The first trouble may come from
the too close contact of fresh manure, which should be kept away from
the main roots of carnations, as from contact with lily bulbs.
As to the swelling called _gout_, there is no cure, so do not temporize.
Pull up the plant at once and disinfect the spot with unslaked lime and
sulphur.
Thus, Mary Penrose, may you have either pinks in your garden or a garden
of pinks, whichever way you may care to develop your idea. "A deal of
trouble?" Y-e-s; but then only think of the flowers that crown the work,
and you might spend an equal amount of time in pricking cloth with a
steel splinter and embroidering something, in the often taken-in-vain
name of decorative art, that in the end is only an elaborated
rag--without even the bone and the hank of hair!
XVI
THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE
VINES AND SHRUBS
(Mary Penrose to Barbara Campbell)
_Woodridge, September 10._ Your chronicle of the Pink Family found me by
myself in camp, dreaming away as vigorously as if it was a necessary and
practical occupation. After all, are we sure that it is not, in a way,
both of these? This season my dreams of night have been so long that
they have lingered into the things of day and _vice versa_, and yet
neither the one nor the other have whispered of idleness, but the
endless hope of work.
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