808 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



Mat 1. 1902 



will be in about the riglit condition to 

 plant first week of June. Four weeks 

 of warm weather is about as long as 

 it is good to leave a plant without re- 

 potting, and benching plants which have 

 only been shifted a week or ten days is 

 running the risk of giving them a set- 

 back, as the roots have not had time 

 to fill the pots, and the recently added 

 soil is apt to break away, taking along 

 with it the newly formed roots. Plants 

 which are not to be benched till late in 

 June or early in July will certainly be 

 better for having two shifts, one now 

 and another three weeks before planting. 



Young Beauties, which should now be 

 growing vigorously, should receive every 

 encouragement and should be shifted on 

 just as soon as they require it. If 

 checked in any way at this season it 

 takes them a long time to get over it. 

 This is true of all roses, but applies par- 

 ticularly to Beauties, which seem to take 

 a longer time to recover from a cheek 

 than do teas and their hybrids. 



P'rom now on till planting time the 

 efforts of the grower should be directed 

 to keei)ing his young stock vigorous, 

 (dean ami hardv. RiBES. 



a field of good carnations after having 

 properly manured and prepared the soil 

 is plenty of intelligent cultivating. This 

 should be commenced as soon as plant- 

 ing is finished and kept up throughout 

 the entire growing season. We make a 

 practice of going through our carnation 

 field with the cultivator at least once 

 each week, and if we have a good, heavy 

 shower of rain right after we get through 

 with the regular cultivation, it calls for 

 an extra cultivating as soon as the 

 ground is in working condition again. 

 You will be surprised to find how much 

 longer the soil will retain moisture if it 

 is loosened up soon after a rain than it 

 will if allowed to lie undisturbed and 

 bake in the hot summer sun. Even if it 

 does not rain for a couple of weeks and 

 the ground may seem quite dry, a good 

 cultivating will help the plants wonder- 

 fully. Breaking up the crust whii'h nat- 

 urally forms on the surfact if left undis- 

 turbed a week or so, allows the moisture 

 to come up from down below and freshen 

 up the plants. 



There is perhaps no way of iloing the 

 work more thoroughly than it can be 

 done with the old time hand hoe, but to 



Easter Window Display by John Combs, Hartford, Conn. 



WINDOW DISPLAY. 



The accompanying engraving is from 

 a photograph of the window display of 

 Mr. John Coombs, Hartfonl, Conn., as 

 it appeared shortly after Easter. During 

 Kaster week underneath the arches on 

 either side were .solid banks of lilies, and 

 under the center arch were azaleas, mak- 

 ing a very pretty effect. 



CARNATIONS IN THE FIELD. 



Please advise through the columns of 

 your valuable paper the best tools to 

 use and the best methods to follow in 

 cultivating a field of 8,000 or 10,000 car- 

 nations from time they are taken from 

 house to field in Jlay, until they are 

 ready for the house in September or late 

 August. Would you use wheel hoes, and 

 what make, or depend on the slower 

 process of cultivating bv hand hoes? 



No. 404. 



The main thing required in producing 



hoe the field once every week and some 

 weeks twice would mean an immense 

 amount of labor, and unnecessary labor 

 too. While we find it necessary to go 

 through our carnation field with the hand 

 hoes two or three times in a season to 

 get the weeds from between the plants-, 

 in the row and close up to them on the 

 sides, at the same time it is a fact that 

 by far the largest part of the cultivating 

 is done merely to keep the soil in a loose 

 and mellow comlition. One man with 

 the aid of a hand cultivator can tend at 

 least as much ground as five men could 

 with hand hoes. There are many times 

 while we are very Vjusy during the sum- 

 mer months a rain comes up and as soon 

 as the ground can be worked a couple of 

 men are put into the field with the Plan- 

 et, .Ir., and almost before you can think 

 of it they have gone through the patch. 

 We prefer to use the cultivating teeth 

 which are bolted onto the machine sep- 

 arately, as they can be set close together 

 or far apart to suit the condition of the 



soil, etc. Be sure and see that you get 

 at least five of these with your imple- 

 ment. The bottom point should point 

 well forward to make the machine run 

 easy, as the sharp point will cut the soil 

 easier than the side of the tooth. 



As 1 said once before, I do not know 

 of any one cultivator that is superior to 

 all others. We use the Planet, Jr., here 

 and it gives excellent service, therefore 

 we have had no occasion for trying any 

 other make. Your hardware dealer may 

 be handling some other good make, but 

 be sure you get the teeth that are bolted 

 on singly, as then you can use two, three 

 or five teeth, according to the width of 

 the rows and the condition of the soil. 



One thing I want to warn you against 

 and that is watering the plants in the 

 field with the hose. Unless you give 

 jthem a thorough soaking so that it goes 

 down through the dry soil it will do more 

 harm than good. If you do water them 

 be sure and cultivate as soon as the 

 ground is fit, just the same as you would 

 after a rain, else the soil will bake quick- 

 ly much worse than after a rain, because 

 after a rain the atmosphere is chargeu 

 with moisture and the water does not 

 evapor.ate from the earth as quickly as 

 it does when there has been no rain for 

 a week and the hot sun pouring down 

 every day. And again, if you once be- 

 gin to water you must keep it up, else 

 it will merely start the plants into 

 growth, which in turn will suffer more 

 severely than the half-dormant plant. 

 We have found that we have always been 

 able to get the best results from liberal 

 cultivating and dispensing with the hose 

 in the field altogether. After very dry 

 summers, such as we had last year, our 

 plants were not quite so large as when 

 uc had plP"*."*' "f rain, but the plants 

 took hold of the .soil quicker after hous- 

 ing and we cut good blooms sooner than 

 when the plants were large and soft. 

 That is what causes me to think unfa- 

 vorably of irrigating the carnation field. 

 A. F. J. Baur. 



BLOOMS GETTING SMALLER. 



<Jur carnation blooms are getting 

 smaller as the weather grows warmer. 

 They were given a mulch about two 

 weeks ago. House runs north and south. 

 The west glass is slightly shaded. 



J. W. M. 



J. W. M. does not give quite enough 

 information to allow of a very definite 

 and conclusive an^^ver. In order to 

 judge as to the real cause of the trouble 

 I should at least know what varieties he 

 is growing. Some varieties naturally 

 begin to get smaller and poorer in every 

 way as .soon as hot weather sets in, and 

 in that case it woidd be a case of sum- 

 mer weather, summer quality. But his 

 letter reads as though all his varieties 

 were doing the same, and there must be 

 more than hot weather at the bottom of 

 the trouble. The soil may have been 

 badly exhausted, and although they were 

 mulched two weeks ago these first blooms 

 would hardly derive much benefit from 

 it, as they were about full grown when 

 it was put on. Then another thing I 

 have often noticed is this: After a mulch 

 has been put on the benches the men, 

 fearing the danger of overwatering, will 

 withhold the water until the soil is as 

 dr}' as powder, and not being able to 

 see the soil as before on account of the 

 manure,, which always remains moist 



