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II KT ICULTURE 



December 27, 1919 



Sam Goddard Talks on Carnations 



is better for having Peter Fisher, ho 

 has done a man's job. 



It isn't often that S. J. Goddard of 

 Framingham, Mass., known through- 

 out the trade as one of the best carna- 

 tion growers in the country can be in- 

 duced to talk on his specialty. When 

 he does say anything, however, he 

 speaks to the point and accordingly a 

 talk which he gave before the Hart- 

 ford Florists' Club last week was 

 listened to with the greatest interest 

 and appreciation. Mr. Goddard em- 

 phasized several features about the 

 growing of carnations as well as their 

 after care and sale which should prove 

 of no little value to members of the 

 trade in general. For that reason, 

 Houtii i i i > in takes great pleasure in 

 publishing Mr. Goddard's paper in full. 

 It is as follows: 



Old-Time Varieties. 



My recollection of the Carnation 

 goes back to the days of Silver Spray, 

 Ferdinand Mangold, Anna Webb, Mrs. 

 Fisher, Grace Wilder, Tidal Wave, 

 Florence, and others of that day,, 

 which we thought were wonderful 

 varieties. Were they? I shall answer 

 this question in due time. 



In those days quality was not as 

 essential to the commercial grower as 

 now, it was quantity, he wanted, and 

 pinching out the first flower for shorts 

 (quite often this was a split flower) 

 allowing the side buds to develop on 

 it. It did not take many stems to 

 make a bunch of fifty, nor long for a 

 variety to make a record for number 

 of blooms per sq. feet of bench space. 



Mrs. Fisher was a grand variety for 

 this style growing. As funeral work 

 in winter depended on short white 

 carnations which usually commanded 

 a price of J3.00, $4.00, and often $5.00 

 per hundred. I well remember a few 

 years later when Daybreak Wm. Scott, 

 and Hector came along, and with them 

 disbudding, what fine flowers, and long 

 stiff stems we got. I have seen Wm. 

 Scott with stems fully 30 inches, 

 which would be a credit to any grower 

 to-day, and they brought as good 

 prices as the present day varieties do 

 in ordinary season. 



It is interesting, and also entertain- 

 ing to peruse a list of the older varie- 

 ties such as America, Armizlndy, Bon 

 Ton, Bridesmaid, Gen. Macco. Boston 

 Market, Harry Fenn, J. Manley and 

 Eldorado, all varieties that were good 

 commercially, returning profit to all. 

 Then we are reminded of the other 

 varieties which fell down after leaving 

 their disseminator. 



It is the failures as well as the suc- 

 cessful ones that have made us so 

 much more enthusiastic over the new 



varieties that come over from time to 

 time. 



My belief is that the old varieties 

 that I have mentioned were what we 

 today call croppers, and all down the 

 line the varieties have steadily ad- 

 vanced more and more toward the per- 



S. J. t;OI>DARI> 



petual blooming stage, which we are 

 all watching and waiting for. I won- 

 der what results one would have, could 

 he to-day have Silver Spray, Hinz's 

 White or Wm. Scott, with present day 

 conditions, early planting and such 

 like. I don't believe we have advanced 

 so much on varieties as we have on 

 cultural methods. Be that at is may, 

 we have advanced tremendously in the 

 science of growing, and of combating 

 diseases 



What a lot of worry and anxiety we 

 once had over rust, now this is seldom, 

 if ever, thought of. 



We have better houses which give us 

 better light and ventilation, conse- 

 quently, diseases are easier to control 

 than they were in the old days of 

 narrow houses, so I answer the ques- 

 tion, "Were they wonderful varieties?" 

 Yes, they were, and in 30 years we 

 have not moved so very far. 



Mrs. Thomas W. Lawson and En- 

 chantress were the greatest advance 

 in the first 10 years, and both these 

 varieties are being grown to-day. En- 

 chantress and its sports possibly are 

 more widely grown, and are cultivated 

 from one end of the country to the 

 other. Mr. Peter Fisher must be a very 

 contented and happy man: who would 

 not be, if they, like him have the grati- 

 tude and respect of so many good 

 people in our profession? The world 



From the Old to the New. 



Enchantress is the connecting link 

 between the past and present carna- 

 tion. By the present I assume this 

 refers to what are already standard 

 varieties growing throughout the coun- 

 try, and disseminated within 10 years 

 or so. Mrs. C. W. Ward has been on 

 the market for 10 years now, and to 

 date nothing has been produced to 

 supplant it. Pink Delight and Beacon 

 are about the same age and still run- 

 ning strong. Matchless will not be 

 supplanted for some time, at least not 

 in New England. We are just as much 

 dissatisfied with the present day varie- 

 ties as we were in the past with the 

 then standard sorts. We shall never get 

 the "Ideal Carnation." If it were pos- 

 sible to, there would be nothing more 

 to do or to look forward to. 



All the pleasures of anticipation 

 would have no charms for the carna- 

 tion grower. One of the greatest en- 

 joyments one has, is waiting and 

 watching for a new variety to bloom 

 in the autumn for the first time. 

 Pleasures beyond imagination abound 

 for the enthusiast when handling new 

 varieties, the flowers seem so slow in 

 expanding, he watches day and night, 

 wondering what the color, shape, and 

 quantities are, that are contained with- 

 in the calyx. 



I have in mind the variety now 

 named "Laddie." When I got it first 

 it was under number. It grew so rank 

 ami sturdy I began to think that I had 

 another splitter; bye and bye, it began 

 to expand and show color. I was look- 

 ing around that bench many times a 

 day when at last out it appeared, and 

 needless to say, I knew that the 

 Dorners had a wonder that would 

 create as great a sensation as did Law- 

 son and Enchantress in their time. 

 Producing carnations of the type and 

 character of Laddie, Lawson and En- 

 chantress are not every day, or every 

 year occurrences, they are more like 

 breaks of a decade, or of a generation, 

 and we shall never be over-loaded with 

 such good strains, they came at. a time 

 rather than in a series. 



ts Improvement Possible? 

 We are always demanding some- 

 thing better than the existing varie- 

 ties. It is natural to want something 

 better, by these demands we nerve the 

 disseminator, or the breeder to greater 

 efforts and more careful selection as 

 to, productiveness, health, and vigor 

 of the carnation. We have not reached 

 perfection in many ways — in color, 

 form, size, and calyx. There is lots 

 of room for improvement, but as re- 

 gards the number of flowers per plant, 



