870 



HORTICULTURE 



December 30, 1916. 



Carnations 



We all know how to grow caniatioiis. We have 

 grown them and we can read the rules of the game in 

 any years notes of a live trade paper. But we all fall 

 down somewhere during the season on a few benches or 

 a house or two, so let's take a look at the houses today 

 and see why we are cutting less than we should or why 

 the quality is not as good as the best grown. It's Dec. 

 27, we will say, and the holiday cut can be estimated. 

 Well, reds brought a record price and our cut of reds 

 was not half what it should have been. Beacon has 

 cut four to the square foot,' so far, and should cut eight 

 up to Jan. 1. What is the reason and how shall we do 

 it right next season? Has Beacon gone back? No, it 

 is as good as it ever was in some places and should be 

 with us. Our benches of Beacon are full of strong, 

 vigorous plants covered with buds and a grand crop 

 coming on. No stem rot, few bursts but late for the 

 best week of the season before May 30. 



When did we go wrong? Were the cuttings taken 

 early wlicii they come well up on the stem or did you 

 gel caught shy last season and take thiu bottom shoots 

 late in the season? Perliaps they were allowed to starve 

 in the flats, get yellow and hard. I)on"t put the fault 

 all on the bad weather conditions in the field. And did 

 you bench them in July or early August and keep them 

 moving? Did you keep the weeds down and the top 

 soil open and sweet? Did you actually examine the soil 

 on the bottom of the bench to see if water was getting 

 away down ? Terhaps tiiey needed an early mulch to pro- 

 tect the soil from drying out. And did you remember that 

 Beacon has a heavy top and small root and so needs 

 frequent waterings? Neglect at any one of these peri- 

 ods means small returns at the holidays. 



Another house has a w'onderful stand of Beacon 

 blooms hut 40, GO or even 80 per cent, all splits. Beacon 

 is a tlinroughbred and of course sensitive. Rank feed- 

 ing, irregular temperatures day or night, in fact any 

 neglect will throw it off and on the otlier hand it will 

 respond to good care more promptly and cheerfully 

 than most sorts. Lots ' of new scarlets are being 

 brought out. It will be interesting to see which sort 

 wins in the TOO scarlet class at Indianapolis Jan. 31- 

 Feb. 1. 



Better look over the Beacon Ijeds carefully no'W and 

 if you see any strong cuttings well up above the first 

 tie take them for next season's stock. They will sell 

 at benching time if you do not need them. 



I fere are a couple of benches of Benora plants that 

 look pretty light; they have hardly paid fifteen cents 

 to tlie foot of bench space. W\\\ were they not doubled? 

 Short of plants? Well the 1600 plants would have 

 given as many blooms on one bench as they are giving 

 on two and you could have used the extra bench to good 

 advantage. And there is a bench of Alice full of bloom 

 and buds as it should be now, for Alice is one of the 

 best sorts at this season, but the stems are rather weak 

 even for Alice. Better lower the temperature and 

 study the watering carefully. A feed of wood ashes 

 may liclp. 



Carnation Problems 



Kindly advise me why Matchless does not bloom near- 

 ly as freely as White Wonder? 



Also, I remember a noted grower o£ carnations last 

 year in reply to a query stated that bone meal was the 

 cause of splitting the calyx in dull weather. Is this true 

 in general? What do you consider the best method of 

 feeding the plants? 



Also, is the new crimson Ai'awana as large a bloom 

 as Princess Dagmar? J. S. New York 



Matchless 



ilatfhless, grand sort as it is in every other way, is 

 by the majority o f growers in this section of the country 

 regarded as less floriferous than White Wonder. There 

 are a number of growers who do Matchless to perfec- 

 tion — great, big Idooms on excellent stems and with 

 ■wonderful keeping qualities and fragrance, but 1 have 

 found only a very few who would call Matchless a very 

 free blooming variety and none who would class it with 

 White Wonder in prolificacy, it takes Matchless a good 

 deal longer to develop its flowers than it does White 

 Wonder. As far as I know, JIatchless will not in the 

 course of a season reach the same average number of 

 blooms that White Wonder will produce under similar 

 conditions 1 feel convinced that many growers will 

 like and appreciate Matchless much better after one or 

 two more experiments in growing it. The variety seems 

 to require a considerably larger quantity of manure 

 and water than what is generally given to it. It does 

 not enjoy being on the diy side at any time; in fact 

 some very- successful growers have said that Matchless 

 wants just double the quantity of feed and water 

 usually given other sorts and their plants certainly 

 showed that they got all they needed. 



Letting Matchless gi'ow in the field for too long a 

 period will ]ii-oducc some monster plants, but the.se will 

 take considcu'ably more time to get established in the 

 bench than young and smaller plants will require. The 

 first crop of flowers will also come on shorter stems. It 

 is well not to cut the stem too far down; rather leave 

 enough of a stump to throw a number of new shoot's. I 

 should ti7 i\Iat(hless again. It is too good a sort to b.' 

 discarded. 



Splitting 



Bone meal may be a contributary cause of the sjilit- 

 ting of the calyx in dull weather I have not used l)ou'^ 

 meal for some years and although I have less trouble 

 witli splitsevery season, yet I would not positively say 

 that tlic absence of bone meal had anything to do witli 

 this fact. Some sorts, like Beacon, Ward, Enchantress. 

 White Perfection, etc. need very little provocation to 

 make them split in dull weather, while sorts like 

 Benora, Delight, Matchless, etc. at the same time, in 

 the same house or bencli and under same conditions as 

 the first mentioned vpill produce nary a split. 



Proper watering, airing and temperature day and 

 night wiU reduce the percentage of split carnations. 

 Sudden changes of temperature or too low a tempera- 

 ture at night will seldom foil io give us n licnidiful crop 



