426 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



August i:'., r.iu::. 



stem and which in a -week or two will 

 reach out and increase the length of the 

 stem by eight or ten inches. 



This method can be carried on for some 

 weeks, if necessary, as sometimes the 

 price offered for blooms will not repay 

 the injury done to the plants by hard 

 cutting. ' Kibes. 



CARNATION NOTES-EAST. 



Stem Rot. 



It mav be truly said that carnation 

 growers "in this section have labored un- 

 der peculiar conditions this summer. 

 With an extremely dry period at the 

 start and just the reverse for the greater 

 part of the real growing period, ;i : 



surprising 



hear of the 



havoc 



wrought by stem-rot. 



In comparing reports it seems that cer- 

 tain varieties have suffered badly with 

 some growers while with others the same 

 varieties are lifting iu good health, very 

 few plants being missing. It is obvious 

 then that it is not the tendency of the 

 variety to stem-rot, but that the cause 

 comes from improper handling or the 

 existence in the field of soil conditions 

 or matter unsuitable to the health of the 

 plants. 



Having made numerous inquiries as to 

 the methods pursued by different grow- 

 ers in handling the young stock previous 

 to planting out and finding some who 

 followed one and others another course, 

 all claiming a good stand of plants when 

 transferred to the field, I have been led 

 to make still further inquiries as to meth- 

 ods of field preparation. As stated in 

 previous notes, from the results of ob- 

 servation, I cannot believe stem-rot to be 

 a constitutional disease; neither can any 

 variety, in the full sense of the term, be 

 said to be inclined that way but rather 

 that some varieties are more susceptible 

 to it than others. 



I cannot credit the romantic theory 

 that stem-rot has its birthplace in the 

 cutting bench, clinging to the plant dur- 

 ing its life in a pot or flat inside, still 

 lingering about until it is nearly or quite 

 full grown, then striking a death blow. 

 Stem-rot may develop in the propagating 

 sand, but its effect will soon be shown 

 or healthy conditions repel its advance. 



The use of fungus laden soil, or that 

 too rich in animal manure, for potting 

 young stock has been known to bring on 

 "the trouble, but I venture to say few 



growers there are 



who are not alive 



to the importance of proper soil and 

 quarters for their young stock. 



In the field is where the evil effect of 

 the cause is shown and I believe cause 

 and effect are not very far apart in the 

 culture of carnations. The same weather 

 conditions which produce growth of 

 plants also promote the growth of fungous 

 diseases; that is heat and moisture, but 

 excessive moisture gives to fungi an ad- 

 vantage, while to plants it acts as a 

 check. Thus the door is open for disease 

 to enter. 



As fungi are ever present in soil con- 

 taining decaying vegetable or animal 

 matter, is it not reasonable to suppose 

 that stable manure, often obtained from 

 an unknown source, may contain danger- 

 uus fungi? I have frequently noticed 

 stem-rot to be more prevalent on heavily 

 or recently manured land than on land 

 that has produced a hoed crop the year 

 previous. 



Mt experience this year has proved to 

 my satisfaction that the field should if 

 possible be prepared two years in ad- 



vance. Manure and plow in the spring 

 of the first year, planting to a hoed crop, 

 such as potatoes, and cultivate thorough- 

 ly. Plow again in late fall, leaving as 

 rough as possible. Another plowing in 

 spring followed by the harrowing or rak- 

 ing in of a liberal coat of wood ashes 

 gives the soil ample fertility and reduces 

 liability of objectionable fungi. 



This is the method I have followed and 

 which was advised in my notes of March 

 26, with the result of a'loss of less than 

 five per cent by stem-rot. The results of 

 indoor culture by the compromise method 

 explained in previous notes will 

 attention next week. 



Geo. S. Osborn. 



MAKING A BEGINNING. 



My carnations were planted in the 

 benches May 1, in new-, unglazed houses, 

 using about six parts of good blue 

 grass sod and some subsoil to one part 

 of well rotted cow manure, with a good 



F. H. Holton. 



itendent Trades Display. 



sprinkling of lime worked in. The va- 

 rieties are Lawson, America, White 

 Cloud, .loost and Kohinoor. The stock 

 has been well cultivated and watered 

 as it needed water. When shall I glaze 

 the houses and when would a mulch or 

 feed be desirable? What is a good for- 

 mula of bone meal to use and at what 

 intervals? Starter. 



