496 



HORTICULTURE 



April 3, 1909 



WHAT THE EXPERIMENT STA- 

 TIONS ARE DOING FOR THE 

 CARNATION GROWER. 



Ueail before the Ameriiau Carnation So- 

 ciety at Indianapolis l)y II. B. Dorner. 



During the past fifteen years ttie 

 continually increasing demand for car- 

 nations has necessarily led to an in- 

 crease in the greenhouse space devoted 

 to the cultivation of this plant. With 

 this increase many new and perplexing 

 problems have been forced upon us. 

 There is hardly a plant that has more 

 diseases and insect pests affecting it. 



In those states where many carna- 

 tions are grown the experiment sta- 

 tions have attempted, from time to 

 time, to solve some of these problems. 

 The results of these studies have been 

 published in bulletins and reports of 

 the stations. 



Most of the work in the past has been 

 done on a small scale with just a few 

 plants, and the results, to a certain de- 

 gree, are rather indefinite. Today it is 

 realized, that to have results compar- 

 able with commercial work, one must 

 carry on these experiments on a com- 

 mercial scale. Many of the stations 

 are now building or have built green- 

 houses which are devoted entirely to 

 special floricultural crops. 



In looking over the work done by 

 the various stations one finds that the 

 problems of ten or fifteen years ago are 

 not altogether the problems of today. 

 Some of the earliest work on the car- 

 nation was on rust and its prevention 

 and destruction. At that time the car- 

 nations were not rust-resistant and 

 were easily affected. Since those days 

 the varieties sent out each >ear have 

 been more resistant each year until 

 today the rust is not the enemy that 

 it formerly was. No chemical has been 

 found as yet that will eradicate it, and 

 its disappearance is due to a change 

 in the constitution of the host. Its 

 worst days are over. 



Stem-rot has been discussed time and 

 time again, but no effective method has 

 been devised for its destruction. Its 

 disappearance will also follow on the 

 breeding of resistant varieties. 



The questions of today then seem to 

 be along the line of carnation breeding, 

 methods for the prevention and de- 

 struction of insect enemies and prob- 

 lems of nutrition, or, in other words, 

 the proper use of fertilizers. 



In order to secure the necessary 

 data for this paper, the writer sent a 

 letter to the director of each agricul- 

 tural experiment station in the United 

 States recjuesting such information as 

 could be given regarding results that 

 have been published and also the work 

 which is being carried on at the pres- 

 ent time. 



No attempt shall be made to discuss 

 the work of the stations in detail, but 

 to give a brief resume of what has 

 been done and what they are doing at 

 present. 



The requirements of the carnation 

 naturally prohibit its being grown in 

 certain parts of the country, and so 

 many stations carry on no work along 

 this line. This includes most of the 

 states south of the Mason and Dixon 

 line, and also many of the western 

 states. Replies have been received to 



most of these, but the report is natu- 

 rally incomplete as some have failed 

 to answer. In addition to this infor- 

 mation data was secured from an ex- 

 amination of the literature published. 



It will be found that most work has 

 been done by the stations of those 

 states which may be called carnation 

 centers. The troubles of the carnation 

 growers were important enough to oc- 

 cupy a part of their time. 



Among the stations from which re- 

 plies have been received are a number 

 where no work has been done. This 

 is not due to a lack of interest but be- 

 cause very few, if any, carnations are 

 grown in the state, and so time and 

 funds have been expended on other 

 crops. Among these are the following 

 southern and westerii states: New 

 Mexico, California, Louisiana. West 

 Virginia, Alabama, Utah, Montana, 

 Wyoming, Kentucky. Maine, Minne- 

 sota and North Dakota also have done 

 nothing along this line. 



Florida has attempted to grow car- 

 nations but found that northern varie- 

 ties all failed in the south. The va- 

 riety Augusta was sent out from there 

 as the only variety suitable for the 

 state. South Carolina grows a few car- 

 nations but has carried on no experi- 

 ments, as there are few floral estab- 

 lishments in the state. In North Caro- 

 lina the work has been recent and 

 some time has been devoted to root- 

 knot of carnations. Virginia has done 

 nothing but expects to take up work in 

 floriculture in the near future. 



Pennsylvania has also done nothing 

 but expects to take up some carnation 

 work as soon as new houses are fin- 

 ished. Ohio has done a little on sub- 

 irrigation and crossing but has pub- 

 lished nothing. Michigan has done 

 nothing, due to lack of equipment. 

