Januaht 30, 1902 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



313 



New Scarlet Carnation Adonis, as Exhibited at Chicago Last Week. 



will draw as many orders as an attract- 

 ive advertisement in a trade paper. 



You will not see new varieties only at 

 this exhibition, however, but the older 

 ones will be here in large numbers, so 

 you will have an opportunity to compare 

 the new with the old, and often it hap- 

 pens that such comparison does not 

 throw much credit to the new one. 



That this will be the finest show of 

 carnations ever put up in its history we 

 feel assured of, as this city is centrally 

 located and can easily be reached from 

 every important carnation district in the 

 land, besides being right in the midst of 

 what is known as the carnation belt. 

 Many of the leading varieties we have 

 today were grown within 100 miles of 

 this city. 



If 3'ou have any variety in extra good 

 shape you should bring some of the 

 blooms along and show what you can do. 

 We so often hear a visitor say that he 

 had better blooms at home, but did not 

 bring them because he thought that they 

 were just ordinary. That might be true 

 in some cases, but usually if he had 

 brought them he would be making ex- 

 cuses for their inferiority. A customer 

 once told us that when he looks at the 

 blooms on the plants they look enor- 

 mous, but when he gets a whole vase full 

 together they seem to lose their size, etc. 



Exhibition Blooms. 



The buds that are to produce the ex- 

 hibition blooms should be supported up 

 straight unless they have strong enough 

 stems to support theni so. The blooms 

 will take on a better form if they get 

 an equal amount of light all around. 

 Often, too, a heavy bloom will gradually 

 bend even the strongest of stems until 

 it will appear quite weak, and those 

 should be supported properly. By this 

 time the buds should be fully two-thirds 

 grown on most varieties, as they should 

 be opened up several days before they 

 are to be staged so that "they will have 

 their fullest size when they are set up. 

 You don't care if every bloom goes to 



sleep the day after the show as long as 

 they don't go before the show is over, 

 and it only lasts two days. Don't go to 

 the other extreme and try to save them 

 up too long. Begin cutting about a 

 week ahead and then save all your very 

 best blooms each day, so that if the first 

 cut does not keep in good shape you will 

 have plenty of fresher ones. 



Place them in a eool dry cellar in a 

 temperature of about 45 degrees. Cut 

 the stems fresh every day and change 

 the water and don't crowd too many 

 blooms into a vase. Each bloom should 

 stand out to itself so it can grow all 

 round and keep a good form. They 

 should be in water at least twelve hours 

 before being shipped. 



If the soil is full of roots a light dose 

 of manure water will help them some in 

 size and also in brightening the color of 

 some varieties, especially the pink ones. 

 Give it to them mild, though, else it 

 may burst the calyxes. To overdo it 

 would be worse than to give them none 

 at all. 



There will be plenty of room for every 

 one, and we hope that every grower of 

 carnations will bring at least enough 

 blooms to fill one vase. 



A. P. J. Batir. 



COMMERCIAL CULTIVATION OF 

 THE CARNATION. 



[Read before the Hartford Florists' Club, 

 Hartford, Conn., January 28, 1902, by 

 George S. Osborn.] 

 It is not my intention to go into the 

 history of the divine flower, but to at 

 once give you an experience not gained 

 from reading works on the subject or by 

 hearsay, but by actual observation and 

 hard personal labor. You may find here 

 some radical methods and perhaps to 

 your minds useless work, but during the 

 past few years there have been agencies 

 at work which have compelled us to 

 adopt new methods in order to arrive 

 at the desired results. I have no doubt 

 that older and more experienced grow- 



ers than myself will differ with me, but 

 my views have been asked and the truth 

 must be told and if discussion follows, 

 as I sincerely hope it will, I shall en- 

 deavor to defend my points, which I 

 think I can successfully. 



Propagation. 



Let it be said riglit here, that all cut- 

 tings should be rooted in the establish- 

 ment where they are to be grown. This 

 is especially true of new varieties, they 

 having in many cases to be grown a 

 thousand or more miles from their native 

 place and consequently have to get ac- 

 climated. Now the sooner this is done 

 the better and I believe that a cutting 

 taken from a healthy plant, placed im- 

 mediately in damp moss and shipped to 

 its destination is far better able to 

 stand the journey and will arrive in as 

 good condition if not better than one 

 which has been in the cutting bench 

 where the temperature is often much 

 too high. Even admitting that it has 

 been properly rooted, it does the roots 

 no good and often harm to be rolled in 

 moss and subjected to rough handling. 

 Now as to getting acclimated, I claim 

 from the moment the cutting is put in 

 the cutting bench it begins to adapt it- 

 self to the change of water, air and 

 other minor inlluences which are to bear 

 upon its future life. , 



With cuttings from healthy plants at 

 hand they should be properly trimmed 

 and inserted in the cutting bench, which 

 should have a brick or slate bottom cov- 

 ered to a depth of three inches with clean 

 sand thoroughly packed. Heating pipes 

 should be arranged to give bottom heat, 

 also means provided tu control it. After 

 inserting the cuttings water thoroughly 

 and examine each day, sprinkling as oc- 

 casion requires. Propagation should be 

 done in a shaded house designed for that 

 purpose, for here can be maintained the 

 proper temperature, 55 degrees, with 

 sand 5 or 6 degrees higher, while in a 

 growing house the risk of fluctuation in 

 temperature, strong drafts and different 

 degrees of light make the chances very 

 poor of obtaining the ideal. 



When the roots are three-eighths to 

 one-half inch in length immediately pot 

 in 2-inch, stand in same temperature and 

 shade until well established, when re- 

 move to full sun either in a house de- 

 voted to carnations or one kept a few 

 degrees lower. The potting of each cut- 

 ting, while entailing extra work, will be 

 found a profitable investment, for when 

 lifted from the field the ball in most 

 cases will be found intact and is a great 

 help in getting the plants established 

 after housing. It is preferable when the 

 roots have filled the 2-inch pots to plant 

 in flats or bench from which they can be 

 taken at planting out time without in- 

 juring the ball. 



Field Culture. 



Assuming that the ground is in the 

 proper mechanical condition and con- 

 tains the proper food for carnation 

 growth, it should be laid out in what 

 may be called long beds. Tliis is done by 

 digging shallow paths every six or eight 

 feet across the lot, throwing the soil up 

 either way. These paths may run both 

 ways of the lot or but one. The chief 

 advantage of this bed system is that in 

 very wet weather the paths will if ar- 

 ranged according to the aspect of the 

 land, serve as a conductor of surplus 

 water and also can be put to advantage 

 in a dry season to maintain a system of 



