NoVEMBEn 13. 1902. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



837 



New White Chrysanthemum Estelle. 



through the same broker. It is simply 

 one of two things. The one that gets 

 the money is the man that never cuts a 

 flower until it is just right, never tries 

 to jDush through a few seconds with a 

 lot of fine stock, and who is liberal in 

 his judgment in regard to the require- 

 ments of the time of year, as to the 

 proper boxes, paper, twine and sundry 

 items that put his flowers before the 

 buyer in the best possible shape. That 

 is why he gets all there is to be had, 

 but his neighbor would not believe this, 

 €ven though he stood in front of the 

 counter wlien the stock was sold. 



CARNATION NOTES— WEST. 



Propagating. 



It is not too early to begin propagat- 

 ing some of the slow-growing varieties 

 of carnations and, in fact, if you want 

 plants that will give you enough blooms, 

 to be profitable, of these varieties, you 

 should have tliem in pots by January 1. 

 If you have some new variety of which 

 you want all you can get next season, 

 you can start increasing your stock now. 

 By taking a few cuttings early you may 

 save robbing the plants later on and 

 your stock will be better. 



Between November 1 and March 1 you 

 ought to be able to root 100 per cent 

 of all the carnations j-ou put in sand, as 

 you have during that time, everything 

 in your favor. I have described several 

 times what kind of a cutting you should 

 select, how you should trim it, stick it 

 in the stand, etc. Whenever possible 

 take only cuttings from near the base of 

 the flower stems, and under no circum- 

 stances should you take a shoot that 

 has begun to run up toward making a 

 bud, nor a cutting from a diseased plant. 

 Selection of cuttings is one of the most 

 important points in keeping up the qual- 

 ity of your stock. You can"t grow a 

 healthy plant from a weak, diseased cut- 

 ting. 



The whole question of successful prop- 

 agating lies in the proper temperature 

 and the proper state of moisture, and 

 when you have these under perfect con- 

 trol you will have no trouble. Of course 

 you must first learn just what is the 

 projjer temperature and the proper state 



of moisture, before you can be entirely 

 successful, and when you have mastered 

 these two points, you must add to them 

 very careful and close attention at all 

 times. A few hours' neglect may ruin a 

 whole batch of cuttings. How often you 

 should water de[>ends upon the weather 

 and the amount of bottom heat you have. 

 How often you should syringe, also de- 

 pends upon the weather. How much 

 sunshine you allow them depends upon 

 the condition of the cuttings, and so 

 on ; you must at all times be prepared to 

 use good judgment in caring for them. 

 Tlie point is to keep the cuttings fresh 

 without allowing them to get too wet. 

 Allow a carnation cutting to> wilt badly 

 and you might as well throw it away; 

 at the same time, if you get the sand in 

 a soggy condition, or keep the foliage 

 wet over night continually, it will cause 

 what is usually termed damping off, or 

 cutting-bench fungus. Eternal vigilance, 

 etc. 



A bench with a brick Iwttom is, be- 

 yond question, the best all-around cut- 

 ting bench, as there is but very little 

 chance for the sand to become soggy, and 

 a bencli Iiuilt in the manner described 

 by Mr. Osborn a week or two ago is 

 just about an ideal bench. We do not 

 consider it absolutely necessary, how- 

 ever, to have such a bench to root car- 

 nations successfully. Our Ijench is built 

 of boards, same as any other liench. It 

 should not be tight at the bottom, as 

 the boards will swell some and there 

 must always be a way of letting any 

 excess water drain off. We use six-inch 

 boards and leave about J-inch space be- 

 tween them. Dry sand will run through 

 such a space; wet the bottom of the 

 bench with the hose if the sand is not 

 moist enough to hold together. Wle use 

 a sharp, clean sand, because that will 

 allow the water to drain off better than 

 a fine sand will, and we never find our 

 sand sogsy, even after a thoroxigh soak- 

 ing. Either river, lake or bank sand will 

 do eq\ially well, just so it is clean and 

 sharp. 



Cuttings for Next Summer. 



While Ave are on the subject of prop- 

 agating, I want to say that this is a 

 good time to put in some cuttings for 



blooming next summer, and, in fact, you 

 should lose no time in getting them in 

 the sand. If grown right along you can 

 get good, strong plants, well branched, 

 in 3*-inch pots, by planting-out time. 

 This is a little more work than the way 

 Mr. Scott suggested a few weeks ago, of 

 jiotting up the plants you have left in 

 the field, and keeping them in a cool 

 house or in cold-frames over winter. 

 JIany of you have only small places and 

 you have no house that you keep as low 

 "as 40 to 45 degrees, which would be the 

 proper temperature. In a warmer tem- 

 ])erature they would grow and become 

 exhausted in the pots before spring. 



Then, again, you only want certain 

 varieties for this purpose, too. as not 

 all varieties will give you good blooms 

 or enough of them during the summer 

 months. In fact there are only a few 

 that are really fit for that purpose. 

 There are still thousands of Mrs. Fisher 

 grown for white in the east, and it 

 seems to give perfect satisfaction. We 

 grow Flora Hill in this neck of the 

 woods and we can hardly imagine any- 

 thing better. Wm. Scott used to be our 

 stand-by for pink, but Ethel Crocker is 

 so far ahead of it that we have discarded 

 Scott entirely. The blooms are almost 

 as large in summer as they are in winter 

 and the color and form are always fine. 

 There is very little demand for red dur- 

 ing the summer, but if you want some 

 you should grow Crane. Elma is also a 

 very fine summer bloomer and its fine, 

 large Daybreak-shade blooms make it 

 a valuable summer carnation. The 

 blooms come large and full. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



CARNATION NOTES-EAST. 



General Behavior. 



Lawson this year is making an ex- 

 cellent early showing, giving longer 

 stems than at the same date last sea- 

 son. Tliey were planted middle of July 

 for several reasons. First, it was in 

 the plan, also the plants were quite 

 large and the constant rains made us 

 fearful lest they be ruined, as stem-rot 

 had affected a few plants. On thei 

 whole, I am convinced that Lawson 

 should be housed early, also that it 

 would be good policy to grow a portion 

 under glass all summer. 



Mrs. Potter Palmer was the next to 

 come in, and perhaps we erred in hous- 

 ing so early, for, as previously stated 

 in my notes, it appears late compared 

 to Crane, which it was claimed to excel. 

 The few blooms picked were of good size 

 and color, except the center being in- 

 clined to lose its brilliancy. This, no 

 doubt, will disappear as the season ad- 

 vances. 



With iMarquis we did a little experi- 

 menting, bringing in lots at different 

 times. It seems to be a positive injury 

 to Jlarquis to house it early, as the last 

 lot to come in is far in advance of the 

 others. 



White Cloud is still our best white, 

 the stems being 24 to 30 inches long 

 and the flower perfection. It must be 

 that soil has much to do with this sort, 

 for I know growers superior to myself, 

 who cannot do it at all well, probably 

 on account of their soil being too open, 

 for it needs a soil of a stiff clayey na- 

 ture. 



Queen Louise comes in earlier than 

 White Cloud, and while the lower petals 

 have a habit of dropping down around 



