1 may be repeating something already said in the Monthly about this matter, but it is of such importance that I think most of your readers interested will excuse it. I think we have demonstrated that the cause of the Carnation disease, and, in fact, of most of the other diseases of plants is, first, from lessened vigor in the variety, first caused by treatment contrary to what the nature of the plant demands. To begin with, the Carnation for the past twenty-five years has been forced for winter flowering in almost every section of the country, and nearly in all cases by the same process of keeping a temperature at night, averaging, from November to April, at least 550, with perhaps 150 more during the day. Cuttings are taken off from the forced plants, put into a propagating house, often at a high temperature, and when rooted are grown along at the same temperature at which the plants that are forced for flowers are grown, until they are planted out in the open ground in May, where the temperature outside is nearly as high as that they have been enduring under glass.

Now when we consider that the Carnation is nearly a hardy plant, demanding for its best growth a period of rest in winter, the wonder is that it has not rebelled long ago against such bad treatment; but the complaints are now so general that it is evident that unless some means are used to avert the trouble, it will soon be the exception to find a healthy stock of Carnations in winter. Some kinds seem to succumb sooner than others. La Purite was one of the first to give out, but there is hardly now a variety that has been grown for six years, but in some locality or another is failing. There are two ways in which the trouble may be prevented, the first of which we have been practising for a number of years with complete success with every variety except La Purite, and even that has much improved. Our plan is to take the cuttings off during November and December. They get rooted enough to fill two-inch pots by about this date (February 1st), when they are knocked out of the pots and the balls packed close in shallow flats, holding one hundred or so, and they are then put either into cold houses or the ordinary cold frames, and covered up with straw mats so as to keep them from being severely frozen.

Kept in this way, they can be planted out just as soon as the ground is dry enough in the Spring, usually about April 1st. The other plan, which we tried for the first time last winter, is to heel away our stock plants in cold frames, and take the cuttings from these any time from January to March. The object in both cases is the same; to rest the plants, as their nature demands. Mr. John Murchie covers the whole ground, we think, when he says, " Quit striking your plants from plants that have been forced." Now, if it be true that the Carnation disease is a consequence of uninterrupted "forcing" from year to year, I think we need not look further to find the reason of many of the other ills that plant life is heir to. The "sickness" among Violets is so general now, that it is rare to find a healthy stock. They, too, like the Carnation, have been forced for a generation, and though at not quite so high a temperature as the Carnation, yet certainly at a higher temperature in winter than they would be in their natural habitat. If this is the cause, the remedy is obviously the same as in the Carnation - give the stock from which you propagate a rest in winter. That debility in vegetable life invites parasitical germs cannot be doubted.

All experienced propagators know that excessive cutting of a new plant for stock, not only renders the original plant itself liable to parasitical attacks, but the weakness follows into the progeny for years.

We have several cases in point this season. The new Heliotropes, Swanley Giant and King of Night, are both affected with black rust, while in over twenty other varieties in our stock not a sign of it is present. "Black Rust," so termed, affects many species of plants, but is best known as affecting Verbenas and Heliotropes. When examined by a powerful microscope it is found to be caused by a lobster-like insect, which rarely attacks plants in health. In fact we have proved again and again that when plants such as Verbenas and Heliotropes have become pot-bound the insect attacks them, while those shifted at the proper time and stood alongside of them have been completely exempt from its ravages. But to return to Carnations. You, Mr. Editor, are probably correct in saying that we can not combat with the disease when its attacks are made in the forcing benches. If, however, the debilitated state invites fungus there may be a temporary remedy in using lime water, made by using about half a pound of lump lime to each gallon of water and putting it on clear, when the soil is dry enough to require water. The best Rose growers in this vicinity use lime water in the same way whenever there are indications by paleness of the leaves that this insidious parasite may be sapping the roots.

Another parasite of the Carnation that attacks the shoots is what, for want of a better name, has been called the "Carnation Twitter." The indication of its presence is a twisting or curling of the leaves, and on examination of plants in that state it can be seen with the naked eye. It is a quick-moving insect, like the point of a cambric needle, and about the 20th part of an inch in length. In its different stages is green or black in color. Whenever any of the Dianthus tribe is attacked by this insect they rarely recover. So far there seems to be no remedy for it, as it burrows down in the heart of the shoots, getting out of the reach of anything that might destroy it. It however does not seem to be always invited by debility of the plant. I remember several years ago when we used to grow the hardy garden Carnations largely for summer flowers, that it once struck into a batch of nearly 20,000 plants that had stood unprotected in the open ground all winter. Its action was peculiar. Beginning seemingly with one plant it radiated sometimes to a diameter of 20 feet in patches all over the bed, rendering utterly useless all that it attacked. The only consolation is that it seems to come only at long intervals.

Jersey City Heights, N. J.