Decembek is. 1902. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



145 



Basket of Carnations. No. 3. 



manure and sand in equal proportions 

 'thoroughly incorporated, suits it adr 

 mirably. 



As this fern is very impatient of heat 

 at the roots the pipes should not be 

 under the benches but removed as far 

 from the bench as is convenient. To pro- 

 duce large perfect fronds in paying 

 quantities a temperature of 62° to 05° 

 is required during the night, rising to 

 72° or 70° during the day, maintaining 

 a rather close and moist atmosphere. 

 As the fronds approach their full size 

 the temperature should be gradually re- 

 duced till it reaches 55° nights and 65° 

 during the day; this will mature the 

 fronds, prepare them for shipping pur- 

 poses, and make them really useful to 

 the retailer. 



Draughts being very injurious to the 

 young aud tender fronds, it is better to 

 have the benches as far removed from 

 the ventilators as possible; in fact they 

 seem to grow more lu.Kuriantly if the 

 benches are quite close to the floor, and 

 particularly so in a house the floor of 

 which is a foot or two below the level 

 of the surrounding surface. To obtain a 

 rich green color on the fronds and to 

 keep the plants in a growing condition, 

 it is necessary to shade dui-ing summer, 

 beginning to shade lightly early in the 

 spring and deepening the shade as the 

 season advances up till September, when 

 the shading should be gradually re- 

 moved. They require very little shade 

 during winter. 



The largest and handsomest fronds 

 are those produced by seedling plants. 

 Plants from 2i-inch pots make excellent 

 stock for benching and to insure a good 

 cut during the winter these should be 

 benched in June, watering liberally and 

 keeping the atmosphere of the house very 

 moist during summer. A quicker and 

 less expensive way of securing stock is 

 t o br eak up the old plants into small 

 pieces, pot into 2J-inch pots and give a 

 good start previous to benching, but they 

 seldom give the same satisfaction as 

 young stock. To improve the quality of 

 the fronds during summer a mulch of 

 well decomposed cow manure broken up 

 fine and spread between the rows one- 



half inch thick should be applied before 

 the hot weather begins. 



There are few plants which respond so 

 readily to an application of liquid food 

 as this does if applied at the right sea- 

 son. When the young fronds are 4 or 5 

 inches long and before they begin to un- 

 furl is the right time to commence with 

 liquid feeding, which must be discon- 

 tinued as soon as the fronds are full}' 

 expanded. 



This plant has also its insect enemies, 

 snails and sow bugs being the most de- 

 structive. With a little care and trou- 

 ble both of these can be easily destroyed. 

 To catch the snails, traps in the form of 

 cabbage leaves or old half rotten boards 

 should be placed between the rows. With 

 the first peep of daylight the snails will 

 go to cover beneath these and they can 

 then easily be collected and destroyed 

 each morning. Sow bugs are readily 

 destroyed by spreading finely sifted bran 

 mixed with paris green along the edges 

 of the i)enches. To keep greenfly in 

 check a light mulch of chopped up to- 

 bacco stems will answer the purpose; 

 even a very light smoking with tobacco 

 will be sure to injure the young fronds. 



RiBES. 



A TRIP TO LAFAYETTE. 



When we hear any one mention the 

 name Lafayette we think of Dorner, and 

 when we think of Dorner. we are think- 

 ing of carnations. Having promised my- 

 self and wife an unusual treat we took 

 the morning train for Lafayette and ar- 

 rived at Dorner's about 10 o'clock. The 

 weather was bad, but if they know you 

 are coming you need not worry about a 

 way to get to their place, for their car- 

 riage is always in waitlnjf. 



Mr. Dorner, Sr., took us first of all 

 for a look through the seedling houses, 

 knowing well that they would be by 

 far the most interesting part of the 

 place. I have seen seedlings on many 

 places and in large quantities, but never 

 have I seen such system and orderliness 

 as is found here. As you go through 

 the houses and notice an extra fine one 

 here and another there and notice their 

 resemblance to some well known variety, 

 perhaps in habit or bloom, Mr. Dorner 

 will pull a small note-book from his 



pocket and in a jiffy he will tell you 

 whether there was any blood of that va- 

 riety introduced in many generations 

 back. Keeping these records entails a 

 lot of work, but it is certainly a nice 

 thing to be able to refer to them, and 

 Mhere this work is carried on as exten- 

 sively as it is here it surel.v pa.vs, too. 



Just to give you an idea of its extent, 

 Jlr. Dorner told me that last spring he 

 planted in the field 8.000 seedling car- 

 nation plants. Out of these 2.200 were 

 brought to flower again. From last year 

 they have nearly 300 varieties in their 

 second year and of thcMr in their third 

 and fourth there are several houses full. 

 Tliere are all colors and styles, and it 

 would be hard to mention a color or 

 combination of colors that you could not 

 find here. Among the most promising 

 is a white under number 123-1900, and 

 in fact it has already shown its super- 

 iority by winning at Kansas City 

 and Chicago this fall. For a money- 

 making fancy white, I could not think 

 of anj- way that it might be improvea 

 upon. There are many others, however, 

 that are fine, too, and it would be im- 

 possible for me to give you even a small 

 part of the good ones. Go and see them 

 for yourself. 



Two varieties are to be disseminated 

 next spring, and both are worthy a trial 

 by every grower. Sibyl is a very pleas- 

 ing shade of bright pink of good size and 

 on a strong stem. The growth of this 

 variety is just about ideal, upright and 

 extremely free. !Mr. Dorner tells me 

 that the variety is never oft' crop from 

 early in the season until late in the 

 spring. The other is named Penelope 

 and is a white of good size and on 

 good stems and very free. Mr. Dorner 

 says this variety is of extra value be- 

 cause it is the earliest one he has ever 

 seen and it will make a fine summer va- 

 riety. 



Yes, I was fortunate enough to see 

 a few blooms of Fiancee, most of the 

 blooming shoots having been taken off. 

 That it is a grand carnation you al- 

 ready know, for did it not win in open 

 competition with the best varieties in 

 existence at Chicago? It is one of those 

 things which ^-ou can only stand and ad- 

 mire and when you come away you 

 wonder how such a variety was ever 

 produced. It will take a large stock 

 to supply the demand when this variety 

 is put on the market. 



One of the things I wanted to see was 

 how their Alba were doing, and I was 

 surprised at the size of their plants and 

 the crop of buds and blooms and I am 

 more convinced than ever that if prop- 

 agated early this will be a profitable va- 

 riet.v. Apollo and Stella also show up 

 in fine form, as do many others of their 

 varieties and others in thei standard 

 classes. I never saw a healthier and 

 cleaner lot of plants than theirs and 

 nearly every bench is full of buds and 

 blooms. 



There is an immense stock of plants 

 for propagating only. These are planted 

 on benches separate from the others 

 and all the blooming shoots are kept 

 picked oflf and all the young shoots are 

 used for cuttings, in which this firm does 

 an immense trade. Their propagating 

 house is modern in every way, ■ivith 

 brick bottom benches, etc. 



This firm does not work only in car- 

 nations, however. Tliere are houses full 

 of all kinds of decorative and blooming 

 plants for a retail trade, of which they 

 have all they can handle. Miss Emily 

 and! Mr. Herman Dorner and several 



