118 



HORTICULTURE 



January 31, 1914 



J. Baur; Treasurer F. E. Dorner;. Di- 

 rector Fred. Burki; Judges Willam 

 Nicholson and E. A. Stroud. 



Josepli H. Hill then read the fol- 

 lowing paper. 



Productiveness of the Standard Va- 

 rieties of Carnations and the Cost 

 of Producing Blooms. 



After having had the pleasure of 

 reading the interesting and instruc- 

 tive symposiums on the Carnation 

 that have appeared in our various 

 trade papers, it may seem like occupy- 

 ing your time in this meeting with 

 something alioady threshed out and 

 clearly understood by all, but the sec- 

 retary of our society has been familiar 

 with the fact that we keep a careful 

 and detailed account of the producing 

 powers of the various carnations 

 grown on our place, and that is the 

 reason he has asked me to prepare 

 this paper. 



It is just as essential to success for 

 the carnation grower to keep tab on 

 liis varJGties and discard the drone 

 as it is for the successful dairy man 

 to rid himself of the cow which fails 

 to produce the required number of 

 pounds of milk per year, or the up-to- 

 date poultry man lo chop off the head 

 of the hen which fails to "come 

 a,cross" with her allotted number of 

 eggs. 



These figures which I will proceed 

 to give you of the productiveness of 

 the so-called standard varieties are 

 compiled from an accurate record of 

 each day's cut of blooms, and is abso- 

 lutely free from guess work. No ac- 

 count was kept of flowers cut before 

 they had attained character enough 

 to be marketable. On sorts that are 

 accustomed to "split" we have kept a 

 separate record and were able to tell 

 at the end of the season the percent- 

 age of imperfect flowers. 



Let us consider first that grand old 

 variety Enchantress which, with its 

 long list of sports, constitute over 50 

 per cent, of the total plantings of car- 

 nations in this country. From En- 

 chantress plants benched the 15th of 

 July. 1912. the yield was 14.6 perfect 

 blooms per plant and 2.8 with split 

 calyces but saleable flowers. From 

 White Enchantress our yield was 16 

 perfect flowers and 1.6 "bursts" per 

 plant. 



White Wonder, that peerless white, 

 heads the list for productiveness with 

 an average of 16.6 good flowers, and 

 1.1 faulty ones per plant. From these 

 same Wonders we took during Decem- 

 ber, January and February, an aver- 

 age of four cuttings; had these early 

 cuttings been allowed to go up into 

 flower, it would have increased the 

 average of this variety to 21.7 or 

 nearly 22 flowers per plant. 



Next comes Beacon with a yield of 

 14.2 perfect and 2.4 split flowers. Our 

 Mrs. C. W. Ward plants produced an 

 average of 12. .3 blooms that were per- 



fect and 1.2 that were not high grade. 



The general impression is that this 

 superb variety is a little slow in pro- 

 duction, but even so, it makes up in 

 quality what it lacks in quantity. The 

 increased price received for this car- 

 nation when it is well done reim- 

 burses the gi'ower by coming well up 

 to the average in return of money per 

 square foot. 



Rosette, being a second year novelty 

 last season, was robbed of a good 

 many cuttings, and taking that into 

 consideration an average of 14 blooms 

 per plant with not enough split flow- 

 ers to even mention speaks well for 

 this new dark pink. 



Among the varieties classed as non- 

 splitting come Gloriosa and Pink De- 

 light. These two wonderful introduc- 

 tions of the Dorners ran a "neck and 



F. E. DOKXER. 



Treasurer, American Carnation Society. 



neck" race throughout the season with 

 Gloriosa, much to our surprise, show- 

 ing 13.2 flowers cut from each plant 

 and Pink Delight with 13 even. 



The grower, by planting these two 

 varieties closer on the bench than the 

 heavier growing types are set, is able 

 to realize financially per square foot 

 as much, if not more than he does 

 from his freer .sorts. 



The commission man, who is onto 

 his job, as well as the grower who 

 markets his own product, knows that 

 the average buyer will pay more for 

 Gloriosa or Pink Delight because they 

 give tone and class to his carnation 

 display. 



White Perfection with us is not so 

 productive as White Wonder, but its 

 purity of color and symmetry of form, 

 combined with its size and erect stem, 

 make us hesitate before placing it 

 among the discards. White Perfec- 



tion's average was 13 good and 1 split 

 flowers per plant. 



Commodore produced 11 blooms per 

 plant. The average was reduced con- 

 siderably by the taking of a great 

 many cuttings. Commodore like some 

 of the other varieties, must be planted 

 closer than the average on the bench 

 to make it profitable. 



Benora is a grand addition to the 

 list of truly good carnations, a model 

 in growth, remarkable for the uni- 

 formity of bloom, and above all it is 

 an excellent shipper and keeper. As 

 with the popular yellow rose of today, 

 it is only a question of a short time 

 until Benora, as well as Yellow Prince, 

 and the fancy crimsons find their de- 

 served place with the flower buying 

 public. Benora also belongs to the 

 non-splitting class and produced 10% 

 blooms per plant in addition to a 

 wealth of cuttings that found a ready 

 sale. 



Other varieties tested last year were 

 St. Nicholas, with a yield of 13 blooms, 

 and Wodenethe with 12. 



Taking all these varieties mentioned 

 into account, the average per plant 

 was a fraction less than 15 blooms and 

 in addition to this an average of 2 

 cuttings from each plant. 



Now just a few words as to the cost 

 of producing these 15 blooms. The 

 plant upon which these flowers were 

 grown occupied % of a sq. ft. of the 

 entire ground surface covered by 

 glass. The recognized market valu,e 

 of a strong healthy carnation plant 

 at the time of benching is, say 6 cents. 

 The cost for coal last winter to grow 

 that plant was .023 cents. Ten cents 

 was expended for the labor on that 

 plant to make possible its required 

 production of blooms. 3.4 cents repre- 

 sents that plant's share of the interest 

 on the investment. 2 cents was the 

 tax on the plant for shipping cases, 

 fertilizer, soil, repairs, and other 

 small incidentals. Not until the plant 

 in question earned .237 cents net did 

 it begin to "bring home the bacon." 



The amount of profit to be figured 

 from a carnation plant, therefore, de- 

 pends upon the condition of the mar- 

 ket, and the grower's ability to place 

 his product where it will bring a fair 

 return. 



The report of the Judges then fol- 

 lowed. 



Mr. Pyfer, of Chicago carnation 

 Company next read a paper on the 

 Policy of Carrying over Carnation 

 Plants for second Year. It was a very 

 practical and seviceable essay. 



THURSDAY'S SESSION. 



W. F. Kasting declined at the open- 

 ing meeting. Thursday morning to ac- 

 cept the vice-presidency and presented 

 the name of S. A. Anderson, Buffalo, 

 N. Y., which was accepted. It was 

 voted that hereafter nobody but the 

 judges and secretary of the society 

 should be allowed in the hall while 



The Service Bureau 



OF THE 



National Association Of 

 Gardeners 



Is maintained for the puriiose of providing opportunities for efficient 

 and ambitious men engaged in the profession of gardening. 

 This department of the Association is at the disposal of those who 

 may require the services of capable superintendents, gardeners or as- 

 sistant gardeners. Address 



M. C. EBEL, Secretary, 



Madison, N. J. 



National AsHociation of Gardeners. 



