8 
Carnations. 
a PINK. 
‘By R. Deay, in “The Gardener.” 
A desire was expressed a short time ago 
by one of your readers that I would write 
‘some account of the Pink. As it is the 
season of this fragrant flower, a few re- 
marks as to its history, characteristics, and 
culture may be acceptable to the readers 
of “The Gardener.” 
That the normal form of the Pink (Dian- 
thus plumarius) was that of a single blos- 
som, with some colored markings about 
the throat, and having a fringed margin, I 
-have no doubt whatever. One may, in the 
-present day, gather seeds from a fine, 
-double variety, sow them, and find among 
the progeny several single forms. Their 
_ appearance means that Nature oftentimes 
-harks back to normal forms, just to remind 
us of the origin of the double flower, and 
also to let us see she is not quite a passive 
actor in the floral drama. 
~The common name Pink means an eye 
in the Dutch language, from which it is 
supposed to be derived. Given, therefore, 
a common single Pink, with a fringed edge, 
and we have to consider the probable way 
along which the flower has travelled in the 
course of many years until it reached the 
large, double, finely laced and fragrant, 
smooth edged flower of the florist of the 
present day. Truly a great and important 
transformation. 
-It-is thought that the first attempts to 
cullivate the Pink as a florist’s flower 
commenced about the year, 1620—in the 
troublous reigns of Charles the First. We 
know from early records that improve- 
ments took place, and that a tendency to 
doubleness began to manifest itself. We 
may, therefore, assume. that towards the 
close of the seventeenth. and on through 
the eighteenth centuries the efforts of im- 
provers had been so-successful that by the 
year 1800 there had. been developed a 
double flower with a colored centre and 
white fringed petals, rich in perfume, and 
pleasant to theeye. — 
' Another epoch in the development’ of 
the flower ~then commenced, and efforts 
were put forth to get the bloom fully 
double, to produce some color in the petal 
édges, and to secure petals with: smooth 
and not serrated margins. I do not for a 
moment imagine that the florists of 1799 
had seti up in their minds an ideal flower, 
because they lacked experience; but I 
think that Nature helped them towards 
an ideal by developing in a rudimentary 
form characteristics which suggested to the 
florist the line along which the flower 
might be led in the way of development. 
_ The rudiments of. an ideal flower were 
obtaimed when, towards. the end of the 
eighteenth centuny, a florist named Major, 
who, it is said, lived in the South of Eng- 
land, raised from seed a Pink he named 
Lady Stoverdale, and it is recorded that 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
this. was the first Pink “possessed of that 
singular and beautiful ornament called 
‘lacing’ which is a _ continuation, of the 
color of the eye round the white and broad 
part of the petal.’ The promptings of 
Nature led the florist to seize upon this 
peculiarity and develop it, and that with 
considerable success. A catalogue in my 
possession, dating back to 1817, states that - 
of the garden or cultivated Pink “there are 
sixty double varieties in cultivation.” 
Up to 1880 the Pink was much grown for 
exhibition purposes, and during the forties 
and fifties many Pink shows were held 
about the country, the flower being very 
popular. What is desirable is a renewed 
interest in the cultivation of the Pink, and 
it ig only by keeping the flower before the 
public that this renewal can be encouraged. 
The Pink is not difficult to cultivate; 
and in order to have the fine laced varieties 
in the best character the plants should be 
in the open air. Presuming that good 
plants from pipings or layers can be had, 
it is excellent practice to plant them in a 
bed by themselves. The soil should be 
prepared some two months previously by 
selecting a piece of good garden ground, 
digging it deeply, and working into the 
soil some well decomposed manure, the 
Pink being a somewhat gross feeder. The 
foundation being laid in this way a layer of 
some 4 in. of refuse soil of a sandy charac- 
ter should be placed on the surface, and be 
gently forked over two or three times so as 
to incorporate it with the soil below. This 
addition should raise the bed, which may 
be 5 ft., or more or less, in width, and of 
any length some 4 in. or so above the level 
of the ground, which is a matter of some 
umportance in winter, as it admits of stag- 
nant moisture being drained from the roots 
during the time of heavy rains. ‘ 
Planting may be done at any time in 
September or October, the earlier the 
better, so that the plants can become well 
established before winter sets in. — This 
work should be done on a fine day, the 
plants being placed 18 in. apart each way. 
