568 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



September 25, 1902. 



my friends I hear saying, "Humbug. 

 If you grow carnations grow them, and 

 if you want to grow peas grow tlit-ca." 

 We have taken a good many extra dol- 

 lars from our own carnation houses 

 from the sweet peas during the months 

 of April and May, and if it ever inter- 

 fered with or lessened our carnation cut 

 either in quantity or quality we never 

 had large enough magnifying glasses to 

 see it. 



Rambler Roses. 

 We are still growing a few Kambler 

 roses on the old style, viz.: Growing 

 cut down dormant plants started in the 

 houses in April and keeping them under 

 glass till August where they make canes 

 from four to seven feet long. They are 

 now out of doors and need watching; 

 the eanes are now ripening. But if we 

 get a long warm spell now and heavy 

 rains they will start growing from the 

 eyes that you want to remain dormant 

 to give you the fine trusses next spring. 

 Keep tliem moderately moist and in case 

 of lieavy rains lay the pots on their 



Try a few of the beautiful Kambler 

 "Dorothy Perkins." We are aware 

 there have been several useless Rambler 

 roses sent out as useful for forcing. The 

 yellow one we tried to our sorrow, and 

 sorry we did not force some golden rod 

 in its place, but this Dorothy Perkins 

 is a beauty. Mind, I don't say it's as 

 valuable as the wonderful Crimson, and 

 none of its type ever will be, for it's the 

 crimson color that charms, as it is the 

 color of American Beauty that is so de- 

 lightful. Pink American Beauties, like 

 pink lily of the valley, or white violets, 

 or white mice, are only wanted m lim- 

 ited quantities. Yet here is a pure pmk 

 Eambler; very free either out of doors 

 or forcing; each floret as large and 

 double as the Crimson Kambler, and 

 withal a most beautiful, dense, shiny 

 growth- of foliage. We grew several 

 hundred plants of this in a bed at the 

 Pan-American, and also forced a few 

 plants lifted from the ground last fall, 

 so in this case we know whereof we 

 gpeak. William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES-WEST. 



SoU. 



If you have not already piled up your 

 next year's supply for planting carna- 

 tions, I would advise you not to let it 

 go until it is too late to do it this fall. 

 Carnations do not like a fresh, half- 

 rotted sod, as I said a number of times 

 in these notes before, and it usually 

 takes us from eight to twelve months 

 to get a pile of sod in good condition 

 for "carnation planting. If you haul it 

 this fall, as most growers would natur- 

 ally do, you should not pile it up into 

 a high pile, as is usually done, but 

 spread a layer of about one foot of sod. 

 over which spread about four inches of 

 cow manure and finish up with about six 

 inches of sod turned upside down, and 

 have this lie until spring. You will find 

 that bv spring most of the sod will be 

 rotted and the frost will have penetrated 

 clear through to the bottom during the 

 winter and your soil will be in good mel- 

 low and sweet condition. As soon as 

 the soil is dry enough to handle in the 

 spring, you can chop it all up fine and 

 stack" it up, thoroughly mixing it to get 

 the manure all through the soil and 

 to keep it in nice shape for planting 

 until you are ready to use it. 



If you own your own fields where the 



soil is to come from you can do the 

 same thing with a little less work and 

 perhaps a little more thoroughly, too. 

 Plow up the sod about four inches deep, 

 or if the sod is quite heavy you can plow 

 it six inches deep and just leave it 

 lie as it is until it is frozen hard and 

 you can drive over it with a wagon, at 

 which time you should spread over it 

 a good coat of cow manure. Let it lie 

 until spring, when you can haul it to 

 the greenhouse, and pile it up until you 

 are ready to use it. I believe the latter 

 is the better way, but so many growers 

 have to buy their soil where they can 

 get it, and in such case the former way 

 is the proper thing to do. 



A pretty safe way to select the soil 

 for your carnations is by the sod that 

 is growing on it. A soil that will raise 

 a good heavy sod will usually grow good 

 carnations, but of course you want lo 

 bear in mind that a comparatively heavy 

 soil will grow larger blooms than a 

 light soil will, and you must select your 

 soil accordingly. We like to put up our 

 soil when it is in nice working condi- 

 tion, about the way you want it for 

 planting in the field, as it has more life 

 in it than when it is extremely dry, arid 

 under no circumstances should it be 

 worked when it is overwet. 



We use cow manure altogether, because 

 we think it is the best and because we 

 can get all we need, but if you cannot 

 get enough of it you can use stable ma- 

 nure, if it is well rotted and the bed- 

 ding material was straw or some such 

 material. Saw dust or shavings make 

 manure unfit for use and should be 

 avoided. With the growers in the large 

 cities the soil question is often a source 

 of a great deal of worry and expense. 

