102 



H O RT1 CULTURE 



January 



1906 



The next in order were the reports 

 of secretary and treasurer, presented 

 respectively by Secretary Herr and 

 Treasurer Dorner. The reports follow: 



Cash from special premiums. 

 Cash from checks returned.. 



77.50 

 10.50 



Total $1449.97 



Permanent Fund $1996.21 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentle- 

 men of the American Carnation 

 Society: 



The report of the last annual meet- 

 ing, a preliminary premium list and a 

 copy of the by-laws as drawn up by 

 your Executive Committee, were 

 mailed as issued during the past year. 

 Any paid-up member who did not re- 

 ceive all of these should write to the 

 Secretary at once and see that their 

 name and address get properly en- 

 tered. 



Our annual report is an important 

 part of our work, and our discussions 

 are important and interesting enough 

 to be reported correctly, an impossi- 

 bility with a new stenographer each 

 meeting. What we need is a stenog- 

 rapher who will be with us year after 

 year, who will learn to know us, learn 

 to know the importance of a word 

 missed in the middle of a discussion. 

 We now pay over $200 each year 

 for our report; why not pay a little 

 more and have it twice as good? 



The attention of the members has 

 been called in the premium list to the 

 vearly expenses of the Society, almost 

 one thousand dollars per year: listen 

 carefullly to the report of your Treas- 

 urer and you will see how much of this 

 money has to be made up aside from 

 the annual membership dues. The only 

 available way to make this money is 

 by advertising in the premium list and 

 the entries at the shows. 



This matter of advertisement is an 

 important one to the Society and 

 every member who has anything to 

 advertise should use the premium list; 

 il may not bring direct results, but it 

 does give publicity at a very nominal 

 figure and publicity before the mem- 

 bers of the American Carnation So- 

 ciety is a paying investment. 



Occasionally in meeting a fellow 

 member the conversation drifts to the 

 work of this Society, and the question 

 is asked, why do you not do this, and 

 why do you not do that. If any mem- 

 ber has an idea of any kind for the 

 betterment of the Society and its work 

 and will put this idea into writing and 

 send it to the secretary at any time 

 during the year, a great amount of 

 practical work could be done that es- 

 i apes the attention of the officers. Try 

 this for 1906 and begin right now with 

 the question box at this meeting. 



We are a live, practical society, but 

 we need the assistance of every mem- 

 ber, in order to keep the work up to 

 the top notch of perfection we hope 

 to attain. 



TREASURERS REPORT. 



Orders on treasurer $1132.89 



Cash on hand 317.08 



Total $1449.97 



Receipts. 



Balance, Jan. 23, 1905 $413.13 



Cash from membership 622.00 



Cash from interest 81.84 



Cash from registering 5.00 



Cash from advertising 173.00 



Cash from certs, of merit 67.00 



After the acceptance of the reports, 

 Prof. H. E. Hall of Durham. N. H., 

 was introduced and gave an interesting 

 and practical address on carnation 

 hybridizing, which was intently fol- 

 lowed by his audience. We give the 

 following extracts therefrom: 



The method of crossing which has 

 given us the best results is as follows: 

 Selected plants of the varieties to be 

 used in crossing are benched about 

 Aug. 1st in order to have them well 

 established and blooming freely by 

 Oct. 15 at which time we begin the 

 work of crossing and continue until 

 about Dec. 1st. This season is selected 

 for several reasons: more favorable 

 weather than later; greater freedom 

 in the production of pollen; plants 

 are then strong while later they are 

 often weakened through production 

 and attacks of insects and diseases. 

 Another reason often advanced is that 

 at this season there is less danger of 

 an undesirable mixing of pollen by 

 bees and flies, but in our experience 

 such fertilizing of the carnation very 

 seldom, if ever, occurs at any season 

 of the year. 



Some varieties never produce pollen, 

 others only during fall and spring, 

 while some are productive in this re- 

 spect at all seasons. By growing in 

 pots and keeping rather dry we have 

 obtained pollen during the winter 

 months from varieties which refused 

 to produce any when grown in a com- 

 mercial way. 



Select for parents the most promising 

 plants of the varieties to be used. 

