380 



HORTICULTURE 



March 12, 1910 



THE CALENDAR OF THE CARNA- 

 TION. 



Paper read before the American Carnation 

 Society by Joseph II. Hill. 



It seems a trifle ludicrous for a per- 

 son as young and as inexperienced In 

 carnation culture as myself to stand 

 before a body of representative men 

 such as are gathered here today, and 

 attempt to inform them as to the best 

 way to cultivate carnations through- 

 out the year. Many a member of this 

 society was successfully growing car- 

 nations before I was born; others, 

 comparatively young :nen, are already 

 acknowledged authorities on the "Di- 

 vine Flower," and there are others 

 here present who might, if they so de- 

 sired, retire on their well-earned lau- 

 rels and enjoy for the rest of their 

 lives their well-filled coffers, the result 

 ■of hard work, close application, and 

 an unceasing attention to the demands 

 of their chosen flower. In some por- 

 tions of my discourse will readily be 

 recognized the teachings of such men 

 as Mr. Wm. Nicholson and the Daille- 

 douze Bros., to all of whom I am 

 deeply indebted for kindly interest and 

 instruction, and unfailing response to 

 any Inquiry propounded. Other por- 

 tions of this paper are records of my 

 own observations and experiences, 

 many of the lessons being quite ex- 

 pensive, as every grower has at times 

 cause to confess as he sums up his col- 

 umns of success and failure. 



The middle of November witnesses 

 the first steps looking toward the pro- 

 duction of the millions of carnation 

 plants required for the annual planting 

 in this and other countries. At this 

 time the grower puts into the sand 

 those varieties which fail to make 

 good plants from later struck cuttings, 

 and also those required by those of 

 his customers who insist on "late De- 

 cember or early January delivery"; 

 while large numbers are taken in No- 

 vember and December, the bulk of the 

 propagating is done considerably after 

 the holidays, and often quite up to the 

 first of May. It is generally conceded 

 that cuttings taken during January, 

 February and March will give the best 

 results to the average grower, though 

 most of us have seen grand bloom 

 produced In quantity from good April 

 cuttings. 



Too much importance cannot attach 

 to the careful selection of cuttings, 

 which must be strong and healthy and 

 from clean and vigorous plants. The 

 old axiom quoted in Mr. Ward's book, 

 that "like begets like," must never be 

 lost sight of in this part of our pro- 

 gramme. 



The cutting bench should have a 

 brick or tile bottom, filled with 3 to 4 

 inches of absolutely clean sand, and 

 so constructed that a bottom tempera- 

 ture of 60 degrees can be maintained. 

 No draughts should be allowed to 

 strike the cuttings, and they should 

 also be protected from the direct rays 

 of the sun by a perfectly clean and 

 light weight curtain of muslin. 



The cuttings should receive a very 

 thorough watering when put into the 

 sand and the detrimental habit of using 

 the hose whenever they show signs of 

 flagging should be avoided, as this 

 wilting invariably shows that overhead 

 conditions are wrong and these must 

 be corrected rather than that water 

 should be added to an already satu- 

 rated sandi the less amount of water 



used and still keep the cutting fresh 

 and plump, Ibe better will be the root 

 formation, and it requires a nice dis- 

 crimination to properly adjust the 

 same. Varieties differ greatly in the 

 fiber of the first roots, the Enchantress 

 family being notable for producing 

 good, tenacious roots quickly; while 

 Afterglow, the sturdiest, toughest 

 stemmed variety in existence, must be 

 handled with great care to prevent the 

 loss of roots when taking from the 

 sand, and must be allowed a longer 

 time to mature. 



Then arises the question, shall the 

 cutting be dibbled into soil, or potted? 

 The former procedure is the easiest 

 and the quickest, but I feel sure that 

 the extra work of potting and repot- 

 ting is doubly repaid. 



The young carnation that is plant- 

 ed in the field or in the flowering 

 bench from a pot, with its firm ball 

 of earth, enwrapped with a network 

 of roots, will show no ill effect from 

 the shift and will start right off into 

 growth without a day's hesitation, 

 while the lifted plant in handling 

 and resetting loses most of the soil 

 from around the roots, and receives 

 a severe check from loss of moisture 

 from its tissues, and especially is this 

 the case if not revived by frequent 

 showers soon after planting. Another 

 strong point in favor of the young 

 pot-grown carnation is exemplified 

 when the plant is lifted from the field 

 either for shipping or for immediate 

 benching; the small pot ball of the 

 springtime will still be found intact, 

 greatly protecting the roots from se- 

 rious injury. One might be led to 

 suspect that the speaker was inter- 

 ested in the pottery business, for if 

 all the carnation men decide to pot 

 all their cuttings before planting it 

 means millions of pots, but such is 

 not the case; nevertheless if any of 

 the pot men present want to "fix It" 

 with the speaker, he will be glad to 

 meet them after we adjourn. 



