The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JUNE 1, 1839. 



and eastward to Maine and as far 

 south as Washington, agreed upon the 

 usual one fare and a third two months 

 ago, and a general announcement of 

 this fact has only been withheld in 

 hopes of being advised that the west- 

 ern and central lines -would co-operate. 

 However, there is no doubt that the 

 low fares will be forthcoming, and 

 western delegates can reasonably base 

 their preparations in accordance there- 

 with. WM. J. STEWART, 

 Secretary. 



CARNATIONS. 



("From advance sheets of the Florists' Manual, by 

 William Scott. I 



If not the most important flower we 

 grow, the carnation certainly stands 

 next to the rose, both in area of glass 

 devoted to its culture and value of the 

 flowers sold. Of all our commercial 

 flowers the type of carnations we grow 

 are most distinctively American. They 

 are very different from the tree carna- 

 tion of Europe, which had the reputa- 

 tion of being perennial bloomers there, 

 but the flowers were few and far be- 

 tween and had no such stems as out- 

 present day carnations. Nor are they 

 like the garden carnations which co ne 

 with a grand burst of bloom in June 

 and July, but have no tendency to 

 flower again for another year. It is 

 certain that our strain inherits the 

 blood of more than one breed, for 

 seedlings often revert back to varie- 

 ties that produce a strong growth and 

 few flowers, and some again are crop- 

 pers. 



The splendid varieties we have to- 

 day have been produced not suddenly 

 but by the slow operation of the law 

 of evolution, aided by artificial selec- 

 tion. The first carnations that I at- 

 tempted to flower in the winter 

 months were La Purite, carmine, and 

 Edwardsii and President Degraw, both 

 white, all very free bloomers, and the 

 flowers were always used with short 

 stems. If we had disbudded and picked 

 the flowers with long stems I doubt 

 whether they would be as free as many 

 of our present varieties. 



Astoria was a pioneer among carna- 

 tions and a cross between it and Ed- 

 wardsii produced Buttercup, which was 

 a wonderful flower in its day and 

 which for years had no rival. From 

 1875 to 1885 there were no carnation 

 specialists and the few varieties intro- 

 duced during that time are gone and 

 forgotten. About the latter date ap- 

 peared Grace Wilder, the first of its 

 color (Scott is almost the same shade). 

 Then Mr. Simmons, of Geneva, sent 

 out his famous varieties, several of 

 which were a great advance on exist- 

 ing varieties and some of them are 

 standard sorts today. Silver Spray, J. 

 J. Harrison, Portia, Tidal Wave, and 

 greatest of all — Daybreak — were sent 

 out by him. 



To trace further the subsequent in- 

 troductions would make too long a 

 chapter. It is about ten years since 

 the carnation was taken up and spe- 

 cialized by many of our best horticul- 



turists with the result that we have 

 attained what ten years ago would 

 have been considered the absolute 

 ideal. But who can tell what Dorner, 

 Hill, May, Nicholson, Fisher, Ward or 

 other enthusiasts will do. Size has 

 been attained almost or quite to the 

 desired point. Jubilee, Pingree and 

 America have a two-foot stem of suf- 

 ficient substance to hold their heads 

 quite erect. 



Fragrance should be an attribute of 

 all varieties. In color we have shades 

 from deep maroon to purest white, and 

 yet perhaps it is in color that the fu- 

 ture promises most for the raiser (if 

 new varieties. I would say just here 

 that when any good variety does well 

 with you don't discard it till you are 

 sure you can grow a better variety of 

 the same color. 



There are few plants that accommo- 

 date themselves so readily to a great 

 variety of soils. Yet from quality of 

 soils, or more likely methods of hand- 

 ling, good gardeners fail with some 

 varieties while entirely successful with 

 others. 



Whether we have reached the limit 

 in the improvement of the divine 

 flower or not is a question that it is 

 not at all essential to worry over be- 

 cause we shall want the disseminator 

 of new varieties always with us. 

