416 



HORTICULTURE 



March 21, 1914 



CARNATIONS UNDER TWO-YEAR CULTURE 



(A Paper by A. L. Dorward, Before the Newport Horticultural Society.) 



Mr. President and Gentlemen: 



In reading this paper before you to- 

 night, let me state that what I have 

 to say is not founded entirely upon 

 practice, much as I would like to give 

 you real practical information if I had 

 the space at command to experiment. 

 However, I feel very confident in ad- 

 vocating a method which I am sure 

 would be particularly suited to local 

 growers and which might indeed be 

 equally beneficial to inland growers of 

 carnations as well. Although it may 

 be nothing new, yet its rare practice 

 makes it good food for discussion as 

 well as a splendid field for experi- 

 mental work, and where expense has 

 to be taken into consideration its im- 

 portance certainly warrants a fair 

 trial. 



It is evident that onr troubles by 

 present methods of growing are many 

 and varied as well as expensive, all 

 of which are familiar to you. It is 

 my belief that about half the expense 

 is unnecessary, providing the plants 

 are in competent hands and grown in 

 a way I will describe later on. 



Faulty Present Methods. 



The present method seems to me 

 ill-balanced, inasmuch as the plants 

 are taxed unfairly to produce when in 

 a state of being unestablished. All of 

 you, no doubt, are well aware of the 

 fact that before forcing can or should 

 take place a plant must be well estab- 

 lished to obtain the very best results. 

 Can we, I ask you. say this of the 

 carnation at present? I will venture 

 to say that in the majority of cases 

 the plant is only becoming properly 

 established wlien it begins to get neg- 

 lected before being thrown out; not 

 until then has the plant found its 

 equilibrium. At this stage it will have 

 little objection to feeding, a practice 

 certainly overdone before ^this period 

 has been reached, when evil results 

 are in evidence aplenty. 



The method I present is not by any 

 means new. I am simply tempted to 

 bring up the matter, as I believe we 

 are approaching a new era in the 

 cultivation of the carnation. The trend 

 of the times at least seems to point 

 this way, but experiments in this di- 

 rection, namely, in carrying over the 

 plants a second year or more — are few 

 and incomplete. Trusting that you 

 will bear in mind that mistaken no- 

 tions and unsound theories are often 

 useful, I will proceed to unfold my 

 ideas. 



Prerequisites. 



As I have already mentioned, I con- 

 sider a thoroughly established plant 

 to be one of the most important 



factors in procuring the best results 

 and, with this in view, let us consider 

 first of all the right sort of environ- 

 ment tlie plants ought to have for a 

 period of two years or more. It ;s 

 well that the houses should be situ- 

 ated in a good, airy spot; the larger 

 the houses the better, well provided 

 with top and side ventilation. The 

 walls should not be more than 12 to 

 IS inches high so as to admit plenty 

 of light; solid benches made of ce- 

 ment deep enough to hold 10 to 12 

 inches of soil and thoroughly drained. 

 Have good thrifty plants transferred 

 to these benches by the middle of 

 April and proceed to cultivate as you 

 would in the field. So situated, there 

 does seem a possibility of the plants, 

 being able to withstand the summer 

 heat, providing the hose and ventila- 

 tion are in capable hands. A too 

 humid atmosphere must be guarded 

 against and the soil kept a little on 

 the dry side; in fact, anything con- 

 ducive to producing a soft growth 

 sliould be avoided. 



Cutting Back. 



As to the time the plants ought to 

 be cut back the following spring or 

 early summer, is a matter for the 

 grower to decide, much depending on 

 the plants' condition and his own re- 

 quirements. For retail or private 

 work, I would prefer a gradual cutting 

 back to that point just between hard 

 and soft wood. Where a full crop is 

 wanted the plants can all be cut back 

 at the same time, leaving sufficient 

 foliage to help root action in starting 

 up again; in fact, general treatment of 

 the carnation would, under this 

 method, be along similar lines to 

 those on which roses are grown today. 



