February 3, 190G 



HORT1CU LTU RE 



135 



Two F. R. Pierson Company Introductions 



WlNSOR. 



Winner of Lawson Silver Medal. 



Helen M. Gould. 



Striped Sport from Enchantress. 



in high, airy houses, such as one sees 

 in use in the vicinity of Chicago and 

 elsewhere. Clean, sweet air must be 

 provided, yet the least draught means 

 death to the cuttings before they have 

 roots to replace evaporation. Often in 

 winter the temperature of the air in 

 the house will run too high, and 

 ventilation , must be given. In mild 

 winters like the present one, the bright 

 sun on the glass raises the temperature 

 too high, and when air is given, the 

 dry wind outside rushes in and does 

 its fatal work. 



Early in October last, we had a light 

 fall of snow, which quickly disap- 

 peared, and not until January 7th did 

 any more moisture fall. The benches 

 have been shielded from draughts by 

 curtains, and every precaution taken, 

 yet the story is the same on every 

 place, "Our carnations are not rooting 

 well." Had the winter been a severe 

 one, with cold weather and frequent 

 light falls of 'snow, the results would 

 have been very different. 



Considerable trouble is at times ex- 

 perienced with stem rot and cutting 

 bed fungus, but I think not to the 

 same extent as in localities further 

 east. 



Some of you will probably think me 

 mentally unbalanced when I say that 

 while sunshine and dry air are fatal 

 to fungi, they do not tend to promote 

 luxuriant growth in anything unless 

 it may be a cactus or some other plant 

 whose natural habitat is the arid 

 region. Yet stop and consider as to 



what countries produce what we are 

 accustomed to speak of as a luxuriant 

 growth of vegetation, and your mind 

 will revert to a climate with frequent 

 rainfalls and a humid atmosphere. I 

 hope I may be pardoned for again re- 

 ferring to roses in a meeting of carna- 

 tionists, but they seem to forcibly il- 

 lustrate some of the points I wish to 

 emphasize. I have never seen more 

 than three or four really bad cases of 

 black spot on Beauties in Colorado, 

 and they were probably due to care- 

 lessness, for it is a trouble that we 

 have not learned to dread as you do 

 here. So much must be placed to the 

 credit of these drying influences, but 

 they tend to ripen each shoot too 

 quickly and induce too quick setting 

 of the bud, with wood close jointed 

 and wiry. I think I am safe in saying 

 that every progressive florist in the 

 arid region grows his tea roses grafted 

 on manetti, because this tends to make 

 a more rapid growth, a longer and a 

 heavier stem. 



During the period when the young 

 carnations are in pots they make but 

 a slow growth, and this compels us to 

 start early in propagating, as the 

 young stock must have a longer time 

 in which to make plants of suitable 

 size for field planting. Our late frosts 

 compel us to wait until about May 10 

 before planting in the field. Some 

 plant out by May 1, taking chances on 

 a heavy frost in order to gain time, 

 and I must admit that some of the 

 young plants endure a pretty severe 



frost without permanent injury. The 

 tips of the leaves suffer, but no per- 

 manent damage is done; in fact, if the 

 frost is only a very light one, it seems 

 a positive benefit, checking the soft 

 growth and inducing the plants to 

 break more freely. Before planting is 

 begun the field must have a thorough 

 soaking, either from surface ditches or 

 with the hose, and after planting we 

 generally water with a lawn sprinkler 

 every night while the plants are in the 

 field. With plenty of water and a rea- 

 sonably good soil the plants make a 

 healthy growth in the field, though 

 they do not attain great size. The 

 days are hot and sunny, but if well 

 watered, the plants do not flag, and at 

 night the air is cool and refreshing. 

 It is not uncommon for the mercury to 

 drop to 50 degrees or even to 45 de- 

 grees at night, following a day tem- 

 perature of 90 degrees in the shade, 

 and the carnations seem to enjoy this. 



Should the plants escape the hail 

 storms which sometimes nearly ruin 

 them, they ought to be of satisfactory 

 size by the first or middle of August. 

 Lifting from the field and replanting 

 in the houses is the operation requiring 

 the most care of anything during the 

 life of the plant, and plants of moder- 

 ate size endure the transplanting bet- 

 ter than very large ones. Those that 

 were grown in pots prior to field plant- 

 ing endure the removal from the field 

 to the bench much better than those 

 that were grown in flats. 



The custom of preparing the soil for 



