Feljniary 29, 1908 



HORTICUUTURi: 



•267 



haps with some growers there would 

 be such a demand but not as a rule 

 would this be true. The Commercial 

 Carnation in its broadest sense is the 

 medium sized bloom, the average 

 length stem, the non-bursting calyx, 

 the even-colored bloom, with the keep- 

 ing and shipping qualities which are 

 usually a part of the make-up of such 

 bloom as I have tried to describe. 

 Light Pink, Intermediate Pink, Dark 

 or Cerise Pink, Scarlet. Dark Red and 

 White we must consider standards. 



Variegated we must class as fancy 

 for both White and Yellow Variegated 

 are profitable only when grown where 

 there is a market which calls for them. 



The number of bloom per square foot 

 of bench and the number of dollars 

 per year is the only question the com- 

 mercial grower should consider. The 

 average number of bloom per plant is 

 a deceiving method of calculating the 

 profitableness of a variety, for one 

 plant of some varieties will occupy 

 the same space as three of a different 

 type which run to bloom and not to 

 plant. 



Then too one year's experience with 

 a novelty is not always a proper guide 

 if the results be shown merely on 

 paper. A different handling may pro- 

 duce different results. Very few 

 varieties become disseminated with- 

 out having some good features, and 

 while one variety may do well in a 

 locality, another may not. This is the 

 nature of the beast, and having in 

 mind several that have failed me, 

 and done well elsewhere, I will drop 

 the subject. 



tiiven. then, a stock of standard 

 varieties, what is the best method of 

 handling them all the way through? 

 To this 1 reply, with consideration for 

 the individuality of each and every 

 variety in your list. I will try to ex- 

 plain myself on this subject. 



Three distinct classes of varieties ap- 

 pear to me. One inclined to soft, heavy 

 foliage and curly leaves. This type 

 ip inclined to come short jointed, and 

 to require an unusually heavy body of 

 roots to produce early bloom with 

 stems long enough to be worth the 

 handling. For these there is nothing 

 but indoor culture to secure the best 

 results. 



The second class is the doubtful one. 

 The thin foliaged. loose jointed speci- 

 men which makes only bloom if grown 

 inside and very little plant. It needs 

 less soil, and with less top makes 

 correspondingly less root. Field cul- 

 ture with early benching seems the 

 best, as the production of plant is 

 easier to accomplish in the field. 



As a type of the third or variable 

 class. I wish to mention Enchantress, 

 a variety which will be found superb 

 for indoor culture, and an easy variety 

 to lift from the field, even as late as 

 September to fill the last ends and 

 prevent loss of space. 



Classing these varieties then, as we 

 do, we plan our planting as soon as we 

 can determine how much room we can 

 count on after Easter. The condition 

 of the breaks from ten to twelve inches 

 above the soil in February will deter- 

 mine this. Get the hea\'y foliaged va- 

 rieties ready for an early start. Then 

 comes the wait for after Memorial Day. 

 and the summer's shifting is in full 

 blast, aiming always to leave a part 

 ■of a house of White and some En- 

 chantress for the last of June. 

 We like to handle ^cung stock in 



pots for the April benching, and in 3- 

 inch is a convenient size to handle, 

 this stock having been shifted from 2- 

 inch, or 2 1-4, as the case may be. 

 Where this stock has been in 2-inch, 

 however, a shift to 2 1-2 inch and then 

 to 3-inch is to be preferred to a single 

 repotting. 



For later use, benching out in shal- 

 low soil about 4 inches apart gives a 

 better chance for the plants, and 

 means less work, and danger of loss 

 or stunting due to being pot bound is 

 avoided. 



Field planting from 2-inch pots is 

 the nexi in order, and then the care 

 in the field. Summer watering I do 

 not approve of, and for the following 

 reasons: It is very seldom that the 

 soil takes up this moisture to ariy 

 depth. If done at night, the sun of 

 the next day takes more even than was 

 given. A continual wetting of the fo- 

 liage at night is a great incentive to 

 leaf spot, and a growth under these 

 conditions will be soft and is there- 

 fore an easy subject to such fungus. 



The best plants come from the field 

 that gets the most hoeing, and I do not 

 think a well cultivated field can be im- 

 15roved upon, except by more hoeing. 



Our system then is a combination of 

 the two. or rather three methods; 

 Pot culture, bedding them out in the 

 houses intended for chrysanthemums, 

 and field culture. 



