Januakt 21, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



403 



[ CARNATION NOTES-WEST. 



Handling the Cuttings. 



Some of the cuttings you put into 

 sand early last month will be rooted by 

 this time and you should pot them as 

 soon as they are ready. Most propa- 

 gators put their cuttings from four to 

 six times closer together in the sand 

 than they would ijlant them after they 

 are rooted. After they are rooted they 

 at once begin to grow and if they are 

 allowed to grow much they draw up 

 quite rapidly and it takes but a short 

 while for them to draw vip into spindling 

 weak cuttings that are hardly Worth pot- 

 ting. Then, again, the growth will be 

 thin and weak for lack gf , nourishment, 

 which is nearly always absent in the, 

 propagating sand. While the cutting 

 has no roots it needs only water to keep 

 it fresh, but after the roots are formed 

 it is a plant and requires the same food 

 as any growing plant. If these foods 

 were found in any quantity in the sand 

 the cutting would rot in most cases. 



After the cuttings are rooted we with- 

 hold the water a little in order to pre- 

 vent the cuttings from becoming soft 

 and watery which they will do quickly 

 if the sand is kept as wet as while they 

 are rooting. Don't let them get very 

 dry, however, as that will harden them 

 too much and perhaps stunt them. Also, 

 if possible, let the sun strike them all 

 day for a few days before you take them 

 up. They will suffer less if hardened 

 off just enough so that they are not 

 too sappy. 



Many growers plant the cuttings into 

 flats about two inches apart and plant 

 from them into the field, while others 

 pot them from these flats a few weeks 

 before planting-out time. We believe in 

 planting from pots and if you will do it 

 the latter plan is all right, but so often 

 you start out with intention of doing 

 it and when the time comes for the 

 potting, you are busy, room is scarce 

 and the young plants are growing nicely, 

 and so the potting is omitted and the 

 young plants go from the flats into the 

 field. The next fall, when your plants 

 won't lift with any ball to them, you 

 swear that you will never plant again 

 except from pots, but the next spring it 

 goes the same way again. We have 

 been in the same boat, but we have 

 learned from the experience. Up to the 

 latter part of January wo pot into small 

 pots, 2-inch or less, and from these 

 about March we shift into 2% or 3-inch 

 pots, according to variety, etc. From 

 about February 1 on we pot right into 

 2%-inch pots and they usually do very 

 well in them until planted in the field. 



A light, well ventilated house is just 

 as essential to growing these young 

 plants as it is to the blooming plants. 

 Many growers have a mum house and 

 where these can be used for the young 

 carnations you can give them just what 

 they want. The temperature should be 



rather lower than liigher than the bloom- 

 ing stock is kept at. Thev shouhl grow 

 ?lowly and stoekily and this can only bf 

 in a cool temperature, say between 45 

 and 48 degrees. I would not advocate 

 a lower temperature than 45 degrees, as 

 below that you would have trcnilile in 

 keeping the atmosphere dry, and tlie 

 yonng plants enjoy a dry atmosphere as 

 well as tlie older ones. If you have 

 only your carnation houses you can no 

 doubt find a bench in one of the coolest 

 houses that has yielded the greatest part 

 of its season's crop, or perhaps some 

 varictj' has not done very well and yon 

 will be glad to throw it out. Take the 

 soil and all out and put either sand or 

 sifted cinders on the bench to set the 



of the n(T\-elties as they arrive. If you 

 follow his advice you will have little 

 r rouble. I just want to emphasize what 

 lie says about not placing these young 

 cuttings in a forcing house in order to 

 j;i't a cutting off of each plant, but 

 rnther grow each cutting into a sturdy 

 voung plant that will be able to show 

 what the variety really is. Not long 

 ago I heard a large grower say that 

 last spring he bought 200 Enchantress, 

 but when he planted them in the field he 

 had just about 800 of them. Think 

 liow lie must have pushed them and 

 slaughtered them after they had made a 

 big growth. Don't you believe that he 

 will be one of the first ones ready to 

 throw it out on acount of disease and 

 deterioration? I won't tell you his name, 

 but I will remember that remark if he 

 ever complains along that line. It some- 

 times happens that you can get a cut- 

 ting from a young plant that is grown 

 cool if it was propagated quite early, 

 Init they should not be forced along 

 with that object in view. 



Some of the novelties are arriving and 



Rose Mme. Chatenay as Grown by Peter Reinberg, Chicago. 



pots on. Never set the pots on soil, as 

 the roots will go down into the soil and 

 the plant will feed on that soil, making 

 a large, soft growth, and when you pull 

 them loose the plants will wilt badly. 

 Pishworms are also more troublesome 

 when the pots are set on soil. 



Disseminating Novelties. 



Mr. Osborn has a good article in last 

 iveek's issue on caring for the cuttings 



most of them are nice, clean stock. 

 Some of them are a trifle soft, cause?, 

 no doubt, by being rooted rather warm. 

 We will always have more or less of 

 this to contend with, however, as long 

 as we demand our cuttings as early aa 

 we do. Everybody wants his cuttings 

 in January or early February and the 

 disseminator is obliged to take many cut- 

 tings a week or two before they really 

 ought to be taken and he has to turn 



