542 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



FEBRUARY 24, 1898. 



this society should find it profitable to 

 make practical application of the sug- 

 gestions of the paper. 



INTRODUCTION OF NEW 

 CARNATIONS. 



Bv Fred. Dokxek. 

 LKcacI ItL'fort- the Cliicagu Con\ t-ntion ul the .Amer- 

 ican Carnation Society.] 



The introduction of new varieties, 

 and their commercial value, so far as 

 it can be ascertained : what are com- 

 mercial varieties and in what does 

 their value consist? 1 believe many 

 entertain erroneous ideas, that will 

 lead to erroneous opinions and conclu- 

 sions, detrimental to a progressive evo- 

 lution of the carnation. The general 

 conception of a commercial variety in 

 the first place embraces quantity, qual- 

 ity being of secondary consideration. If 

 so many flowers are cut to a plant, so 

 many thousands marketed and sold 

 from a house, it is conclusive to many. 

 That they were sold shows that quality 

 was of a grade sufficient to effect a sale. 

 But now let us go a little further and 

 compare these commercial varieties 

 with some that are not so prolific in 

 quantity, but superior in quality, and 

 consequently, according to this idea, 

 outside the apprehended lange of a 

 commercial variety. 



Let us compare prices at which these 

 different varieties are generally sold; 

 if higher or lower, the difference re- 

 mains proportionately the same. Sup- 

 pose lOU blooms, the product of three 

 plants, are sold at $2.00. or 2 cents 

 each; now, according to my experience, 

 the following grades, all the product of 

 three plants, can be grown at the same 

 cost, but as quantity diminishes, qual- 

 ity Improves: Ninety blooms may 

 bring $2.25, or 2'-^ cents each; Si blooms 

 may bring $2.40. or 3 cents each; 70 

 blooms may bring $2.45. or SU cents 

 each, and 00 blooms may be sold at 

 $2.40. bringing as much as the 80 

 blooms. Now it is not uncommon that 

 an e.xtra fine variety is sold at $5.00 per 

 100, but we will allow only 50 blooms to 

 the three plants, that is. half of the 

 first realize $2.50, or 50 cents more for 

 half the number of blooms, though of 

 superior quality. I believe I am only 

 stating facts as they appear every day 

 in every flower market of tuis land. 

 Fifty cents more on the returns from 

 three plants does not seem very much, 

 but on a house full, say about :2,000 

 plants, it aggregates to $330. What is 

 of the greatest value in a variety, 

 quantity or quality? I believe we had 

 better relegate these apprehended com- 

 mercial varieties to the second rank 

 and pay more attention to the others. 

 It is always acceptable when we have 

 a variety of fine quality, and one from 

 which we can cut many blooms to a 

 plant, but the trend in improvement in- 

 cludes size also, and we go rather be- 

 yond Nature's power if we expect both 

 at the same time. 



The introductions of new varieties in 

 the past have in man.v instances been 



failures, resulting from different 

 causes; some from natural conse- 

 quences that could not be foreseen, but 

 often neglect, ignorance and avarice, 

 an overtaxing of Nature's abilUy, are 

 potent factors, which place the intro- 

 duction of new varieties in an odious 

 light. Disappointment and losses, as 

 they are too often experienced, make 

 the purchaser suspicious of the new 

 varieties offered every year; he ex- 

 pects for bis good money what he is of- 

 fered in the gow ng advertisements. 

 We must admit that there are causes 

 where the disseminator cannot be held 

 responsible, such as change of loca- 

 tion and different mode of treatment, 

 though these are by no means the least. 

 But there are others that can be avoid- 

 ed by a conscientious grower. A nov- 

 ice in the originating and growing of 

 new varieties is only too apt to over- 

 look defects. In the admiration of his 

 work he looks with loving eyes at his 

 pets; and let me tell you where new 

 varieties are treated as pets, a rigid, 

 thorough trial, such as is necessary to 

 determine the good and bad qualities of 

 a variety, is impossible. Another cause 

 is a too high culture in the effort to 

 make a good showing, which cannot be 

 maintained under an ordinary culture 

 for profit. The growing and introduc- 

 tion of new varieties is a business, and 

 as in every other trade, one must be 

 prepared to meet misrepiesentations by 

 unscrupulous people. On the o.her 

 hand, when a grower conscientiously 

 gives his new varieties a thorough trial 

 that convinces him of their true value 

 and justifies him in a dissemination, he 

 expects a compensation that will pay 

 him for his work, and can hardly be 

 held responsible for shortcomings that 

 may afterwards appear, and of which 

 he was unaware. 



