Februabt: 18, 1004 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



595 



CARNATION NOTES-WEST. 



Early Shading. 



As the sun gains strength you will be- 

 gin to see the need of a little shade over 

 some of the bright pink and the Daybreak 

 shade varieties. Nearly all the varieties 

 in the Daybreak class fade quickly in 

 the strong sun and unless they are shaded 

 some they take on that dirty white ap- 

 pearance, which makes them unfit to sell. 

 Especially is this true with those that 

 open slowly and consequently fade most 

 around the edges. A bloom that has 

 an even color all over, though it be fade! 

 somewhat, does not look nearly so bad 

 as a bloom that is faded only in parts, 

 The fading is not so noticeable. 



Among the bright pink varieties Mrs. 

 Xiawson is the worst to fade and needs 

 a little shade a few weeks before most 

 of the others. A bright, clear day's sun 

 will bleach the half opened bloom on 

 the side that is fully exposed to the sun 

 so that when the bloom is opened it will 

 be blotched all over with light spots 

 that make it unfit to sell. If the bloom 

 would merely fade a shade or two lighter 

 it would not be so bad, but it bleaches 

 into such an unsightly dirty color that 

 nobody wants it at any price. You 

 ■can take the buds that show color after 

 a bright day and see distinctly which side 

 was exposed to the sun. 



Such varieties as Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. 

 Joost, Floriana and Crocker will not need 

 any shade for several weeks to protect 

 the color and as the plants wUl enjoy 

 all the sun they can get for quite a 

 while you should not be in a hurry to put 

 any shading material over them. A great 

 deal of judgment must be used in put- 

 ting on shade this early and especially is 

 it quite dangerous to put on a perma- 

 nent shade, such as we use in summer. 

 Por another month we are likely to have 

 as much cloudy weather as clear and a 

 heavy shade on the glass during a pro- 

 longed cloudy spell will do as much 

 damage as the same amount of bright 

 weather without any shade. The dark- 

 ness will soften the blooms and render 

 them more susceptible to the sun 's bleach- 

 ing effects than if the light at all times 

 were stronger. The growth, also, will 

 become softer and will succumb all the 

 sooner to the summer heat a little later. 



Another thing that will aggravate the 

 bleaching is to let the plants suffer for 

 water at the roots. By this time the soil 

 is pretty well filled with roots and dries 

 out rapidly where the sun can strike it 

 along the edges and you will need to 

 water along the edges every bright day. 

 A light mulch of some loose material 

 spread along wherever the sun strikes 

 the soil will help to retard evaporation. 



If you have only a bench or two that 

 need a little shading it will pay you to 

 buy enough cheese cloth to hang over 

 them in such a manner that they will be 

 protected from the bright sun and yet 



have a good strong light. Arrange it so 

 tliat you can remove it or tie it up at 

 night and on cloudy days, as it is not 

 wanted then. The cheese cloth will not 

 cost much and you can use it several 

 seasons. If you have a whole house or 

 several houses to shade you will, of 

 course, have to put some kind of a shade 

 on the glass. For this I would use 

 whitewash made of air slaked lime, and 

 quite thin at that. Whitewash made of 

 air-slaked lime will wash off much eas- 

 ier than that made from hot lime and 

 for several weeks you want a shade that 

 will wash off with the first good shower. 

 You can put on another as soon as it is 

 needed again much easier than you can 

 get rid of one that will stick like white 

 lead and oil. You can't put this on 

 with a brush with any satisfaction as it 

 will be too thin, but you can put it on 

 to perfection and very quickly with an 

 ordinary greenhouse syringe. Don 't 

 shoot the liquid straight at the glass, 

 but shoot it up high and let the wind 

 break it up into countless little drops, 

 which will fall onto the glass like rain, 

 covering the glass with little spots and 

 yet not shutting out the light as much 

 as if the glass were painted solid all over. 

 We use this method all summer, making 

 the lime wash thicker and putting more 

 of it on the glass as the weather gets 

 hotter. One man can shade 10,000 feet 

 of glass in an hour this way, while with 

 a brush it would take him at least a 

 day. Of course you will want this shade 

 only on the south side of the house for 

 at least six weeks or two months, as 

 the sun does not rise above the ridges 

 of any of the houses yet, and for some 

 time after it does it will strike the glass 

 at such an angle that it will have little 

 strength after passing through. 