 People with acres and acres of idle 

 ground with no prospects of selling soon 

 will positively refuse to sell the sod oft' 

 of it. and some of our growers are com- 

 pelled to pay as much for sod as they 

 do for cow manure. At 75 cents per 

 yard it soon runs up into money and 

 fortunate are those wlio own enough good 

 land to supply them with sod. 



This thing sometimes leads me to 

 wondering whether we will ever see the 

 day when we will be able to use the 

 same soil over and over year after year 

 by killing all the disease germs in it 

 and then adding such plant foods as 

 have been drawn from it by the plants 

 during the previous season. There is 

 no reason why this should not be done, 

 and I believe it will be done before many 

 years. That one season's use of the 

 soil does not make it unfit for carnations 

 if it is handled properly is well known. 

 I do not recommend leaving the same 

 soil on the benches two successive sea- 

 sons, however, as I do not think the crop 

 of blooms would be as good the second 

 year as it was the first. We have one of 

 our semi-solid beds planted with carna- 

 tions in the same soil that was on it last 

 season as an experiment, and the plants 

 seem to thrive as well as those in new 

 soil, but we would not eare to try it on 

 raised benches. 



We believe that the following methcd 

 would -put the soil in first rate condi- 

 tion to use over again unless there had 

 been considerable stem-rot among the 

 plants: Spread the soil outside about 

 ten inches deep and apply a good sprink- 

 ling of lime to sweeten it and in the 

 winter give it a good coat of manure. 

 In tlie spring turn it over and sow down 

 to some quick growing grass to make 

 sod. Turn this over again in the fall 

 and spread on some manure in the win- 



ter, pile up the next spring and use the 

 next fall. Allowing the grass to grow 

 two summers would be better than one, 

 but with two winters' freezing and the 

 lime and manure added it ought to be 

 in good shape again. This may seem 

 like a good deal of work, but after you 

 get onto how to go about it you would 

 find that it could be done at a compara- 

 tively small cost. A. F. J. Bal'B. 



CARNATION NOTES-EAST. 



Watering. 



The benches being far from filled with 

 roots, be careful not to overwater at this 

 time of year. Water early in the morn- 

 ing, and having all the air on possible 

 through the day, the foliage will be 

 dry by night. I do not believe in syring- 

 ing unless it be to dislodge red spider, 

 but on bright mornings, with every prom- 

 ise of a pleasant day, a gentle shower 

 all over the plants is of great benefit. 

 With a little practice you can do this 

 without wetting a bloom. 



You will probably notice some places 

 in a bench which seem to persist in dry- 

 ing out. Examine the soil to the depth 

 of three inches to ascertain if water is 

 really needed. Sometimes it is a dif- 

 ference in the mechanical condition of 

 the soil. Other times it is owing to 

 careless watering or from the soil not 

 being level on the benches. 



These may seem trivial matters or 

 very unlikely to occur at the present 

 time when so much has been written, 

 but only a year ago I saw the soil in 

 a bench which had been planted, when 

 the soil was rounded to the center so 

 that its depth raised two inches between 

 center and sides. 



Fumigation. 



Assuming that in lime of peace you 

 have prepared for war, strike the first 

 blow. We use Aphis Punk, giving 

 each house a heavy smoke directly all 

 plants are housed, then lightly every 

 week. The best time to fumigate is on 

 a still, rainy or damp night, but should 

 one not occur at the proper time, dam- 

 pen the walks slightly after having 

 closed the ventilators. This charges the 

 air with moisture, causing the smoke 

 to descend among the plants where 

 needed. 



One great advantage of Punk over to- 

 bacco stems is the fact that it is not 

 necessary to keep the house closed over 

 an hour, thus giving the plants the 

 abundant ventilation they need at this 

 time of year day and night. It is im- 

 perative that your plants be kept free 

 from insects, for by their means lurking 

 diseases enter, to say nothing of the 

 direct damage done by the pests them- 

 selves. 



About Coal. 



Many eastern growers depend on an- 

 thracite coal for fuel and while .perhaps 

 provided with full dinner pails, full coal 

 hods and bins are scarce. It will soon 

 lie time to turn in a little heat nights, 

 just to keep the air movinir through the 

 crack left on at the top. Those having a 

 small lot of coal from last year will 

 hesitate to use it. while those who have 

 none certainly cannot use any. and both 

 will perhaps see no ether way but to 

 close down tight some of these cold 

 nights, which of course is a dangerous 

 proceeding. 



While not advising this as a remedy 

 for fear some may think it a panacea 



