MIY 10. li)01. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



173 



Quality is the fry of tli.' rrtailors, tlie 

 cry of tlie man who has new varieties to 

 introduce and the ambition of the cut 

 flower grower. 



Can quality be made to pay is a very 

 interesting question for the new cen- 

 tury, and the answer will no doubt be 

 made in the affirmative before it is many 

 years older. Today it is an unsolved 

 question with many of the growers. Some 

 very good ones have given it up in dis- 

 gust and turned their talents into other 

 channels and a few have gone to pieces 

 trying to solve it. 



Quality can be produced in any or- 

 dinary house, W'ith a good grower at tlie 

 head of it and an unflinching attention 

 to every little detail of the culture from 

 the selection of the cuttinfx to the end 

 of the plant's career the following sum- 

 mer. The expense of getting quality 

 under th'ese conditions is a very lai-ge 

 item and should be carefully reckoned 

 when estimating the cost of production, 

 not forgotting tliat the man who can 

 produce quality under adverse conditions 

 is worth at I'east a thousand dollars a 

 year. 



It is not such an unattainable thing 

 when the grower has houses to produce 

 it; good big houses, well lighted, well 

 ventilated, well heati.l :nhl/nf iniiisf. 

 well managed. The m.-i ,.! |,i M,|ih i i.m 

 in such houses could In iijiiir>| ncim mhi' 

 third to as much as fun Iwili li-s th;iii in 

 poor houses, but the dilTcrence in the 

 cost of the plant must here be taken in- 

 to consideration. 



Another item of expense in producing 

 flowers of high quality is the necessity 

 of keeping right up to date with varie- 

 ties. It is not absolutelv necessaiv that 

 all nnvrltirs 1h- lMi.it;lil I'.x ilir tli.iusand 

 til'- fir-l \r.n Ml tir ii inn ^'u. linn, but 

 all of ;i|i|.,nr,il inn II -1, ii' ! Ii- 1... light 



by the 1 1.-. Ill, I Im in,u A lair trial) 



the first season, and then out of a possi- 

 ble dozen you will pick one or more that 

 are so much of an improvement over the 

 old variety of the sam'e co'or .that you 

 will have to plant a house or two of it. 

 This brings us to the point where we can 

 figure on having to replenish our entire 

 plant at least every four or five years 

 (a portion each season, of course). At 

 the price some of the novelties are being 

 held at the past few years a very low 

 estimate for the cost of this replanting 

 would be ,$00.00 per 1,000. and more 



I 111 . I r\|M ii-c lo add 

 ! ii \ ll.iH, I - i^ the one 

 lui: They cannot be 

 Id box in any old way, 

 iinmoner sorts are, and 

 nine of these very flow- 

 iii'j ••<. but they must 

 nl II 11 th'e way through 

 iilai iiig them on the 



be carefully Imn 

 from cuttiiiL; I' 

 counter. 



After carefully figuring up all the ex- 

 pense side of the ledger, it might look as 

 if there were littl'e or no money in fancy 

 carnations. This is one side of the ques- 

 tion. 



The deciding point for every grower 

 between liicrh grade carnations and me- 

 diuiii l'ukIi must be his market. If he 

 liii- ,1 iii.iik. I iliat will take fancy carna- 

 tinii- at a |ia\ iiig figure, there is no busi- 

 ness under the sun that will yield as 

 much pleasure as the turning out of 

 these high grade blooms (to a lover of 



hai 



accuracy, but where the market will not 

 pay an average of at least $4 per 100 

 for fancy carnations at least five months 

 nut < f the eight that they are in sea- 

 son, ami not less than half that amount 

 fill I III' remaining three months, the mar- 

 !.;in liilween profit and loss is so small 

 that the. grower who does not have 

 money to lose had better be content with 

 the medium grades. 



In a market that will nnt^ pay iimre 

 than from $1 to .*J jn i Ion f.i llnNv. is 

 the grower who is lunlximj f.n piuiif will 

 have to ilvpcnd nii i h. -i.uiLi nl - 1 1 - t liat 



are of kiiiiv\ n • 'm i ' la 1 \ ,ii m- ,i - ''. '\ - 



er prodiir i - .il l li.' I ■■> m Ir.-n . 1 hr 



of fancy stock )iick out varieties that 

 have proven themselves free bloomers 

 and of fair quality and then wait a year 

 or two, by which tim'e the competition 

 between the rooted cutting men will have 

 brought the price down to a nominal 

 figure, and he can stock up anil make as 

 much out of it as flir man wli.i had it in 

 its first or secoml \iai. I hr 'jiower of 

 this class of sto^l^ 1..- ii I liave the 

 fascination of payiii.i; .-^Kl. sli. $14 or 

 $\C, per 100 for rooted euttin.^s deliv- 

 ered too late in the season to make good 



he 

 the pur 



i( , - li,' li,i \ r the losses 



I III ,. ujh -pace tak- 



h t , - I liii !ia\ e not met 

 - .it III 111 I I he seller or 

 but if lie is a philoso- 

 pher he will console himself with the 

 fact that he can watch others ha\'e the 

 fascination and the less and tread on 

 comparatively sure ground himself. 



The glower of poor carnations is more 

 likely than evei- in this century to be a 



continual lis r until lir li^i ■- .Atinet. 



All or ~l all i.iMiaii n ij1m„, i- con- 

 sider till 11 |iiii-iiit a- 111' li, -I 111 the 

 whole w.niil. Iiiit till- riiii-taiit aiMition 

 to the number compels us to look to the 

 financial end of it and carefully gauge 

 our market and keep a strict watch on 

 the items of expense and profit, so that 

 we may keep in and up with the race. 

 A. M. -Herr. 



THE LAWSON CARNATION. 



In your issue of Nov. 22 Mr. Harts- 

 home's suggestions as to culture of the 

 I.flWSon carnation have, I think, been 

 generally inisun(l^stood by the trade in 

 general, and because of many inquiries 

 on the subject I think it b:st to answer 

 through the medium of your paper. 



The liawson, having a tendency to 

 throw short stems- early in the sea- 

 son, ou-Iil I I liiM' all limis cir advanced 

 Howcriim -Im'. I- jiinln:! back when 

 housed, ulinli -IhiiiM l„. iloue late in 

 July 111 .ail.v ill ,\ii-ii-t. The first 

 growth made indoors will give a much 

 longer stem, which will keep increasing 

 as the season advances. At this date 

 (Deo. 31) we have them growing very 

 vigorously, and showing abundance of 

 stems is" to 24 inches in length, with 

 half d'eveloped buds, which will stretch 

 considerably by the time the blooms ex- 

 pand. 



A night temperature of 52 to 54 de- 

 grees is. I find, a safe one to maintain, 

 with a rise of not over 15 degrees by 

 day during the dull and short days of 

 December and January. Of course, this 

 can be considerably increased by day 

 as the season advances and abundance of 

 ventilation given. 



As I read Mr. Hartshorne's notes of 

 54 to t'.'i .1.-11.-. T ii.i>l.i-li .1.1 liini to 

 mean tin' i^ im i f.n iinjlii aiil tin' lat- 

 ter for .lav l.mi|M i.iini.', (Ulna- have 

 read it mily a- iiiulii t.aii]..a aliir.'. \Vhil_e 

 it would, owing to the vigorous consti- 

 tution of the Lawson, be "quite possible 