The blooms should be cut early in the 

 morning before the sun gets very high. 

 They are fresh and full of sap and will 

 draw water better than if they are picked 

 while the sun is beating down quite 

 strongly, and, of course, naturally, they 

 will keep longer. You will also notice 

 that after a bloom is opened to the 

 stage when we consider it ready to be 

 cut it will begin to bleach much quicker 

 than while it is opening. Developed 

 blooms should not be allowed to remain 

 on the plants through a bright day from 

 now on, of those varieties that are in- 

 clined to bleach. Better cut them a lit- 

 tle close and hold them in water until 

 they are developed enough to send in oi- 

 to sell. During December, January and 

 February many growers pick their blooms 

 only as they sell them, but from now on 

 it will pay you to pick what are ready 

 to pick each morning and depend on your 

 cut flower room to hold them until you 

 can dispose of them. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



VARIETIES FOR SMALL GROWERS. 



I have just one house, 30x155,, planted 

 to carnations, and I wish to give my 

 opinion on the varieties for small grow- 

 ers to handle for profit. I will com- 

 mence with whites. I find Peru much 

 ahead of any for production, a good. 



clear white flower on a good stem and 

 never bursts and will pick a third more 

 llowers from it on my place than any 

 other white. Of reds. Crane is much 

 ahead of any I have tried, as my plants 

 are still in the best of health without 

 any signs of stem-rot. I would not part 

 with it for any of the new ones I have 

 seen. I have given up Adonis. Palmer 

 bursts. In pinik, Joost does fairly well 

 here, especially in the fall and spring, 

 but in the winter is a little slow. In 

 light pink I have Morning Glory and 

 Enchantress. Morning Glory is a fairly 

 free bloomer but does not produce a 

 sood enough flower. I shall strike it off 

 the list after this season, as Enchantress 

 will pick more flowers and of much 

 higher grade. I have averaged from this 

 variety about four and one-half blooms 

 since November 1, which I consider a 

 good average and there are from 3,000 ' 

 to 4,000 buds in sight at the present 

 time. I have about 000 plants of this 

 variety and they stand over three feet 

 six on the bench, stems like canes. I 

 also have a sport from that variety, 

 which I consider promising. It is not 

 quite a clear color but is something the 

 shade of Joost tinted with light spots, 

 but is larger than Enchantress and much 

 stiffer, as it seems to stand without any 

 sTipport. H. Merritt. 



GROWING CARNATIONS. 



[A paper by F. J. FiUmore. read before the 

 .St. Louis Florists' Club at its meeting Feb- 

 ruary 11, 1904.] 



I am not an expert at growing the di- 

 vine flower, but aim at growing the best 

 I can, as I am certainly handicapped by 

 being situated almost within range of 

 our city's smoke. There is no doubt 

 that a grower situated far out has a 

 great many advantages over those who 

 are not so fortunate. Pure air and 

 pure soil are the main requisites in grow- 

 ing any plant, coupled with experience 

 and lots of common sense. 



Propagation, 



We always have good, sound boards 

 in the bed, with a small crack between 

 them and a few auger holes in the 

 boards, also a hot coat of thick white- 

 wash is applied every season. ' We pro- 

 cure good, coarse river sand, which is 

 thoroughly washed. This is used the 

 whole season and after being spread and 

 pressed firmly to the depth of three and 

 a half to four inches, is thoroughly 

 soaked. We are now ready for the 

 cuttings, taken chiefly from the base of 

 the flowering shoots. When short of 

 stock, I take some shoots that would 

 bloom later on. As soon as cuttings are 

 taken, I put them in a bucket of water 

 for about fifteen minutes, no longer. 

 Take them out and if not ready to make 

 at once, cover them from the air. In 

 making them, trim off the ends if they 

 are uneven, if not uneven do not cut 

 them at all. Trim off a few lower 

 leaves and shorten back the upper ones 

 and insert them in the sand about one 

 inch deep, three-quarters of an inch 

 apart and about two inches between the 

 rows. Then soak them thoroughly and 

 sprinkle lightly almost every day, ex- 

 cept in very cloudy, damp weather. 

 Water the bed about every three days. 



It is hard to lay down any given 

 rules on this point, as so much depends 

 on the weather and temperature. I find 

 that with the greatest care I have, at 

 times, a good deal of loss, and there is 

 such a difference in varieties, also. I 



