FEBKUAKV 15. I'.mO. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



505 



View in one of the Palm houses of Mr. Jos. Heacock, Wyncote, Pa. 



GROWING CARNATIONS UNDER 

 GLASS ALL SUMMER. 



B'i Jas. Hak ; SHORN1-. 



[Read before ttie American Carnation Society 

 at the BuHalo Meeting.] 



What first indiiceii me to try this 

 method was the reading of some car- 

 nation notes by Mr. Edwin l^onsdale 

 of Philadelphia, some five or .six years 

 ago, telling of the success he was hav- 

 ing with certain varieties, notably 

 Buttercup and Helen Kellar. I first 

 tried it in a small way, planting about 

 100 or so of each variety, and on the 

 first experiment secured blooms far 

 superior to any that I had ever been 

 able to produce from tall lifted plants. 

 I became so convinced that t was on 

 the right track that each year fol- 

 lowing I increased the quantity of 

 plants for trial, so that now. the fifth- 

 season of my experiment with this 

 method, we grow practically all our 

 carnations indoors. I feel that we 

 have passed the experimental stage, 

 and can conscientiously recommend 

 this method to any one who wants 

 high grade carnations from September 

 to July. 



My understanding of growing car- 

 nations inside all summer and that 

 of others regardin.? the matter un- 

 doubtedly makes the title of the sub- 

 ject a trifle misleading, as I do not 

 think it practicable or advisable to 

 keep the plants indoors entirely. They 

 shoubl be planted outside as early in 

 the spring as possible. Plant close to- 

 gether in the rows, say about six or 

 eight inches apart ,and allow just 

 enough room Ijetween the rows to work 

 a hand cultivator. By Jul.v 1st. if you 

 have attended faithfully to the pinch- 

 ing process, you will have nice bushy 



little plants. At this date, or as .soon 

 after as you can prepare your houses 

 to receive them, they should be hou.sed. 



Allow me here to lay stress on the 

 fact that the greatest enemy to suc- 

 cessful indoor culture is red spider, 

 and that the grower should thorougli- 

 ly cleanse his houses of this pest be- 

 fore planting young stock in them. 

 1 would also advise giving the plants 

 a good syringing before lifting, as 

 some of the varieties get badly in- 

 fested with spider in the field, at least 

 we find it so in our locality. The 

 houses should be shaded during plant- 

 ing, unless you H;an get a few days of 

 cloudy weather, which is seldom like- 

 ly at this season. 



Treatment after housing is much 

 the same as that ordinarily practiced, 

 except that the details of culture de- 

 mand greater carefulness. The walks, 

 walls and surfaces underneath the 

 benches .should be well syringed to 

 keep down the spider. If this is given 

 close attention, as it should be. it 

 will not be necessary to syringe the 

 plants more than once in two or three 

 weeks. If done early in the morning. 

 I find it very beneficial, as it washes 

 the dust off the plants and iceeps t^ie 

 pores of the foliage open for actioi!. 

 It is also well to get the hose outside 

 occasionally to wash the dust off the 

 glass, as the more light the plants re- 

 ceive after they are established, the 

 healthier and tougher will be their 

 growth. 



The soil should not be too rich or 

 it will cause a too soft and spindliu.g 

 growth. If the soil is naturally good, 

 rotted sod. etc.. it is best not to add 

 any manure whatever. Superfluous 

 manure is one thing in particular 

 which must be guarded against to in- 



Kiii-c success, as willi such a lii^li t"in- 

 piraiure and a regular 8up!)ly of 

 moisture at the roots, the plants will 

 grow fast enough without it. It 

 means more labor feeding later in 

 the sea.son. but at the same time it 

 is my belief, very essential for the 

 heal til of the plants. 



One of the principal drawbacks to 

 growing inside is the baking and 

 cracking of the soil, conditions peculiar 

 to our soil as soon as it become.s dry 

 after watering. Where this happens 

 it makes a great deal more work (ul- 

 tivating the soil by hand as ag:iinst 

 using a cultivator outside; but to ilo 

 away with so much of this extra labor, 

 wheii scratching up the soil beiwee.i 

 the plants, I find it a good plan to 

 leave a ridge or elevation of the soil 

 between the rows, thus affording for 

 the rows of plants a sort of gutter, 

 wliere all the water should be applied 

 and not allowe.l to iHin over the snr- 

 lace of the entire bed. It is neces- 

 sary not to use a too stron.;; force of 

 water or it will wash the loose earth 

 in heaps. The ridges of soil between 

 the rows are intended alto to act as 

 a mulch for the roots, which i.i bet- 

 ter for the health of the plant than 

 a mulch of manure, unless the latter 

 be very fine and minus nutriment. 



The ventilators should be left opsn 

 night and day until the temperatui-e 

 gets down to 10 degrees at night. It 

 is quite importa>it to give them the 

 benefit of this low temperature, if it 

 can be done before the blooms appear, 

 which for our market would be about 

 September 15th or October Ist, as it 

 seems to give the plants a more vig- 

 orous growth, the foliage a nice blu- 

 ish color, and the s*ems additional 

 stiffness. As soon as the olooms ap- 

 pear, one can readily note the superi- 

 ority of the flowers of inside stock 

 to those from plants lifted only two 

 or three weeks before. The former 

 are in good demand at sometimes 

 double the price of the latter, which 

 are often harder to dispose of at any 

 price owing to the large quantity of 

 such stock in the market at this 

 period. 



1 do not believe that as good blooms 

 can be produced by field grown plants 

 until about February 1st. At this 

 date the out-door stock begins to 

 catch up: but there are already gone 

 four of the best months for market- 

 ing the product, and right here is 

 where the indoor grown stock gains 

 the advantage over the outdoor, and 

 the real reason why I advocate in- 

 door culture in preference to fall lift- 

 ed plants. I notice that the majority 

 of the growers around Chicago are 

 planting a week or two earlier each 

 year, so that now some of the most 

 prominent growers are planting in 

 .luly. and they keep making a better 

 reputation each year for carnations. 



To be as brief as possible, I might 

 sum it up in this way: It requires 

 more labor to care for plants grown 

 inside, consequently it brings a higher 

 cost on the product; but the grower 

 will not have such a grassy growth of 