 If the flower selected for female or 

 seed-bearing parent contains stamens 

 they should be removed with forceps 

 or tweezers as soon as the flower 

 opens or before the anthers show the 

 pollen, otherwise self fertilization may 

 take place. In most varieties the pol- 

 len matures before the stigma is ripe, 

 thus eliminating much of the danger 

 of self fertilization. When the pistil 

 is receptive, which condition is in- 

 dicated by the development of the 

 stigmatic hairs, the pollen may be ap- 

 plied by the aid of a camel's hair 

 brush or dusted from the male flower 

 I have received best results in using 

 for this purpose a strip of ordinary 

 blotting paper three or more inches 

 long and about one-half inch in width, 

 one end being cut with scissors to 

 resemble a sharpened pencil, the point 

 of which is slightly fluffed to enable 

 it to take up and hold the grains of 

 pollen until lightly rubbed over the 

 stigmatic surface of the pistil. 



By this method we have been suc- 

 cessful in setting over ninetv per cent 

 of all flowers worked and requir'ng 

 very little pollen, none being wasted 

 as in other wa v s. This method is 

 <;r'"inal with us so far as I am aware. 



From 10 A. M. until 2 P. M. on 

 bright sunnv davs and a fairly dry 

 well-ventilated house, are ideal con- 

 ditions for pollenating. If the opera- 

 tion is successful the petals will wilt 

 in from 1 to 3 davs. soon after which 

 a part of the calyx should be torn 

 down to allow the nectar to drain off 

 which, if allowed to remain, would de- 



velop a fungus growth and destroy the 

 ovary. The seed pods should remain 

 on the plant about eight weeks or until 

 the seeds are brown, when they may 

 be gathered with their stems and put 

 away in a dry place for a short time 

 to ripen. A good time to plant is from 

 .Ian. 15 to Feb. 15. 



Carnation breeding is yet in its in- 

 fancy. The leading varieties of today 

 will be little grown ten years hence; 

 what the type of that time will be no 

 one can tell. The object of crossing 

 is to combine the good qualities of 

 both parents in the progeny. This 

 combination, however, is seldom ob- 

 tained, but by knowing the pedigree of 

 each of the parents used the breeder 

 should be able to produce the type 

 desired by growing a large number of 

 seedlings from which to select. 



After breeding out of a variety, cer- 

 tain undesirable traits, by selection, 

 and using this variety as a parent in 

 making a cross, we often find the old 

 hidden faults very much in evidsnee 

 in the offspring. When the inherent 

 forces of .two plants unite in a cross, a 

 struggle for supremacy takes place, 

 whereby the fixed or constant charac- 

 ters are set free, to gather again in 

 the progeny in various combinations 

 oi form, color, etc. 



As no two plants of the same variety 

 are exactly alike, it is very important 

 that a careful selection be made and 

 that a large number of plants be avail- 

 able to select the parents for crossing. 

 Some varieties have unknown or 

 hidden qualities; for instance, the 

 color character of a flower is often 

 compound when it appears to be sim- 

 ple. In breeding we often look upon 

 a plant as a unit when it really com- 

 prises a large number of traits or 

 characters. 



The longer we work in a random 

 way the more puzzling becomes the 

 question of inheritance and cross 

 breeding to one in search of definite 

 results. 



We should seek a better knowledge 

 of the laws of plant breeding as at 

 present we are groping in the dark so 

 far as a knowledge of past results is 

 concerned. 



I would suggest that all information 

 obtainable upon this subject be col- 

 lected by this society to be published 

 from year to year in its report from 

 which conclusions could be drawn to 

 lie used as a foundation for future 

 work, thus enabling us to slowly ad- 

 vance in the knowledge of the laws 

 which underlie the breeding of this 

 plant. 



In the discussion following Prof. 

 Hall's address Mr. Ward endorsed 

 that gentleman's advocacy of record 

 Ke ping. He outlined the methods 

 he had followed for a number of 

 years in his own practice, keeping a 

 tag on each plant, giving the data 

 during the period of observation, 

 which was afterwards filed away in 

 regular form for future reference. 

 He advised the liberal use of white 

 and yellow varieties as plants from 

 which to breed clear scarlets and 

 pure pinks. Breeding from solid 

 colors continuously is apt to develop 

 too great intensity, giving a tendency 

 to blackness in reds and magenta in 

 pinks. He finds that the preponderat- 

 ing color in the pedigree controls the 

 progeny color and not, as is some- 

 times claimed, that the pollen par- 



