30 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
system, it is impossible for me to alter my opinion as to the 
superiority of plants produced from pipings. One peculiar ad¬ 
vantage they always possess, which is, having an inch, at least, 
of solid stem, just above the ground, which I never knew the 
snails to make an attack upon, or the damp to interfere with; 
and in almost every instance they are so exceedingly well rooted, 
that, generally speaking, they will endure as much severe 
weather as the hardiest plant in cultivation. For layers, I can¬ 
not speak with this degree of confidence ; as, in some ungenial 
seasons, where the cultivator has waited for the blooming to be 
over, before he has commenced his business, I have known 
hundreds that have never rooted at all; and it is nearly on all 
occasions the want of ripeness in the plants, that is the cause of 
their “ damping off," in a moist winter. I cannot agree with 
Philo-Caryophyllus, that there can be more liability to misplace 
the names, by labelling each sort, and tying them together as 
you take them from the plants, at the time of piping, and num¬ 
bering the pots, than must necessarily arise in keeping each sort 
separate, at the time the layers are taken from the stools. And 
with respect to “ cutting and maiming,” I wish him clearly to 
understand, that I am too much a lover of Carnations to use my 
knife in so reckless a manner as to maim, in cutting my pipings 
from the plants. I do not take all the shoots, and never take a 
very strong one ; those that are rather below the middle strength 
always root the soonest. I generally leave the strong, outer 
growing shoots, for a second year’s blooming in the manner I 
have stated in December, or laying, as the cultivator may decide 
upon. And I have particularly noticed and compared these 
plants with those that have not been subjected to the operation 
of a little pruning, and never, in any one instance, have I detected 
the slightest appearance of weakening, or other injurious effects 
consequent on this proceeding, either in the foliage or the bloom. 
I think Philo-Caryophyllus mustra^Aer have “ fallen into error” 
as to the early part of June being “ just the blooming season 
however we do not find it so 150 miles upwards, north-west of 
London, and the reports of floral exhibitions, I think, will fully 
bear me out in this remark. I should be exceedingly sorry to 
mislead a cultivator, and 1 am sure that all I have said on this 
