The Weekly Florists' Review. 



DECEMBER 1. 189R. 



mentetl by a band of pale yellow down 

 the center. The coloring of this plant 

 varies in intensity in accordance with 

 the conditions under which it is 

 grown, and the plant appears to bet- 

 ter advantage when grown in a strong 

 light. 



Similar conditions in regard to heat 

 and soil as those recommended for A. 

 sativa var. will apply to A. Porteana, 

 but propagation may be slower, the 

 plant showing little inclination to 

 sucker under ordinary conditions. 



W. H. TAPLIN. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



To judge from general reports, the 

 present condition of the carnation 

 seems to be quite satisfactory, but on 

 account of he earliness of the season 

 they can hardly be up to the .exhibition 

 mark, and we have to read the show 

 reports concerning the carnation with 

 a good deal of allowance regarding 

 quality, when represented ;.s good as 

 they will be a month later. 



I do not believe in the trumpeting 

 up of any variety as rust proof, for 1 

 do not believe that there is one va- 

 riety that is rust proof under all cir- 

 cumstances, but I admit that one va- 

 riety may show a great deal more re- 

 sistance to this disease than another. 

 I have been rather agreeably surprised 

 with our Mrs. G. M. Bradt, .vhich has 

 been free from rust so far, and I have 

 heard of no complaint yet 'rom other 

 places. Anyone reading these notes 

 would confer a favor on me by advis- 

 ing if rust has been fotind on this va- 

 riety. 



At this lime of the year a very im- 

 portant question is that of support. 

 New schemes of supports spring up 

 here and there and are advertised in 

 the trade papers. We have received 

 several for trial and I have made ene- 

 mies for not writing them up and giv- 

 ing my opinion in my carnation notes. 

 This is a very delicate matter to han- 

 dle, for everyone that has a new 

 scheme of support, like those who have 

 a new variety of carnation, is gener- 

 ally so enrapt in the advantages of 

 what they recommend, that criticism 

 is taken as an insult. Now. I do not 

 wish to hurt anybody if my views do 

 not harmonize with theirs, but at the 

 same time I cannot conscientiously 

 recommend that which I im not fully 

 convinced of and thereby lead others 

 into errors which I am trying to avoid 

 myself. 



Our system of support is well known 

 as the Dorner system, and I have no 

 further interest in recommending it 

 than to give my experience. It has 

 been so often explained and described 

 that to any unfamiliar with it I refer 

 them to my notes of former years. It 

 is simple, inexpensive and comes near- 

 fv to the principle of a support Ihan 



any that I have seen in practice. We 

 have not bought any new material for 

 the last four or five years, except for 

 some new houses. The A shaped wire 

 netting and the wire stretched length- 

 wise of the benches is saved from year 

 to year. The wire netting probably 

 needs some straightening; even the 

 wooden supports for the wires stretch- 

 ed lengthwise, if made a little s ubstan- 

 tial, can be saved, so we have nothing 

 to buy but the cotton twine, a very 

 cheap material, and if once understood 

 how to handle it, this support is put 

 up as quickly as any other. 



I do not claim that our support is the 

 acme of perfection, but I believe the 

 perfection attained corresponds with 

 the cost a commercial grower '.s able to 

 expend. Our entire mode of culture is 

 not yet lerfection. When I read in 

 the trade paper.s that a grower has 

 planted so many thousands of plants in 

 so many houses of a given dimension, 

 I cannot refrain from thinking that he 

 is planting very close or the plants 

 must be small. In either case the plants 

 cannot develop to the perfection which 

 they should unless given more space 

 in which to grow. 



To my impression an ideal mode of 

 culture is when the plants ure plant- 

 ed two feet apart each way; with good 

 care many varieties will cover the al- 

 lotted space by midwinter ^'nd have 

 only sufficient room for a free circula- 

 tion of air around each plant. Now 

 such a culture would require a differ- 

 ent mode of support than any in vogue 

 now, the Dorner system included. Pro- 

 gression can be twofold, one is scien- 

 liflc, to gain the highest perfection re- 

 gardless of cost: the other is how far 

 can these scientific improvements be 

 employed commercially? Now, here 

 comes the great question. Will it be 

 profitable? If the bread and butter ac- 

 count is reduced by such improvements 

 they will soon be thrown aside. With 

 these comparisons, I wish to emphasize 

 the error of too close planting, which 

 will be aggravated by a support, that 

 will bunch the plants up for the sake 

 of giving circulation of air between; 

 while on the other hand with that, 

 which I would call an ideal culture, 

 arises the question. Will it pay? but 

 wherever it pays it is the right thing 

 to do. Between these two extremes 

 there is a middle way. which to mv 

 experience lias proved the most profit- 



able. Plant your plants in rows across 

 the bench 12 inches apart, strong grow- 

 ing varieties 12 inches apart in the 

 row, and less strong ones 8 or 10 

 inches. For such a planting our sup- 

 port has always given us full satisfac- 

 tion. 



The principle of a carnation suppori 

 is to hold the plants up from the 

 ground, in order to give a free circu- 

 lation of air underneath, but otherwise 

 to allow the plants the greatest free- 

 dom of growth, and to supoort the 

 flower stems in a straight upright po- 

 sition, without drawing them together 

 in a bunch and. thus impair the plant's 

 freedom of growth. 



There is considerable misunder- 

 standing about a free circulation of 

 air around the plants. This is indeed 

 very desirable and of the greatest ad- 

 vantage, and should be remembered 

 at the time of planting, by giving the 

 plants the required space, but when 

 they are drawn together to insure this 

 free circulation around and between 

 the plants, it is like airing the tail by 

 suffocating the head. If one has to be 

 done at the expense of the other, what 

 is gained by .t? The head for the tail 

 is a very bad exchange. When, with 

 a moderate allowance of space the 

 plants grow together and cover the 

 ground, which they do with us gen- 

 erally by the last of December, a good 

 circulation of air all through the 

 plants underneath and above, by keep- 

 ing them free and open, is what is 

 wanted, so that every part of the plant 

 derives the same benefit. The mis- 

 sion of a support is to protect and 

 help a plant in its natural develop- 

 ment, and not to retard it. And this. 

 I believe, we best accomplish with our 

 mode of support. Before putting on 

 the wires lengthwise with the corre- 

 sponding twine netting for the sup- 

 port of the flower stems, we give our 

 plants a last cleaning; after this we 

 have only the routine work, as water- 

 ing and cutting the flowers, with an 

 occasional going over the benches and 

 pulliQg some stray flower stems up 

 through the twine netting, which did 

 not grow up straight and became bent 

 over under the support. -We are not 

 impaired in the least when cutting the 

 flowers as we can reach in at any 

 place where a flower is to be cut. 



FRED DORNER. 



AMERICAN CARNATION SOCIETY. 



New Carnations Registered. 



By the American Rose Co., Washing- 

 ton, D. C: 



MEPHISTO.— Color of Portia; flow- 

 ers very large; broad petals, great 

 depth, borne on extra long stiff 

 stems; never bursts the calyx; 

 free and early bloomer. 

 LUNA. — Color purest white; flowers 

 I of largest size; borne on very long 



; . wiry stems; narrow foliage like 

 McGowan, but exceedingly strong, 

 vigorous growtli; very prolifi<- 

 bloomer and unusually fragrant: 

 never bursts the calyx. 



