Febriarv 12, 1003. 



Tiie Weekly Florists^ Review. 



437 



House of Carnation " Daybreak Perfection " at Boehringer Bros., Bay City, Mich. 

 Photographed Nov. J 5, J 902. 



come ehrysantliemums to be lifted and 

 potted about Sept. 1, then the bench is 

 filled with field-gi'own dwarf .stewa, 

 which almost every grower who retails, 

 needs to set off his carnation blooms. 



Even though the product is wholesaled 

 and no bedding plants or chrysanthe- 

 mums are grown, the stevia can he 

 handled at a profit and when gone you 

 have a vacant space at about the right 

 time to receive stock which deserves a 

 much better place than is often thought 

 to be needed. 



Geo. S. Osbokn. 



CARNATION NOTES-WEST. 



Packing Blooms. 



The carnation convention is now only 

 about ten days off and a few words about 

 packing your exhibition blooms will not 

 be amiss. You know it is one thing to 

 grow a fine bloom and it is quite another 

 to send it in perfect condition over a 

 thousand miles or more. At every exhi- 

 bition you will see a few lots of blooms 

 that were ruined in transit and in many 

 cases it came principally from improper 

 packing. If you could lay your flowers 

 carefully into the box and cany it along 

 as j'ou do a made-up design, it would be 

 all right, but when you are obliged to 

 trust the box in the gentle hands of the 

 expressman to be tossed around and like- 

 ly as not stood on one end (and always 

 on the wrong end ) that is another prop- 

 osition. 



In the first place even- bloom should 

 be secured so that it can not move about 

 in the box and no bloom should be 

 crowded so as to be mashed out of 

 shape. Proceed thus: Take a wooden 

 or heavy card-board bo.x and line well 

 with newspaper and paraffin paper in- 

 side of all. Make some pillows by roll- 

 ing up some paper into rolls an inch 

 thick. Place one on the bottom about 

 three inches from the end and lay a 

 layer of blooms with the calyxes resting 

 on this pillow, then lay in another pil- 

 low and a row of blooms and so on un- 

 til the box is full. Lay some wet tissue 

 paper between the stems occasionally to 



keep them moist and also nail a cleat 

 across about every four rows to hold 

 them in place. 



If you are a decorator you will likely 

 liave some of those little glass tubes 

 tliat Mr. Kift's fertile brain invented 

 and they are just what you want, for 

 long distance shipping especially. Put 

 one of those on eacli stem and pack just 

 as described above and if the blooms 

 do not arrive in good shape you can 

 safely blame the express company. 



Never lay a second layer of blooms 

 on top when you are shipping show 

 blooms, as they will surely crush those 

 Ix'low to some extent and damage them. 

 If you wrap the bo.x well on tlie outside 

 with heavy paper you will not need to 

 use much lining on the inside, and I 

 guess it is best to wrap well outside. 



Remember that all standard varieties 

 must be up by 1 p. m. Thursday, so 

 ship on timCj and if you go yourself to 

 set tlieni up, see that you liave them up 

 on time. There are usually a few who 

 stand around and talk when they ought 

 to be hustling as hard as they can hus- 

 tle, and when they are reminded that 

 they are late they will feel offended. 

 You know how it is. I also hope that 

 you have written to the secretary for 

 what labels you need as he is a hard 

 worked man during that week and you 

 should do what you can to make his 

 burden lighter. 



Cuttings. 



If you have some more carnation cutt- 

 ings to make you should do so now as 

 soon as possible. Conditions are very 

 favorable now, but in a few weeks we 

 will liave some very warm days and 

 propagating will not be so sure then. 

 What Brother Scott said in the 

 last issue about using sand over the 

 second time is quite true, and many 

 firms are very wasteful in that respect. 

 When I take out a batch of cuttings 

 and tliere are no dead ones and no de- 

 cayed leaves I do not hesitate to use the 

 sand for a second batch, after allowing 

 it to dry out thoroughly to sweeten it 

 up .some. A coarse sand will be found 

 best in this respect, as it does not sour 



so quickly as a fine sand. I do not 

 use the copper and ammonia as Mr. Scott 

 recommends, but I do not mean to say a 

 word against it. If I see any danger of 

 fungus I do not use the sand over, but 

 take it out and get in some fresh. \"ou 

 will have to watch your cuttings closer 

 now on bright days because the sun is 

 gaining strength and your houses get 

 quite warm when it is bright. Sprinkle 

 them oftener and shade closer and be- 

 ware of draughts when the ventilators 

 are up. Do not let tliem remain wet 

 over head at night though too much. 



In the last January number Mr. Os- 

 born refers to the trouble some gi-owers 

 are experiencing in rooting Mrs. Nelson 

 cuttings and he tells how he roots them 

 successfully. I have not lost 3 per cent 

 of all the Mrs. Nelson cuttings I put 

 in sand tliis winter, although I can not 

 say that is an easy rooter. My experi- 

 ence with it has been as follows: The 

 first two weeks it will look just like any 

 other variety, crisp and fresh, but about 

 the third week it begins to wilt badly 

 and then is when you want to watch it. 

 Do not spray it overhead too much, but 

 give plenty of water at the roots, shade 

 closely and keep off all draughts. About 

 the fourth week they begin to root and 

 the danger is over. If you keep spray- 

 ing them too much you will start rust 

 and fungus, and that is what many com- 

 plain of. Another thing that will help 

 3'ou is not to keep your plants too 

 moist. This variety grows very strong 

 and the young shoots are apt to be soft, 

 which of course increases the danger of 

 wilting, etc. Water just a little spar- 

 ingly, but do not let the plants suffer, 

 and your cuttings will be more matured 

 and they will root more readily. 



A. F. J. Baue. 



CARNATIONS AND LETTUCE. 



Is it practicable to grow Grand 

 Rapids lettuce and carnations in the 

 same house? Will they thrive well in 

 the same temperature, with same venti- 

 lation, etc.? 



Would be obliged for a list of stand- 

 ard and new carnations that would 

 make a desirable collection, and advice 

 as to the percentage of each color to be 

 grown. J. W. M. & Soxs. 



Ohio. 



I am not a lettuce grower, and I do 

 not know just what the ideal conditions 

 are for growing it, but I have several 

 times seen lettuce and carnations grow- 

 ing in the same house and apparently 

 with good success. Only a few weeks 

 ago I visited a friend and he had a 

 whole house in lettuce right next to a 

 carnation house and no partition be- 

 tween the houses. The carnations were 

 good and the lettuce looked good to me. 

 Neither one wants much heat, but I do 

 not know if lettuce needs any thing that 

 would injure carnations, or if the smoke 

 for instance, needed by the carnations, 

 would injure the lettuce. 



I do not know what varieties of car- 

 nations you have, and so I cannot know 

 if your list is up to date or not. Here 

 are some good ones in the various col- 

 ors: Mrs. Lawson. Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. 

 .Joost and Dorothy, for pink ; Flora Hill, 

 White Cloud, Lorna and Queen Louise, 

 for white; Crane, America, Apollo and 

 Mrs. P. Palmer, for red; Gayety and 

 Stella, for variegated, and Roosevelt, 

 for crimson. Divide them as follows: 

 40 per cent pink. 20 per cent white, 20 

 per cent red and 10 per cent each varie- 