I would not be in a hurry to glaze 

 those new houses if the plants are mak- 

 ing satisfactory growth. The greatest 

 trouble with planting carnations on 

 raised benches outside is that they dry 

 out too rapidly and the plants suffer for 

 want of water, but if yours have not 

 suffered in that way they will likely be 

 growing rapidly now and from now on 

 they will be making a strong, sturdy 

 growth which cannot be improved upon 

 by glazing the houses. The fact that 

 we advocate early housing so the plants 

 will make their fall growth inside does 

 not apply in this case. It is not that 

 we want them to be making the growth 

 under glass, but we want them to make 

 it on the soil on which they are to re- 

 main all winter and become so much 

 better established. Therein lies the ad- 

 vantage of early planting. You should 

 have the houses glazed before any real 



frosts happen along, and whatever date 

 you usually have your first frosts in 

 your locality you know better than I. 

 Here it is usually the latter part of 

 September. You can estimate about 

 how long it will take you to do the job, 

 and you can get everything ready, so 

 you can rush it through when you start. 

 You can give them a light dressing 

 of bone at this time with good results. 

 About a 2U-inch pot full to a row five 

 to six feet across the bench will be 

 about right, and work it into the soil, 

 after which water well. I would fol- 

 low that at once with about a half inch 

 of half rotten cow manure, to help 

 keep the soil from drying out too rap- 

 idly. The mulch might have been ap- 

 plied six weeks ago with good results. 

 This will be all the feed they will need 

 for some time. A. F. J. Baur. 



WATERING FIELD CARNATIONS. 



Air. Scott, in a recent Review, gives 

 a "Seasonable Hint" on ''watering vs. 

 cultivating" carnations in the field, 

 taking for his text an artiele of mine 

 in which I stated that I water my car- 

 nations in the field "when water is 

 needed. ' ' Unfortunately my article did 

 not advocate watering as against culti- 

 vating, for water will not take the place 

 of cultivation. But cultivating will not 

 take the place of watering, either, 

 ' ' when water is needed, ' ' for cultiva- 

 tion will not produce moisture, as the 

 immense dams and irrigating ditches of 

 the west abundantly prove. So when 

 water is needed, as is the case at times 

 on my soil, I water my carnations and 

 they grow and do not rot. I hope no 

 one will think I am trying to establish a 

 cast iron rule for carnation growers, re- 

 gardless of differences of climate, soil, 



Mr. Scott seems to ignore the fact 

 that soil dries out by the water in it 

 sinking from its own gravity downwards, 

 as well as by evaporation, and if water 

 were not applied the soil would dry out 

 down to bedrock. This is why I say 

 that cultivation will not produce mois- 

 ture. If it did the "great American 

 desert ' ' we used to read of could be 

 made to blossom like Eden. It may be 

 true that cultivation, and especially deep 

 cultivation, owes much of its effective- 

 ness to the fact that the hose or plow 

 brings moist soil from below and mixes 

 it with the dry surface soil. If this 

 be so will it not explain why cultiva- 

 tion with a horse implement seems to 

 be more effective than hand hoeing? 



Mr. Baur also pays Ms respects to my 

 modest article, but from the stem-rot 

 side of the question. He thinks I do 

 not agree with his repeated assertions 

 that frequent cultivation is in most 

 cases preferable to watering carnations 

 in the field. I do most emphatically 

 agree with him on that point, but it was 

 not of ' ' most ' ' cases I was speaking, but 

 of my own ease. My soil does not bake. 

 Being high and light, it dries am r.ipi I- 

 ly. During a dry spell I water ray car- 

 nations and, as I have said, they grow 

 and do not rot. I have looked in vain 

 in my article to find what Mr. Baur as- 

 serts" I said, that "frequent watering or 

 excessive rains will not cause stem-rot." 

 I have an idea that too much water will 

 rot any plant not an aquatic. I also 

 have an idea that with healthy plants, 

 proper fertilizers in quantities not in ex- 

 cess of what is needed to produce 





