March 3, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



255 



CARNATION BREEDING 



(C. W. Ward, Queens, N. Y., before the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Feb. 20, 1906.) 



The Original Carnation. 

 The original carnation known to 

 history for some 300 years before the 

 Christian era was a five petal single 

 bloom about one inch in diameter of 

 a pinkish mauve color. In its original 

 state it grew generally throughout tne 

 southern portion of Europe, being 

 found in abundance in Normandy, 

 France, whence it is believed by some 

 historians to have been introduced 

 into Great Britain. So recently as 

 1874 it was found covering the Castle 

 Falsise in which William the Con- 

 queror was born. It was described by 

 Theophrastus as early as 300 B. C. 



The Materials and Tools of the Pres- 

 ent Day Breeder. 



The present carnation with which 

 we are working is the product of sev- 

 eral centuries of culture and hybrid- 

 ization. It is an open-pollinated spe- 

 cies and mother plants can be used 

 from the hybrid plants as well as in 

 breeding upon the same plants or 

 upon the same variety. Once secured 

 from seeds, a variety is easily perpet- 

 uated by propagation from cuttings 

 which are secured in abundance and 

 may be easily rooted. Improvements 

 in varieties may be made in bud se- 

 lection and bud variation as well as 

 from seed variation due to hybridiza- 

 tion. In raising varieties from hy- 

 bridized seed, very few improved sorts 

 are produced, the proportion being 

 about one good variety for each 5000 

 hybrids grown according to present 

 standard. 



Up to the present time, I have been 

 breeding for color alone, basing my 

 work upon the theory that any laws 

 developed in color work would hold 

 good when applied to the development 

 of other desired qualities. 



The tools which I use in my work 

 are very simple, indeed, consisting of 

 a pair of delicate tweezers and a mi- 

 croscopic magnifying glass. The 

 method employed is to find the anther 

 just bursting so that the pollen is in 

 a condition of dry powder. The an- 

 ther is removed by means of the 

 tweezers and the pistil of the flower 

 desired to be fertilized is lightly 

 touched along the entire length by the 

 pollen bearing anther. 



Color Classification. 



In order to do my work with reason- 

 able method, I have divided it into 

 sections as follows: (1) Crimson sec- 

 tion, comprising crimsons or scarlet 

 maroon in color; (2) dark pink sec- 

 tion, which comprises all rose, cherry 

 and deep pink tones; (3) light pink 

 section, which comprises the light sal- 

 mon or day break tints; (4) scarlet 

 section, which comprises all other col- 

 ors which may be termed red or scar- 

 let; (5) white section, comprising 

 only the creamy white and snow white 

 tints; (6) yellow variegated with scar- 

 let, crimson or pink upon yellow 

 grounds as the yellow varieties are al- 



most invariably marked with pink, 

 scarlet or some other tint; (7) white 

 variegated section comprises varieties 

 with white grounds and light pink, 

 scarlet or crimson markings; (8) the 

 blue section comprising varieties 

 showing some tendency towards a blue 

 in color. This last section has not as 

 yet produced anything that might be 

 termed a blue as invariably there is 

 enough pink in the makeup of the 

 color to shade the tone into purple or 

 mauve. The crimson, dark and light 

 pink, scarlet and white sections have 

 been fairly well fixed, but the yellow, 

 white and pink variegated, and blue 

 sections will be very difficult to fix, as 

 they are essentially mosaic and there 

 is a constant tendency toward varia- 

 tion in all hybrids produced from 

 them. 



Origin of an Important Variety. 



The bulk of my profitable varieties 

 can be traced generally to the variety 

 General Maceo, which was the result 

 of a cross between the English vari- 

 ety, Winter Cheer, and Mr. Dorner's 

 American variety, Meteor. The origi- 

 nal plant of Maceo had a very peculiar 

 habit, being almost a climber and was 

 dug from the frozen ground after all 

 supposed good sorts had been taken 

 in from the field, its only recommend- 

 ation being an intensely colored large 

 bloom on a plant having a habit some- 

 what resembling a creeping grapevine 

 in growth, but by selection from bud 

 variations, it was built into an im- 

 mensely profitable commercial va- 

 riety. 