 Whether under our continuous winter 

 culture varieties should gradually lack 

 health and vigor is a question that has 

 led to some controversy. We don't 

 "force" carnations by any means, yet 

 to a great extent we reverse the sea- 

 sons, and propagating by cuttings is 

 not raising a new individual as grow- 

 ing from seed. We are merely divid- 

 ing and perpetuating the old original 

 plant. And my experience is that after 

 eight or ten years a variety loses its 

 vigor and is a prey to all carnation 

 diseases. And even if it did not it 

 would be superseded by improved va- 

 rieties. 



Propagation. 



In cultural hints the proper place to 

 begin is with the cutting. Let me re- 

 peat that the plants from which you 

 take the cuttings have not been forced. 

 They have been subjected to a lower 

 temperature than that in which it 

 would flower in its native habitat. So 

 the plant is not exhausted, and there 

 is no need of having any plants in a 

 cold-frame to propagate from. No bet- 

 ter material can be had than that 

 from your flowering plants. 



Cuttings root readily from Novem- 

 ber 1st to the middle of April, or even 

 earlier or later, but except for special 

 purposes, such as plants to flower in 

 early summer, which can be propa- 

 gated in November, or in case you are 

 very short of a variety, from January 

 1st to March 1st is the best time to 

 put the cuttings in the sand. No spe- 

 cial propagating house is needed. An 

 ordinary bench such as you would 

 grow carnations on, is as good as the 

 most expensive arrangements and the 

 temperature of the house can be just 



the same. Avoid a direct draught, 

 either from a door or ventilator. Car- 

 nations want the light and little shad- 

 ing is needed during January and Feb- 

 ruary. When the sun gets high enough 

 to wilt the cuttings we tack cheese 

 cloth up to the glass. That is far bet- 

 ter than laying on and taking off news- 

 papers. The cloth is heavy enough to 

 shed the rays of the sun at any time 

 and is far enough above the cuttings 

 to give them sufficient light at all 

 times. 



For the cutting bed three inches of 

 coarse clean river or lake sand is suf- 

 ficient. As a consolation to those who 

 do not have lake sand near them I will 

 say that for the past five years I have 

 propagated in bank sand, containing 

 even some loam in fine particles, and 

 I have not lost on an average 5 per 

 cent, of the cuttings, and in free root- 

 ing varieties, like Scott and Day- 

 break, none. There is little danger of 

 the troublesome fungus among your 

 carnation cuttings because the tem- 

 perature should not be high enough 

 for its vegetation. But as a preventive 

 and for another reason we always 

 water the sand with the ammoniacal 

 solution before each batch of cuttings 

 is put in. 



Watering is a matter of pure sense 

 and judgment. If the glass is covered 

 with snow, or the weather is dull and 

 sunless, we water every three or four 

 days. If the weather is bright and 

 sunny, allowing plenty of ventilation, 

 then every second day. And if you 

 have occasion to propagate late in 

 March the cuttings will take water 

 every day. If hot water or steam pipes 

 run beneath the board bench, there is 

 no harm done, but what we know as 

 bottom heat is not at all essential in 

 propagating carnations. 



In the early days of carnation grow- 

 ing, before flowers were picked with 

 long stems, we used for cuttings only 

 the young growths from the bottom, 

 those that would grow up and produce 

 flowers, and I am not sure but what 

 they make the finest plants. They 

 are not, however, the quickest or sur- 

 est to root. The propagator of large 

 quantities, or those wishing to raise 

 the largest possible number of a new 

 variety, may take every green shoot 

 that will make a plant or root. But 

 that is not the way to perpetuate your 

 plants for the best results. Cuttings 

 should be taken only from the health- 

 iest plants, and it will pay to also 

 choose from the plants bearing the 

 largest and best flowers, for like begets 

 like. The offshoots from the flower- 

 ing stem make fine cuttings, but they 

 should be taken not too low down, 

 where they are hard and woody, nor 

 too near the flower, where they are 

 small and spindling. 



Some growers just tear off the cut- 

 tings and put them in the sand as 

 they are pulled off. I prefer to cut 

 the smallest possible piece off the bot- 

 tom. As to trimming the leaves, gen- 

 erally the two lower ones are best re- 

 moved. Shearing off the tops of the 