 Wisconsin has no facilities at present, 

 but floricultural work will begin as 

 soon as new houses are completed. 

 Iowa grows a few plants for class work 

 but has given them no attention as a 

 crop. Kansas has done some work on 

 control of rust but has published noth- 

 ing. Missouri has confined her work 

 entirely to practical methods of pre- 

 venting rust and suggests use of dry 

 Bordeaux mixture. In Oregon a little 

 work has been done but no data pub- 

 lished. In Washington only a few car- 

 nations are grown for class work. 

 Commercially few carnations are plant- 

 ed; time and space being devoted to 

 roses. 



Thus far the report shows that there 

 are some stations in carnation grow- 

 ing sections at which floricultural 

 work would be carried on if they had 

 the proper equipment and funds. Sev- 

 eral of these have greenhouses under 

 construction and will take up this line 

 of work lu the near future. There are, 

 however, a number of stations at which 

 much work has been done with the car- 

 nation and where still more is being 

 done. 



At the New Hampshire station the 

 following problems are now under con- 

 sideration: 



1. "A test of the value of farm ma- 

 nures judiciously used in the compost 

 heap, as a means of improving the 

 growth of plants, size and other points 

 of excellence in the flower." 



2. "A test of the value of commer- 

 cial fertilizers applied as a top dressing 

 to carnation benches." 



3. "How to accotint for the earli- 

 ness and free floweting of carnations, 



the theory being worked out in seed- 

 lings." 



4. "Pot culture of carnations dur- 

 ing summer months in cold frames 

 compared to field culture." 



5. "House culture of carnations 

 compared to outside culture." 



6. "Suitable soils for winter culture 

 of carnations." 



7. "Inheritance of color in carna- 

 tions." 



New Hampshire has devoted to this 

 work at present time 2500 square feet 

 of glass. 



In A'^ermont Mr. Stuart has done 

 some interesting work on crossing car- 

 nations, the results of which appear in 

 the 20th annual report of the station. 

 The work consists of a study of sea- 

 sonal influence in crossing relative to 

 seed production in which Mt. Stuart 

 arrives at the conclusion that early 

 crosses are most successful, giving a 

 higher percentage of successes, a larg- 

 er number of seeds and a higher per- 

 centage of gennination. Some atten- 

 tion has also been given to Mendelian 

 inheritance in the carnation with re- 

 spect to the unit characters of single 

 and double. He finds that the law 

 holds good in the case of the carnation. 



In Jlassachusetts some work has 

 been done at both stations. At the 

 Hatch station two bulletins have been 

 published. Number 10 deals with fer- 

 tilizers for carnations and Number 80 

 gives directions for spraying. The 

 17th report gives some notes on soil 

 sterilization and the 14th some notes 

 on stem-rot. In the reports of the 

 state station are found notes on stem- 

 rot and analyses of carnations. 



In bulletin 128 the Rhode Island sta- 

 tion gives the results of soil treatment 

 in culture of carnations. At present a 

 fifty-foot house is devoted to experi- 

 ments on the effect of various kinds of 

 physical and chemical soil treatment 

 upon carnation growth. This is now 

 only in its second season and nothing 

 has been published as yet. 



Connecticut has issued various notes 

 on results of experiments with carna- 

 tion diseases, effect of lime on develop- 

 ment and the use of commercial fertil- 

 izers. These have been published in 

 the station reports of 1896, 1897, 1899, 

 1900 and 1906. 



At the Cornell station the carnation 

 has been used in various experiments 

 as crossing, influence of electric and 

 acetylene light, influence of fertilizers 

 on vegetative parts and on vigor, quan- 

 tity and viability of pollen. Records 

 have been made of work but not print- 

 ed as yet. 



At the State station at Geneva some 

 very comprehensive work has been 

 done. The latest bulletin published 

 (Technical Btilletin No. 7) contains the 

 results of a verj' careful study of the 

 bud-rot. its causes and control. In 

 addition to this publication the follow- 

 ing bulletins have also been issued: 

 No. 100 on methods of "Combating 

 Carnation Rust"; No. 138, "Effects of 

 Common Salt on the Growth of Car- 

 nations and Carnation Rust"; No. 104, 

 on "Leaf Spot"; No. 175, "A Parasite 

 upon Carnation Rust"; No. 186 con- 

 tains notes on stem-rot. 



In New Jersey investigations have 

 recently been taken up. At the present 

 time a study is being made of the 

 physical condition of the redshale soil 

 using various proportions of sand and 

 organic matter. 



In Bulletin 127 the Maryland station 