As our present mode of judging new 

 varieties is carried on, the exhibitor 

 has largely the advantage over the one 

 who depends on the decision of the 

 judges in the investment of new varie- 

 ties. The judges can only judge what 

 they see; whether the exhibitor would 

 have been able to make a similar 

 showing one or two months earlier or 

 later is outside of their province, as is 

 also a true representation of the 

 habit. The showing of one plant with 

 the exhibition bloom has cue same ele- 

 ment of uncertainty. Various sugges- 

 tions have been offered to alleviate 

 these discrepancies in our system of 

 judging. One is a suggestion to send 

 judges to the exhibitors' establishments 

 and see the candidates for certificates 

 at their homes. To see them once, 

 would be, in my opinion, not much bet- 

 ter than the present system, and to see 

 them several times would, by the in- 

 creasing number of seedlings grown 

 every year, cause more expense than 

 the society or the growers would care 

 to shoulder. 



One other suggestion is to appoint 

 stations for trial in different parts of 

 the country. This meets with opposi- 

 tion from the growers, for it can hard- 

 ly be expected that they should be of 

 such a philanthropic disposition as to 



scatter their new varieties over the 

 country. And if the growers would fa- 

 vor such a proposition, judging from 

 present indications, a large house 

 would be filled with the applicants for 

 honor at each station. Who would un- 

 dertake such a venture, and v.'ho would 

 pay the expenses? What we need is a 

 system that determines the value of a 

 variety through the most important 

 time of the season, at least; not only 

 when they can be shown at their best, 

 but with the defects exposed without 

 encroaching on the rights of the grow- 

 er; and further to give a purchaser, 

 who takes the verdict of the judges as 

 a guidance, a chance to Judge to some 

 extent lor himself. Such a system. I am 

 of the opinion, could be arranged, and 

 besides would be inexpensive, as I will 

 illustrate further on. 



Our carnations being in the market 

 the whole year, we would like to know 

 how a new variety behaves, at least 

 during the most important part, the 

 late fall and winter months. Now why 

 not imitate the Chrysanthemum Soci- 

 ety by appointing standing committees 

 in the principal cities, and let them sit 

 once a month for five successive 

 months, say on the 15th of November, 

 December, January, February and 

 March, respectively, it is to the inter- 

 est of the exhibitor to exhibit a variety 

 with as many committees as possible, 

 if he is fortunate to possess enough 

 stock to do so, but he has to show the 

 same variety each month to at least one 

 committee, and if it scores three times 

 the required number out of the five 

 times shown, it will be entitled to the 

 society's certificate. If a grower wishes 

 to magnify the value or his certificate 

 he has only to show on a large scale, 

 that is, with as many committees as 

 possible. If sent from a distance the 

 condition in which the flowers arrive 

 should receive special mention. By 

 missing to show at any of the appoint- 

 ed times, would indicate that the grow- 

 er's plants are not blooming at that 

 time. If a shipment should accidental- 

 ly get spoiled in transit, the exhibitor 

 should at on<'e be notifiea, and allowed 

 to make another exhibit, to be judged 

 within a week's time. If a grower 

 wishes to disseminate a variety during 

 the season of judging, and can score 

 sufficiently high the first three months, 

 a certificate will certainly be of value 

 to him. A certificate received under 

 this mode of judging is valuable alike 

 to the disseminator and those who wish 

 to invest. To further enhance its value 

 to the latter, the results of each 

 month's judging should be published at 

 once in all of the trade papers, not only 

 mentioning the aggregate of points 

 scored, but giving the points awarded 

 on each characteristic of the flower as 

 well as the total. 



To know exactly the specified points 

 a variety receives, it is of the greatest 

 value to those who wish to buy. In 

 this way the purchaser, having a record 

 in the publications, is to a large extent 

 his own judge and the committees are 

 the appraisers. By publishing the 

 whole, the line drawn by the limit of 85 



