April 3, 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



601 



Wholesale Florist 



57 West 28 th St. 

 NEW YORK 



A FULL LINE OF 



Choice Seasonable Flowers 



after year, by continuing this method 

 the seedlings will, to a large extent, 

 be a reproduction of the parents as to 

 color. Habit of plant will often resem- 

 ble either parent, or be exactly inter- 

 mediate, but there is no certainty in 

 the matter, as the most un-looked for 

 colors appear at times, such as a pure 

 white from the crossing of two reds, 

 or vice versa. We can only hope and 

 work towards the desired end. and if 

 we stick to it long enough success will 

 ultimately crown our efforts. One 

 can invariably attain to anything they 

 make up their mind for, providing 

 they have the staying qualities, which 

 defeat only spurs on to greater ef- 

 fort, and here let me tell you is the 

 explanation for the "good luck" of 

 many. It comes simply by stick-to-it- 

 iveness. By some I have been termed 

 "lucky" in the production of some de- 

 sirable varieties. I leave this to your 

 own judgment. For instance, I 

 worked six years without satisfac- 

 tory results, to procure a worthy suc- 

 cessor to "Daybreak." 



About "Luck." 



During these years I raised hun- 

 dreds of similar color, but, as the song 

 says, "There was always something 

 wrong." Flowers too small, or too 

 large and split or stems too weak, 

 plants lacking in constitution, some- 

 thing out of balance. In these efforts 

 I had been using the pollen of Day- 

 break on other varieties. It occurred 

 to me that I might be working along 

 the wrong lines, so I reversed my tac- 

 tics. By using the pollen of the Law- 

 son color cerise on the variety Mrs. 

 Bradt, a white ground variegated with 



red — I procured Enchantress. 



The Lawson was raised from Day- 

 break, a flesh colored variety pollen 

 from Van Leeuwen, a dark pink. 



You see the color of Daybreak crop- 

 ping out. Was this simply CHANCE 

 or was it the working out of Mendell's 

 theory? There is food for reflection 

 and careful study along these lines. 

 Again when I tell you that from a 

 batch of first-year seedlings tested 

 three years ago, we retained 250 

 scarlets for a test in the greenhouse, 

 today we have three left of the 250 

 varieties, with the possibility of dis- 

 seminating ONE. Of the remaining 

 3250 we retained four with a possibility 

 of disseminating 2 or 3 at most. Think 

 of it— 4 out of 3500, then tell me where 

 the luck comes in! Yet a few years 

 ago hundreds of those varieties so 

 discarded would have been called 

 wonders. It is owing to the present 

 high standard of the carnation that 

 it becomes more difficult each year 

 to produce a decided acquisition. 

 Yet, looking backward through the 

 earliest years of my experiments, I 

 can see where I discarded many a 

 fine carnation through this critical 

 sifting down. Still it is much better 

 to be on the safe side. 



The Time to Work. 



The best time to commence cross 

 fertilization is during late October or 

 early November, that is, just after 

 the disappearance of flies and bees 

 that usually come into the green- 

 houses on the approach of cold 

 weather. 



Pollen at this season is also more 

 plentiful than during December, Janu- 



ary or February. The best time in 

 the day to cross fertilize is from 11 

 A. M. to 2 P. M., the earlier the better 

 (providing, of course, that the day is 

 warm and sunny, and the pollen per- 

 fectly dry). In transferring the pol- 

 len, some use a magnifying glass, 

 camel's hair brush and pair of 

 tweezers. I have never used either, 

 until recently when I find it necessary 

 to use eye glasses. I do not believe 

 in the method practiced' by some in 

 removing the petals of the flower 

 when half developed, as I think it in- 

 jurious to the normal development of 

 the other important parts of the 

 flower, so essential to success. My 

 custom is to split the calyx in three 

 or four places, so that the petals can 

 drop down around the stem, thus 

 leaving the pistil, stamens, anthers 

 and stigma fully exposed to light and 

 air. Ihe stamens can in this way be 

 easily removed between the thumb 

 and finger (fore-finger) with the 

 anthers and pollen intact, and trans- 

 mitted as desired. 



In using the camel's hair brush for 

 conveying the pollen there is danger 

 of getting it mixed, as it is difficult 

 to clean the brush, before using on a 

 different cross. In crossing, one 

 should always have a definite object 

 in view — an ideal to work up to. 

 Keep in mind the very best of the 

 various types now in existence — also 

 their defects, then go to work with a 

 determination to excel. The first re- 

 quisite and one to be always kept in 

 mind is a healthy, vigorous constitu- 

 tion, that means disease resisting; 

 next comes color, always indis 

 pensable, for no matter if all other 



