PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 251 



THE CARNATION. 

 BY ME. N. B. STOVER OF GRAND RAPIDS. 



The great improvement in this grand race of flowers, in the past few 

 years, has directed popular attention to them. Until now they are per- 

 haps exceeded by the rose alone, in the number annually grown for cut 

 floAvers. In looking over the list we can not find those we thought at that 

 time the finest that could ever be produced. Those noble varieties that 

 Ave prized so highly and watched with so much care, have all been num- 

 bered with the past, and we think still, as each new variety makes its 

 bow for public favor, the height of perfection has been reached. I truly 

 believe they will still improve in the future as they have in the past, 

 until the rose must step to the second place. The popularity of the 

 carnation is on tlie increase, and it is now grown in almost ever}' city in 

 the United States and Europe. Grand Rapids florists alone grow 

 annually nearly one hundred thousand plants to supjjly the steadily 

 increasing demand. In discussing the carnation it will not do to forget 

 that it is a biennial, half hardy, requiring a jjeriod of rest, and makes its 

 largest and best development in a comparatively low temperature. And 

 yet it must have an abundance of air and sunlight to make it a success, 

 and it is absolutely necessary to have every plant well tied up so that 

 air can easily get all around it. Each florist uses for that purpose 

 stakes or A\ire coils, or some form of support. We use a stake one half 

 inch square and eighteen inches long, with a spiral coil tacked to it, and 

 place the plant inside of this, which we find is the most economical 

 carnation support we have yet seen or heard of; and the cost is so small 

 compared with other supports that I can recommend it to any one. The 

 stake will last about three years, and the coil can then be taken ofl' and a 

 new stake easily j^it on. The cost of this support is, as close as I can get 

 at It, one fourth of a cent each, and one man can make from five 

 hundred to six hundred per day. This support was invented by J. A, 

 Creeluian of this city. 



It is a very ditiQcult matter to say which are the most profitable varie- 

 ties to grow. I will only name a few of the very best commercial varie- 

 ties, and I can safely recommend that the following have been, so far 

 as heard of, profitable to those who grow them. We will place Daybreak 

 at the head of the list. Too much can not be said of this grand 

 carnation; the color is a charming shade of flesli pink, a delicate shade 

 which suggested its name, ''Daybreak," because of similarity to the first 

 faint tinge of pink seen in the eastern sky at sunrise. This variety 

 became so popular willi flower lovers that the blooms readih' sold for 

 more than any other variety in the Chicago market the past two seasons. 

 It is not my intention to linger with long descriptions of each variety, but 

 will mention a few of the very best. Wm. Scott, rose pink, is a new 

 variety, and is becoming verj popular. Silver Spray is wliite as its name 



