of us 
advanced another dollar. A few weeks after that 
the company’s assets were sold out by the sheriff. 
And to this day we bless the divining rod that gave 
no light. But now-a-days, I steer clear of specula¬ 
tions of any kind, and stick to Kale and Potatos.— 
W.F., New York, December 20th, 1893. 
-- 
ZONAL PELARGONIUMS. 
A FEW weeks back there was a passing notice in your 
columns of some cut flowers of these exhibited by 
the Messrs. Cannell, of Swanley, who have long been 
noted for the excellent manner in which they flower 
these old favourites during the winter months, and 
truly those who are at all interested in them and 
once have seen the Swanley collection in flower 
during the dull months of the year have seen a sight 
they will not easily forget. The wonder is that 
there are not more growers of Zonal Pelargoniums 
for winter flowering in private places. No doubt 
the system of top heating, as employed at Swanley, 
is an advantage which many would wish to enjoy, 
but that it is an absolute necessity to ensure success 
by no means follows. 
Any light airy structure, where a little heat can be 
kept in the pipes, will answer admirably, as in mild 
open weather the pipes need not be kept more than 
lukewarm. We have had our plants in flower for 
some time, and are quite prepared to maintain that 
as an amateurs’ plant for winter-flowering the Zonal 
Pelargonium stands unrivalled for beauty and 
general utility. The singles when required for cut 
bloom should be gummed, a simple operation, by 
which they can be made to stand for a fortnight in 
water, and when set up with a few sprays of Maiden¬ 
hair Fern and spikes of Roman Hyacinths, form as 
charming and elegant a combination as can well be 
wished for during the short days of winter. 
Those who prefer the doubles will find one advan¬ 
tage in growing them, in that the trouble of gumming 
is avoided. At many Chrysanthemum shows prizes 
are offered for table plants which year after year are 
competed for with a great similarity of subjects, and 
do not attract any great amount of attention from 
visitors; we venture to think that a few small prizes 
offered for Zonal Pelargoniums, say six in distinct 
varieties grown in 48 or 32-sized pots, would be a 
most interesting and attractive feature. Or, if so 
willed, prizes might be offered for six plants of any 
particular variety. Our large market growers, who 
generally confine their attention to a very few kipds, 
are rarely or never without an abundance of cut 
scarlet Pelargonium, and we have often thought that 
many varieties produce better and more finely- 
coloured flowers in winter than during the summer 
months.—IF. B. G. 
-■ - 
A RIMY MORN. 
The winter is at last upon us; the frost and the 
rime greet us at every step, while we thus enter, as 
it were, into another and more enchanting world. 
The spirit is glad or sorrowful according to the 
health we enjoy or the ills we have to bear. All 
Nature groans, or at least that part of it which 
fulfils its functions with a protest, or in pain. The 
poor suffer ; they seem born to endure, although the 
rich do not necessarily rise superior to the rigours 
of winter, and all that that implies, for they are less 
robust and consequently less able often to comply 
with the fluctuating conditions of our inconstant 
clime. But apart from human aspects, " the world 
we live in is,” according to Sir John Lubbock, in 
his latest and not the least fascinating of his works, 
" The Beauties of Nature,” " a fairyland of exquisite 
beauty, our very existence is a miracle in itself, and 
yet few of us enjoy as we might, and none as yet 
fully appreciate, the beauties and wonders which 
surround us,” Nowhere, however, can I find in 
this admirable little book, a reference to that 
ephemeral but interesting phenomenon, a rimy morn. 
Everywhere this 31st day of December—the last 
cold welcome of the dying year—the scene is 
changed, icicle and hoar-frost replacing the limpid 
dew drops on the tearful trees. Phcebus has risen 
and beholds a glorious scene. His orb reflects the 
splendours of a lovely morn ; bespangles the tree 
and house-tops with glittering sheen ; or invests the 
gardens, the fields and the hedgerows with a new 
and unexpected element of beauty. The transfor¬ 
mation from dull monotony and doubtful good to 
severe frost and sparkling rime is on everybody’s 
lips, and the universal expression goes forth. How 
sublime I Nature never palls—unless hunger is 
present—for she is continually changing her moods 
and inviting thereby fresh food for reflection, or new 
forms of research. 
Nature never grows old; and Sir John again 
informs us that, " though we can never remount the 
river of our years, he who loves Nature is always 
young.” And yet again, that " the golden rays of 
the morning are a fortune in themselves, but we too 
often overlook the loveliness of Nature because it is 
constantly before us.” 
With this train of thoughts in my mind, I resolved 
to set it in motion by a long walk into the country, 
than which, I felt sure, nothing could help me better 
to " fully appreciate ” the sublimity of the change. 
Moreover, as a liberal interpretation of Nature’s 
laws adds to, rather than detracts from, a full 
enjoyment of the mysteries of our mundane life, I 
started, it must be admitted, with a good resolution, 
and an inspiration that— 
" Nature never did betray 
The heart that loved her; ’tis her privilege. 
Through all the years of this our life, to lead 
From joy to joy.” 
So on my way I noticed that even common things 
were endowed with new features and new forms, by 
virtue of the altered aspects under which they were 
presented. The bright warm glow of the Fiery 
Thorn was subdued and pale, for Jack Frost, without 
distinction, had rubbed himself against the leaves 
and fruit in snowy profusion. The Ivy on the wall 
was a thing of beauty ; the Cabbage in the garden 
was rendered more lovely : while the galvanised 
iron netting presented such a wonderful transforma¬ 
tion as Sir John, in his most imaginative mood, 
could hardly conceive. The gardener behind the 
fence felt all this—his tender exotics required his 
constant care. Fuither afield the aspect of Nature 
