268 



H B T I C U L T U B E 



March 3, 1917 



Carnations 



What shall «(■ i4i(j\\' U>y laniatiun \arieties this next 

 season? That dt'iieiiils ujioii the market. If long shi|i- 

 inents are to lie inaile tine uuultl naturally eliminate all 

 I-hirliaiitress \arielies. White Wonder and other soft 

 .sorts. These will do loeally and when the weather i.- 

 hard and cool. But where shipments are to he made 

 regularly the best keepers are none too good. In fact 

 the first test of a \ariet.y is the number of perfect blooms 

 to the (ine thousand the season through. Matchless, 

 Pink Delight, Beacon, Benora, Mrs. C. W. Ward and 

 Alice, of course. These are standa.rd and an ordinary 

 market will call for tbem all at some season and in 

 some proportion. l',ut Ikiw about Xaucy, Bosette, a 

 good crimson and some of the new sorts ? 



Nancy is in the Pink Delight class and may some 

 day take the place of that gTand standard variety. By 

 watching Nancy closely at Doruer's. then last season at 

 •S. .). Goddard's. and this year at half a dozen carnation 

 ranges, including niie thousand plants studied daily at 

 luune, the story seems to me to read about this way: — 



Xancy makes a large plant, roots very easily, is fra- 

 grant, even in color, has a good stem, keeps and ships 

 with the best, nevei- s|dits and is pleasing to most cus- 

 tomers. Per contra, it is slow to bloom in the autumn, 

 gives a rather large percentage of thin, flat blooms and 

 sports (to a brickisli red) more freely than any variety 

 that the writer has ever seen, if you are buying plants, 

 $.100 invested in Nancy at $7.00 per 100 will bench 

 more space than the same amount invested in Pink De- 

 light, and there is where Nancy wins if she settles down 

 to color scheme. 



Are crimsons being neglected by the growers? The 

 bylii'idizers are giving iis some mighty fine things. 



nothing to touch Pocahontas on the show table, but 

 splendid commercial sorts, and the stores in the East 

 appreciate their value. Several new ones are good 

 enough to try. Doris and a seed-pod sister. No. 9, for 

 ours. 



h'lisctte is better than ever, thanks to the good work 

 of patient selectors like Aubry A. Pembroke. And just 

 as we are seeing its usefulness along somes Dorner with 

 an improved Bosette, its seed-child, Bosalia. 



There are a half dozen scarlets that make a brave 

 sliowing on the exhibition table. Belle Washburn has 

 been tried out by n\any growers who can tell of its 

 worth. 



In attempting to plan next season's benching some 

 good Yankee guessing will come into play on the new 

 sorts; but in selecting standard varieties it helps to 

 study carefully tabulated results of past seasons. For 

 instance, we learn that the average price for May has 

 been two-tenths of a cent higher than for December, 

 while the cut has been 100 per cent greater in May. 

 Again, by oui- ari'angement of varieties the December's 

 cut has been 40 per cent, white and the May cut has 

 been 52 per cent, white. Up to an early winter date the 

 cut to the square foot of some sorts was as follows : 



Snow White (Seedling) . 11.6 Matchless ; 8.6 



White Winsor 10.5 Pocahontas 7.1 



No. 9 (Seedling) 9.7 Nancy 6.9 



White Wonder 9.7 Pink Delight 6.8 



Alice 9.4 Mrs. C. W. Ward 6. 



These figures would be very misleading if one neg- 

 lected to take into account the condition of the plants 

 and tlieii- snlisequcnt performances. 



Biddrfonl. Me 



Chrysanthemum maximum 



Chrysanthemum maximum is a close relative of the 

 common ox-eye daisy of Central Europe and the British 

 Islands, known botanically under the name Chrysanthe- 

 mum Leucanthemum, syn. Leucanthemum vulgare. The 

 latter, according to the story was brought over here by 

 early settlers and since then figures as a naturalized 

 beautifier of field and meadow oi- as one of the most 

 obnoxious weeds, according to the viewpoint we take. 

 The native home of the original Chrysanthemum maxi- 

 mum is the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula, while 

 the garden types thereof a.re mainly the results of 

 crossings between C. maximum and the consideral)ly 

 taller growing C. latifolium of Portugal. There are 

 quite a number of more or less distinct varieties offered 

 in the catalogues of leading growers abroad. Most of 

 them are well adapted for our northern boundary 

 states but less satisfactoiy in the Middle Atlantic 

 states. The beautiful tall growing Mrs. J. Tersteeg, 

 the robust and absolutely hardy King Edward and the 

 very large-flowering maximum "Polarstern" did splen- 

 didly in Maine. In Glenside, Pa., they proved de- 

 cidedly disappointing. I am convinced that south of 

 New England, as a free bloomer reliable in producing 



perfect flowers nearly all summer, Burbank's Shasta 

 Daisy "Alaska" so far is the best we have. For a fine 

 floral mid-summer effect on the hardy border and for 

 cutting it is one of the prominent items we cannot 

 afford to be without. 



In growing stock of Chrysanthemum maximum for 

 commercial "[lurposes it is best to sow every year. Early 

 spring seedlings usually flower during the later part of 

 the following summer. One-year-old they are strong 

 salable plants sure to give satisfaction. Two-year-old 

 slock should be divided and replanted in freshly ma- 

 nured ground particularly if we aim for a fine crop of 

 cut flowers. 



Having hardy clirysanthemums of the marguerite 

 type under consideration, it remains to mention the 

 Arctic daisy. Chrysanthemum arcticum, a native of 

 Kamchatka and the north of our hemisphere, and 

 ChiTsanthemum Nipponicum, a Japanese species, both 

 fall-flowering. The Arctic daisy, though in individual 

 flowei- only half of the size of the maximum class, is of 

 compact bushy habit of growth and during September 

 and October literally covered by its wealth of pure 

 white blossoms invaluable for autumn displays in our 

 gardens. It is a perennial excellent for mass-effects 

 meriting far more attention than it has been hitherto 



" aipn^iJr. Pa. -^U^A/ClAxi <^(/&Ul/ 