Three plants could thus be placed across a 
bed 5 ft. in width, or four could be manag- 
ed on one 6 ft. in width. The advantage 
of beds of about these widths is that the 
plants can be reached from the side paths 
when it is necessary. to inspect them. It 
is well at the time of planting to see that 
the plants have good balls of roots, and also 
to have on hand some fine sandy compost, 
in order to induce them ‘o start into acti- 
vity as soon as possible. As winter ap- 
proaches and rough weather may be ex- 
pected, it is al wise plan to peg down any 
lengthy side shoots to prevent them being 
tossed about by winds. 
PEO SbSE86 > 
CARNATIONS WHOLESALE 
The following list gives an idea of how 
the Americans grow Carnations for sale. 
Mr. Taylor is only one of a large number of 
growers, and the tally of his lot runs con- 
siderably over 100,000, 
E. J.. Taylor, - Southport, Conn., has 
planted in white: Queen Louise, 5,000 ; 
SEPTEMBER 7, 1903. 
Flora Hill, 3,000; May Naylor, 1,000. .In 
light. pink : Daybreak, 4,000; Maud: Dean, 
4,000; Genevieve’ Lord, 20,000. Dark 
pink: William Scott, 15,000; Mrs, Fran- 
ces Joost, 15,000; Mrs. I. W. Lawson, 500 ; 
Cressbrook, 1,000. In red: G. H. Crane, 
2,000. Crimson: — General Gomez, 
2,000; General Maceo, 5,000; Governor 
Roosevelt, 4,000. Yellow variegated: El- 
dorado, 5,000; Golden Beauty, 500. White 
variegated: Mrs. G. M. Bradt, 5,000; 
Prosperity, 5,000.—Florists’ Exchange. 
wGSSSSSsG= 
SOIL FOR CARNATIONS. 
Opinions differ on this question, and there 
is no reason. known to me why they should 
not. What is the requisite for a good car- 
nation soil? I have seen them well done in 
almost pure clay, and have seen equally as 
good Carnations obtained in a sandy loam. 
Taking all things into consideration, I prefer 
a medium heavy loam, with some vegetable 
fibre init, and with manure enough to make 
it sufficiently rich to support the plant until 
feeding on the benches is commenced. 
Some three years ago we laid up a compost 
of sod and only a small quantity of manure, 
the sod coming from a piece of very light 
upland. We also lay up annually a compost 
of heavy soil, composed of sod from an old 
pasture, with considerable clay in it, and 
cow manure, using these in the proportion of 
seven parts of soil to five parts of manure. 
This is our Rose soil ; and for Carnations we 
use this and the light compost in about equal 
parts after they are thoroughly mixed and 
pulverised ; and on planting we add a small 
proportion of sand to this mixture. The 
result is a medium heavy soil, and yet one 
which contains sufficient vegetable fibre; the 
sand has the tendency to make it friable and 
easy to work. I do not believe that it is 
necessary to havea heavy soil, but if the soil 
will hold moisture without becoming water- 
logged and therefore sour, much less care 
and attention to watering will be necessary. 
With horse manure we have had a great 
deal of experience, and are now fully con- 
vinced that, at least for Rose growing, it is 
decidedly inferior to cow manure. We have 
found, also, that with Carnations we have 
better results where no horse manure is used. 
I know that the horse manure is cheaper, 
and that many employ it, but for Carnation 
culture I should not hesitate to recommend 
the use of cow manure in preference, as I 
believe it will givea great deal more satisfac- 
tion to the grower. 
The practice of green manuring is becom- 
ing more and more popular,. and the farmer 
can here teach the florist some very impor- 
tantlessons. Take, for example, a certain 
tract of land which will ultimately be used for 
soil, and anything which will add to the fer- 
tility of this piece of land will in the’ end 
become of benefit to the plants for which the 
soilis used. ‘By green manures is meant 
any crop that is grown primarily for the pur- 
pose of improving the soil, and not for the 
harvested crop.” I take the liberty of 
quoting from Voorhees, who is an authority 
on this subject: ‘‘It is essential that the 
