February. 3, ISV, 



HORTICULTURE 



-WHY^' OF THE CARNATION 



Editor of Horticulture: 



Dear Sir — I once heard the late 

 Denys Zirngiebel say "the pansy and 

 carnation are the flowers ot the many 

 — the rose, orchid and violet the flow- 

 ers of the few," but from present indi- 

 cations the carnation must be placed 

 with the rose, orchid and violet, for 

 when carnations sell for $1.50 to $3 per 

 dozen they cease to be within the pur- 

 chasing power of the great middle 

 class who love, and would be buyers. 

 but have not reached the income-tax 

 stage, yet would buy if they could buy 

 at prices which prevailed a few years 

 ago. No doubt there is a demand for 

 high priced carnations, yet the price 

 limits the number of buyers. 



These large flowers with stiff stems 

 lack one most essential element of a 

 perfect flower — they have little or no 

 fragrance, and only appeal to the eye. 

 and the varieties of this class are only 

 a success when grown by the special- 

 ist (and sometimes not with them) and 

 when grown by the ordinary grower 

 they are truly "rubbish." 



I believe the present system of plant- 

 ing in the field late in May and hous- 

 ing in July is entirely wrong. When 

 housed three to five plants are re- 

 quired to make a substantial bench 

 showing, it being called "doubling-up." 

 It is a well-known fact that carnations 

 in the field make more wood in the 

 month of August than in May, June 

 and July combined and if lifted care- 

 fully during the first ten days of Sep- 

 tember there would be no need of 

 "quadrupling" the plants, for they 

 would have from 25 to 40 sturdy 

 branches. 



I can well recollect such varieties as 

 DeGraw. Silver Spray, Crimson King, 

 Ferdinand Mangold. William Scott, 



Mrs. Fisher, Hector, Astoria, Buttercup. 

 Mad. Brett and others, which, with the 

 exception of the last two, would give 

 plants of an average of 30 branches 

 when lifted and produce from 60 to 

 100 flowers each during the season. 

 and Buttercup and Brett about 20 

 blooms. While Mrs. Fisher had a weak 

 stem when grown too warm the others 

 had very good stems from 12 to 15 

 inches long — fully as stiff as many 

 grown today — with the flowers from 2 

 to 3 inches in diameter, and none of 

 them "a puny little thing on the end 

 of a piece of string capable of being 

 tied in a knot." 



The flowers of the above mentioned 

 varieties in the hands of an ordinary 

 grower were as perfect and as beauti- 

 ful as those of today, with a delicate, 

 rich fragrance and would keep as well 

 as any carnation ever grown. When 

 planted in September, by removing all 

 buds from one-third of the plants, one- 



half the buds from one-third of the 

 plants and thinning the buds on the 

 other third of the plants, we had a con- 

 tinuous bloom from October until the 

 following July — with nearly the same 

 cut in December and January as was 

 produced in April and May. Carna- 

 tions should be sold at retail — except 

 at holidays — tor 75 cents per dozen in 

 winter and 50 cents in spring and au- 

 tumn. A good, fair-sized flower, and 

 they can be grown and sold at those 

 Iirices at a profit to the grower and 

 retailer if the right varieties are 

 grown. If we are only to have the 

 $3 varieties, and the resultant rubbish 

 ot that class, the trade in carnations 

 will rapidly decline, for it has begun. 



$6 and $10 chrysanthemums have 

 had their day — the $3 carnation will 

 have its day. While we all recognize 

 the great advance in knowledge at the 

 present time, still the past is rich in 

 experience which would be profitable 

 not to forget or entirely disregard. 

 R. T. Lombard. 



II ; Canal street, Boston, Mass. 



Editor of Horticulture: 



I would like to have a little space 

 in your valuable columns in regard to 

 "The 'Why' of the Carnation." As to 

 the diminished sales of carnations, 

 there are quite a few reasons; I can 

 only speak of St. Louis. One cause 

 is the growing of inferior grade stock. 

