March 23, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



387 



CULTURE OF THE CARNATION. 



(Paper read before the Morris Co. Garden- 

 ers' and Florists' Society. Mar. 13th, 



1907, by Percy Herbert.) 

 I will assume that everyone who 

 propagates his own plants has a suit- 

 able house in which to root the cut- 

 tings. I prefer a house facing noith. 

 such a house as can be built back of 

 any three-quarter-span-roofed green- 

 house which faces the south. You can 

 either have one or two benches accord- 

 ing to the width of your house. I 

 prefer a little bottom heat, though it 

 is not absolutely necessary. I would 

 have my benches from 4 to 6 inches 

 deep. I would take the best and 

 sharpest sand, not too fine nor yet too 

 coarse — just a nice medium. The 

 very fine sand packs too close and if 

 it is too coarse it does not pack 

 enough; seems to have a kind of a 

 spring to it and does not hold the cut- 

 tings tight enough, and also dries out 

 too quickly. The sand should be from 

 three to five inches deep according to 

 the depth of bench. .Pound it well 

 with a brick to make it firm, then wa- 

 ter thoroughly and the bench is ready 

 for your cuttings. I prefer to select 

 my cuttings for the following winter'.? 

 bloom, from the end of December to 

 the beginning of March. They can be 

 taken earlier and later, too, but I con- 

 sider the period mentioned best. 



The stock plants should be well es- 

 tablished in the benches, with plent^ 

 of flowering sterns, and nice sturdy 

 growths before propagating operations 

 commence. I like to select my cut- 

 tings from the flo\\'ering shoots on 

 healthy and vigorous plants, choosing 

 short, stout, well-developed 'shoot?, 

 avoiding those too near the tops of 

 the steiDS, still leaving a few shoots 

 near the base for the next crop of 

 flowers. In this manner you will get 

 from six tc a dozen cuttings from one 

 plant which will give you ample for 

 your own use and some over. Of 

 course you can go further and tak-'' 

 everything in sight, but the plant 5 

 will suffer and you will ruin your 

 chances for the next crop of flower.s. 

 [ usually take cuttings by pulling 

 them with the hand; I grasp the plant 

 with the left hand, and with the 

 thumb and finger of the right give a 

 gentle upward pull to the cutting, and 

 it will easily come away. Cuttings 

 taken this way need but little trim- 

 ming, and are ready to insert in the 

 sand right away. I don't advocate 

 the wholesale trimming of carnation 

 cuttings, still, when a man has a con- 

 siderable number to root some trim- 

 ming is necessary. Sometime? we 

 have to take shoots th.it are too long; 

 it is not always convenient to take 

 them just at the right tinip; then we 

 have to trim them a little. It is best 

 to do the trimming with a sharp 

 knife, not strip the leaves off roughly 

 as if you were htisking corn, as that 

 is bound to bruise the cutting and 

 make it liable to decay in the sand. 

 When it is necessary to cut the bot- 

 tom of the cutting cut it just below a 

 joint. 



■When putting the cuttings in the 

 sand I use a lath as a guide for the 

 rows. lay the lath on the sand, hold 

 in position with the left hand and 

 then with a piec3 of hard wooq 

 shaped like a knife draw a furrow 

 across the bench, in which then place 



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your cuttings with the left hand, 

 pressing it firm with the forefinger of 

 the right, and so on till the row is 

 finished. Then place the lath across 

 the bench, next to the row just put in, 

 press it down firmly and draw your 

 f.irrow for the next row. and so on 

 till the bench is filled. Always make 

 sure that the cuttings are resting on 

 the sand at the bottom of the furrow, 

 if the sand is pressed firm at the top 

 of the cuttings and not at the bottom 

 they will be sure to go back on you. 

 There are a few things to remember 

 in the management of the cutting 

 bench, the temperature, moisture, air- 

 ing and shading. The cuttings will 

 root nicely in a temperature of 50 to 

 55 deg. with the sand a little warmer. 

 In a house with a northern aspect, it 

 is not a difficult matter to keep the 

 temperature steady, but if the sun 

 strikes your house during the day it 

 will be "sure to vary a little and will 

 have to be kept down by airing. As 

 to moisture, I should always keep the 

 sand damp, not sodden, but a little on 

 the wet side. Syringe the cuttings as 

 often as the weather will permit, over- 

 head. The cuttings must not be al- 

 lowed to wilt at any time and if the 

 sun strikes the house you will need 

 to shade the bench. Some newspapers 

 laid over the cuttings is as good as 

 anything. The papers will need to be 

 put on every time the sun hits the 

 house until the cuttings will have 

 rooted. Then it can be left off by de- 

 grees. The house will need to be ven- 

 tilated a little when 60 degrees is 

 reached. The paper will help to keen 

 the air from the cuttings, as air will 

 cause them to wilt as badly as sun. 

 Some laths might be laid on the papers 



to keep the air from moving them. 

 The sand can be used for a second 

 batch of cuttings providing no fungus 

 has appeared during the first period. 

 AVhen the cuttings are well rooted, 

 they should be taken out. potted into 

 2-inch lots, or put into flats. I prefer 

 to pot them. It takes a little more 

 time perhaps, but you will be more 

 successful. Some growers prick them 

 off into a bit of good soil on a bench 

 and hold them that way till planting 

 time. 



Plants that are potted will need to 

 be watched in case they become pot- 

 bound. It is a big job if a man has a 

 considerable number of plants to re- 

 pot them all again. A very good plan 

 is to knock them out of the pots and 

 place them In flats with good soil 

 worked around them. They grow 

 finely that way and you are always 

 sure of a nice hall of soil to each plant 

 when planting time comes, and if you 

 plant in the field, when lifting time 

 romes, that same little ball of soil 

 will stick to the plants, though all the 

 rest fall away. 



All the young stock either potted or 

 in flats, should be kept in a nice cool 

 house, well ventilated and given every 

 attention and care in watering, shad- 

 ing, airing, etc. The shading can be 

 done away with after they have taken 

 to the soil. Keep a watch for green- 

 fly, and get rid of it as soon as it ap- 

 pears. The plants will need to be 

 pinched once to make them bushy. 

 They will be all the better if removed 

 into cold frames some little time be- 

 fore planting, or as soon as the weath- 

 er permits. It will harden them up 

 and jnake them good stocky plants, 

 readv to plant in field or bench. 



