OK LAYIKG OUT 
» 
colors you fl.ost approve. Carnations prof?';rly rank unde; the 
head of biennials; but pinks are strictly perennial plants, and 
much has been written upon this hardy and beautiful flower. It 
comes originally from a temperate climate, therefore the pink 
loves shade : the fervid sunbeams cause its flowers to languish and 
droop. You may give them an eastern aspect. 
Be careful to watch pinks when they are budding, and do not 
allow two buds to grow side by side. Pinch off the smaller bud, 
which would only weaken its companion. Keep the plants free 
from decayed leaves, and gently stir the earth round them occa¬ 
sionally with your small trowel. This operation refreshes them. 
Stake them neatly, that they may not fall prostrate after rain. 
If you wish to preserve any particular pink, let it grow in a 
pot, or upon a raised platform, that it may be placed beyond the 
reach of hares, rabbits, or poultry, and be more easily sheltered 
from long and severe frost or rains in winter, and from the dry 
heats in summer, either of which destroys the beauty of the 
flower. The pots can be sunk in the ground in fine weather. Do 
not hide your pinks among larger flowers : let them be distinctly 
seen. If you water pinks too much, their roots become rotten ; 
and if you suffer them to be too dry, they become diseased. Be¬ 
ware of extremes. The best rule is to keep them just moist. 
A fine pink should not have sharp-pointed flower leaves ; they 
should be round and even at their edges, and the colors should be 
well defined, not running one into the other. The flower should 
be large; it should possess a great many leaves, and form a sort 
of dome. Piping and slipping, is the most expeditious mode of 
propagating plants from any selected pink. 
Pansies , violets , &c., are very easily propagated by parting the 
roots when the flowers are past. Pansies are very beautiful 
flowers ; and cuttings of their young shoots will grow very freely 
if kept moist and shaded for some little time. By refreshing the 