"Would you plant them all inside if 

 you could ?" is a question 1 am often 

 asked, and I can only answer it by 

 saying that it is an impossibility to 

 handle all our stock with any one 

 method. Our supply of bloom is 

 broken tor only two months, as we out 

 by September first from the first 

 planted houses, and our last houses we 

 aim to plant in early July and do not 

 care to cut from them until November. 



Last season we planted one bench in 

 March, and they are still looking well 

 and producing the bloom. 



"Do you prefer the bench to the sol- 

 id bed?" is another. I will answer it 

 Ijy sayin.g that for early planted stock 

 the bed is superior; for field plants I 

 prefer the bench. The heavy foliaged 

 varieties seem to be in their element 

 on the beds, while the others seem to 

 even up matters. 



Temperatures can almost be figured 

 liy classes, the heavy foliaged varie- 

 ties, as a rule, standing for a little 

 more heat. The evenness of the- night 

 temperature is perhaps the most es- 

 sential. Very seldom have we had any 

 trouble with bloom which could not 

 be traced to this source. Softness in 

 such varieties as Enchantress usually 

 means an overabundance of water at 

 the root, or a too high temperature at 

 night. A hard bud is usually a check 

 from contact with glass, or cold 

 draughts of air at some time, due per- 

 haps to a sudden drop in temperature, 

 or a broken glass. If we would .grow 

 carnations well we must watch them 

 nights. 



The producing of the best is one 

 long struggle. Insects, fungi and tem- 

 perature all make it a never ending 

 fight. Watchfulness, combined with 

 common sense and the willingness to 

 do hard work, will succeed in meeting 

 these troubles, and coming out with 

 success and credit. 



To the retailer I would say, "Help 

 the grower." What sells best with 

 you? What colors are you wanting 



most? Advise him how they keep, and 

 he'll know how to run the houses. 



And growers, let me say to you that 

 it is poor economy to grow second- 

 class stock because business is dull 

 this season. On good stock depends 

 your future, for it is one of the essen- 

 tial elements of suc<-ess. 



POINTS ON CARNATION BREED- 

 ING IN AMERICA. 



Read before the Joint meeting ot the 

 American Carnation Society and Amer- 

 ican Breeders' Association by C. 

 Willis Ward, Queens, N. i'. 



{Continit^d from page 242) 



Color Percentage in Various Pedigree 

 Crosses. 

 In order to render the study ot 

 pedigrees easier, 1 have devised a sys- 

 tem of "bench-cards" which are used 

 as labels tied to each variety under 

 experiment, and which at the end of 

 the season are filed away in a card 

 index, thus preserving all of the 

 original records made in my work. 

 1 find this system exceptionally use- 

 ful, as it enables one to determine 

 at a glance the pedigree of any 

 variety when working upon it. My 

 object has been to study out some 

 system whereby the color tones might 

 be purified, and rendered more bril- 

 liant or delicate and more pleasing to 

 the eye; and while I have paid some 

 considerable attention to size of 

 flowers, freedom of bloom, integrity 

 of calyx, length and strength of 

 stem, and fragrance, the purity of the 

 color has been my first consideration. 

 In order to develop more brilliant 

 shades, I have, as a rule, confined my 

 crosses to plants both bearing flowers 

 of the color which I desire to im- 

 prove that is to say, crimsons were 

 crossed with crimsons, light pinks 

 with light pinks, dark pinks with 

 dark pinks, whites with whites, and 

 so on; and the result seems to indi- 

 cate the following hypothesis, viz., 

 that the percentage of color con- 

 tained in the percentage for several 

 generations back controls to a very 

 large extent the color of the progeny. 

 I do not, of course, mean that by 

 using parents on both sides that have 

 practically a scarlet pedigree for sev- 

 eral generations back all scarlets will 

 be invariably produced, but that 

 where such parents are used, the 

 chance of securing the improved 

 scarlet color desired are greatly in- 

 creased. True, the progeny of such 

 parentage frequently show many 

 shades varying from the red or scar- 

 let, such as pinks, maroons, purples, 

 and even white and yellow grounds 

 with more or less variegation of all 

 of the colors mentioned. Again, a 

 cross between a white variety, hav- 

 ing practically a white pedigree for 

 several generations, frequently pro- 