In hybridizing carnations we some- 

 times meet with what is termed seed 

 sports. These have been invariably 

 light pink varieties (more or less 

 marked with crimson edgings and 

 stripes) that have been produced by 

 crossing crimson sorts which had com- 

 paratively pure crimson pedigrees for 

 several generations. 



Aside from its commercial impor- 

 tance, there is a sentimental side to 

 carnation growing. The production of 

 new hybrids which are distinct im- 

 provements upon existing sorts is al- 

 ways a pleasure and serves to keep 

 one thoroughly interested in the 

 "Divine flower" and amply repays for 

 the close application necessary to pro- 

 duce practical improvements. 



How I Commenced Carnation Culture. 

 Some fourteen years ago, while 

 walking down Broadway, New York 

 city, a Greek flower peddler pushed 

 under my nose a bunch of clove scent- 

 ed carnations. The delicious fragrance 

 reminded me vividly of the old home 

 garden with its little plats of Paisley 

 pinks, and I became at once interested 

 in the blooms and being at that time 

 out of business, I took up the growing 

 of carnations, believing that if clirys 

 anthemums, roses and other flowers 

 could be improved by hybridization 

 and culture, the carnation must re- 

 spond to similar methods, and in tins 

 view later experience proved that I 

 was not at fault. 



Commercial Importance of the Carna- 

 tion. 



At the present time the commercial 

 value of the carnation grown in this 

 country has risen so that the calling 



may be considered one of the sub- 

 stantial professions. The annual value 

 of the carnation product reaches five 

 to six millions of dollars, when we 

 consider the sales of both plants and 

 flowers, and the capital invested pos- 

 sibly may amount from fifteen to 

 twenty millions of dollars, taking into 

 consideration the value of the real es- 

 tate and buildings devoted to carna- 

 tion culture. 



The improvement in the carnation 

 which has resulted in giving us flow- 

 ers three times the size that they 

 ordinarily were with stems four to 

 five times as long, has produced a 

 general povance in the price of the 

 carnation, which seems to keep pace 

 with the increased demand. When I 

 first undertook the growing of the 

 carnation, 50 cents to $2.00 were con- 

 sidered the retail prices. At present, 

 $2.00 to $6.00, sometimes $8.00, and, in 

 rare instances, $10.00 per dozen are 

 secured. When I first entered the 

 business 50 cents to $1.00 and from 

 that up to $4.00 per hundred, as the 

 maximum price were the wholesale 

 rates. At present $2.00 to $15.00 per 

 hundred are the ruling prices, and at 

 certain seasons as high as $25.00 per 

 hundred are secured for the best and 

 most perfect blooms. 



We have about two acres under 

 glass devoted to carnation growing, 

 t'.'e annual sales from which run from 

 $30,000 to $36,000, noting a fair an- 

 nual profit of $10,000 to $12,000. 



Naming New Varieties. 



The naming of a new carnation is 

 quite a puzzle to the originator, and 

 he usually selects the name of some 

 beautiful lady, some particular friend, 

 some important personage, a bird, the 

 name of a planet or something that 

 will serve to describe or produce an 

 impression of the characteristics of 

 his flower. In naming my own pro- 

 ductions, [ have honored some of my 

 seedlings with such names as the 

 President, Mrs. Roosevelt, Governor 

 Roosevelt, Viola Allen, Elso Struss, 

 Alma Ward, James H. Manley. The 

 Cuban Patriots, General Maceo and 

 Gomez, and your own townsman, Rob- 

 ert Craig. 



The Carnation in Politics. 



The carnation has frequently been 

 used in a political sense. It was the 

 McKinley emblem and the campaign 

 flower during the campaign which 

 elected McKinley and Roosevelt, and 

 during that campaign the various 

 carnation growers throughout the 

 country donated many thousands of 

 flowers to decorate the button-holes 

 of those marching in political parades. 

 At the present time the American 

 Carnation Society decorates the grave 

 of the lamented President with carna- 

 tions on the 29th of January every 

 year. 



The carnation is extensively used as 

 a decorative flower. It lends himself 

 to almost every use in which flowers 

 are suitaoie. Its varied and delicate 

 colorings, its magnificent, pungent, re- 

 freshing odor and its long keeping 

 qualities render its probably the most 

 valuable of all florists' flowers, ex- 

 celling even the up-to-now Queen of 

 Flowers, the Rose. 