We endeavor to get our young 

 stock up into 3's before planting out, 

 but very often in the spring rush 

 some lots have to remain 2%'s and 

 grow on very nicely provided they 

 have not become badly potbound. 



When the first warm days come on 

 about mid-April, the inclination is to 

 rush the stock out into the field, but 

 I feel sure that it is a serious mistake 

 to do so: in the house it has grown 

 up in a temperature of from 45 de- 

 grees to 50 degrees, and with mois- 

 ture judiciously supplied, so that it 

 cannot but suffer and be seriously 

 checked when subjected to cold, se- 

 vere frosts very often, and worst of 

 all to wet weather and a falling ther- 

 mometer. In an ordinary season it 

 the planting is fully finished by the 

 first of June, good, big, healthy stock 

 is assured providing j'our soil has 

 been properly prepared and is pos- 

 sessed of full quantities of plant food. 



We have come to the conclusion 

 that cross-checking the plants in the 

 field so as to cultivate them both 

 ways with a hand cultivator is not so 

 good as to give them more room be- 

 tween the rows and draw the plants 

 closer together in the rows. By spac- 

 ing the rows 28 to 30 inches, a horse 

 and spiked-tooth cultivator can be 

 used, greatly lessening the hand la- 

 bor, beside loosening the soil to a 

 greater depth. The inclination of the 



hand cultivator is upward rather than 

 downward, thus failing of the intent 

 to a certain degree. 



About July 1st we begin to con- 

 demn the benches that are not pro- 

 ducing a paying quantity of flowers, 

 emptying the wornout soil, and mak- 

 ing them ready for our next year's 

 hopes. It is now a recognized fact 

 that the returns from carnations cut 

 in June and July come nearer being 

 "real velvet" than those cut at any 

 other time in the year, providing the 

 plants have had the proper care and 

 have not been neglected during the 

 late spring rush. 



If there is any time in the year 

 when the greenhouse laborer ap- 

 proaches mutiny it is when the task 

 of wheeling out and wheeling in pre- 

 sents itself. If at this particular pe- 

 riod of carnation culture the lady who 

 strolls through the houses in the win- 

 ter, remarking on the delights of "cul- 

 tivating the fragrant blossoms," 

 comes about once more, she certainly 

 finds herself rudely disillusioned, for 

 it is as hard, hot and disagreeable as 

 working in a quarry or in the mould- 

 ing room of an iron mill. The man 

 who perfects a practical, mechanical 

 soil carrier, not only has a fortune 

 assured but the added blessing of 

 every man relieved of this arduous 

 and exhausting work. 



A word as to soil; the old prescrip- 

 tion, "3 parts of soil to 1 of well 

 rotted manure, together with a gen- 

 erous sprinkling of bone, chopped fine 

 and put on the benches," is bound to 

 be superseded by more modern meth- 

 ods of soil preparation. There are a 

 number of eminently successful firms 

 in this country who take as long as 

 five years in the preparation of their 

 soil for indoor culture. The one vi- 

 tal principle to be observed is to 

 have the manure and other fertilizers 

 so thoroughly assimilated by the soil 

 by means of leguminous crops and 

 clovers, that the food is immediately 

 available to the plant. 



So much has been wjMtten concern- 

 ing the careful lifting and quick re- 

 setting of the plants from the field, 

 that I pass this item of culture, but 

 wish to emphasize the necessity of 

 the use of the Bordeaux mixture 

 promptly on the establishment of the 

 plants, generously applied, and given 

 once thereafter every 3 or 4 weeks; 

 it not only acts as a preventive of 

 spot, rust and other minor diseases, 

 but of stem-rot as well. By begin- 

 ning in August with a weekly spray 

 of Nicoticide and continuing through- 

 out the year, we keep down aphis and 

 also rid our plants of thrip. Red 

 spider is controlled by an occasional 

 application of salt water, together 

 with syringing under high pressure 

 on bright days. 



The antiquated proceeding of mulch- 

 ing heavily in late summer or autumn 

 has given way to light top dressings, 

 through which the surface of the soil 

 is always pliable and open to the 

 free air, thus preventing any tend- 

 ency toward souring. Lime, wood 

 ashes, sheep manure and pulverized 

 cattle manure, always applied spar- 

 ingly, constitute the menu for our 

 plants after they are "up and doing." 

 Plenty of fresh air .whenever it is 

 possible to admit it, insures a healthy 

 free growing plant. 



Not until October and November 