 Another the cutting of stock not at the 

 right stage, another the bunching of 

 them for market, the placing of in- 

 ferior flowers in bunches which other- 

 wise would at least have been fairly 

 presentable. The wholesaler also is 

 in my opinion to blame in asking 

 prices for flowers not worth the 

 money, thus merging quality and 

 quantity into the same channel. 



Extra fancy, long stiff-stem blooms, 

 out of the ordinary size flowers, 

 should command top price, but I 

 hardly think that any florist in St. 

 Louis would ask $2.00 a dozen for 

 carnations. 



Then again, carnations in St. Louis 

 are at times sold as low as two dozen 

 for fifteen cents and run as a special 

 by some prominent retailer on Satur- 

 days downtown. These flowers proba- 

 bly had reposed in the wholesaler's 

 ice box three or four days: or, per- 

 haps, by the shipper who does some 

 retailing himself and who, finding he 

 has a crop coming on, finally decides 

 to ship the kept-over stock to the 

 market. The public buy the flowers, 

 take them home, place them in a quiet 

 little room, no noise, and on return 

 finds the fiowers taking a sleep which 

 knows no awakening. This disgusts 

 the general public and condemns the 

 carnation. I believe with Mr. God- 

 dard that better grade and better care 

 in all stages would help to put the 

 carnation in its right place. 



St. Louis. C. W. Woks. 



Editor of Horticulture: 



Dear Sir: — It was a source of great 

 pleasure to see the article "The 'Why' 

 of the Carnation" appearing in your 

 issue of Jan. 20. 



We ship wholesale to about seventy 

 florists in our trade territory, which 

 extends from Asheville, N. C, on the 

 Northeast to .Memphis, Tenn., on the 

 northwest, San Antonio, Texas, on the 

 southwest and Key West on the south- 

 east. If you will look at the map you 

 will see that this territory covers be- 

 tween seven and eight hundred miles. 

 We have very little trouble getting 

 from one to two cents more for our 

 stock than Chicago price. Sometimes 

 we have complaints, but we answer 

 this by saying that our stock is this 

 much better class goods, and our cus- 

 tomers must believe it for they buy 

 us out every day. 



In all of our pricelists ot this sea- 

 son, we have been harping on the one 

 thing, and that is, quality. Our stock, 

 shipped from here to Houston, Texas, 

 which is a twenty-four hour trip, is 

 salable from five to seven days after 

 arrival at destination. When put into 

 a vase it never falls over and touches 

 the table, as I have very often seen 

 the Chicago stock do. 



I have copied Mr. Goddard's article 

 in full and am now sending it out to 

 our customers. 



Thanking you for the printing of 

 Mr. Goddard's article and wishing for 

 you the best of success. 



Very truly yours, 



Wallace B. Patebson. 



Rosemont Gardens, 

 Montgomery, Ala. 



BEGONIA EPIRUS. 



J. S. Doig, of Southboro, Mass., sends 

 us a photograph, which is scarcely 

 clear enough for reproduction, of 

 winter-flowering begonia Epirus which 

 shows this to be a splendid variety. 

 The flower? are salmon pink, 4% 

 inches in diameter. Mr. Doig states 

 that the plant shown lasted in flower 

 for ten weeks. It was exhibited in 

 Boston on Nov. 1, where it remained 

 for five days, was then sent back to 

 Southboro by express, thence to Marl- 

 boro on the 6th and again to South- 

 boro on the 7th, the photograph show- 

 ing it still in full flower being taken 

 in last week of December. All the 

 other varieties exhibited with it in 

 Boston lost their flowers when put 

 back in the greenhouses. These facts 

 would indicate that this should be a 

 good variety for commercial use. 



Jan. 26, 1917. 

 The Horticulture Pub. Co., 

 Boston, Mass. 

 Gentlemen: Enclosed please find 

 check for my subscription to your 

 magazine. I will take this opportun- 

 ity to say that I think it the most 

 practical and up-to-date publication 

 which I have found. 



Very respectfully yours, 



A. S. 