When all the plants are cut back 

 to the right length, as much of the 

 top soil as can comfortably be re- 

 moved without injury to roots should 

 be taken away and new soil added. 

 In using fertilizers in this compost, 

 care should be taken not to overdo 

 it, as a rank soft growth will be the 

 result. Let the soil at all times be 

 evenly and well firmed. Pinching the 

 second year will not be so necessary 

 be\ond keeping the plants in shape. 



Responsive Varieties. 



Some varieties seemingly are better 

 suited to this purpose than others. 

 A. T. Pyfer, of the Chicago Carnation 

 Company, finds the Enchantress fam- 

 ily does exceptionally well, as does 

 White Wonder and Gloriosa; Pink De- 

 liglit he carried over three years with 

 good results, and the best Beacon he 

 ev^r grew was from two-year-old 

 stork. He reports experiments along 

 this line as being very satisfactory, 

 but he does not mention whether 

 raised or solid benches were used. 

 This question must necessarily be the 

 main factor if this method is to be 

 adopted, and only such beds and 

 houses as I have spoken of would 1 

 recommend for this purpose. 



It's just possible that the method 

 epoken of can be carried out to a cer- 

 tain degree under a variety of circum- 

 stances, all depending on the ability 



of the grower to cope with the in- 

 tricacies of environment. Some ad- 

 vantages over the system in vogue 

 might be claimed, aside from the great 

 expense involved in transplanting to 

 and from the field and the refilling of 

 the benches every year. I have found 

 that plants are less liable to the at- 

 tacks of rust the second year. Split 

 calyxes, I should imagine, would be 

 materially less, fragrance more pro- 

 nounced, and who knows but what 

 seedlings born from these would pro- 

 duce colors of a more retentive 

 nature, flowers of a better color with 

 longer lasting qualities, longer stems 

 and healthier foliage? My belief is 

 founded on the principle or theory that 

 a certain age is necessary to bring 

 forth the best results. 

 Stem Rot. 



Admitting that a well-established 

 plant is of vital importance, inasmuch 

 as it is rendered less susceptible to 

 disease, and that it is then in condi- 

 tion to give the best results, and not- 

 withstanding all that has been written 

 regarding stem-rot being caused by 

 some disease, I am inclined to think 

 that the trouble is caused in the first 

 place by the check the plant receives 

 in being transferred from the field to 

 the benches. This is admitted to be 

 the most critical time of the plant's 

 life; certain number of cells being de- 

 formed give way to decay during some 

 later period of excitement in the 

 plant's growth. In other words, a 

 plant would not succumb to disease 

 if there wasn't some fertile ground 

 for the disease to work upon. 



I have found in handling seedlings 

 that the calyxes of some flowers have 

 from five to seven sepals each; or- 

 dinarily five is the number. I have 

 found six sepals to hold, without the 

 slightest sign of a split, more petals 

 than are to be found on Enchantress. 

 If this variety had six sepals, it would 

 be hard to beat. So far I have also 

 found the calyx having six sepals con- 

 structed similar to the calyx of 

 Rosette. Calyxes like those of Beacon 

 and Enchantress I consider weak- 

 formed and very liable to split. 



There are many beautiful shades of 

 coloi' so far produced and there are 

 still many more that are plainly visi- 

 ble in seedlings that are waiting to be 

 fixed to the standard of a commercial 

 type. Private gardeners might take 

 this up and aim to produce a variety 

 which from its delicate color or other 

 peculiarity would appeal more to the 

 personal taste of the employer than 

 to the commercial growers, who are 

 naturally anxious to procure only 

 those colors which they know will be 

 popular with the general flower-buying 

 public. 



In conclusion, let me quote Herbert 

 Kaufman, who says that, "Nature's 

 richest treasures are for her most 

 ardent wooer. She lavishes largest 

 on the daring experimenter who sur- 

 prises her secrets. Brains are the 

 most efficient of all fertilizers. It 

 takes sand plus imagination to suc- 

 ceed to accomplish anything worth 

 while." 



