368 



HORTICULTURE 



September 9, 1911 



CARNATIONS OF TODAY. 



Extract from a paper read before The 

 Florists' Club of Philadelphia, Febru- 

 ary 7th. 1911, bj W. II. Taplin. 



Qualities Demanded in a Seedling. 



A new variety at the present time 

 posed to keen critic-ism. for a very 

 high standard has been reached, and it 

 is not enough for a new seedling to 

 simply show good size and fair color, 

 for the trade demands not only that a 

 large flower of good form and pleasing 

 color shall be produced on a good 

 strong stem, but also that the plant 

 shall be of good constitution and free 

 in growth and flower, and, last but not 

 least, the retail man, who after all 

 seems to be the supreme court of the 

 cut flower world, declares that the 

 (lower must be a good keeper and of 

 such a shade that he can use it to ad- 

 vantage. With such requirements as 

 these constantly before him the carna- 

 t ion hybridizer has much to work for, 

 and much work to do, and that some 

 of them do appreciate the size of their 

 task is evidenced by the care with 

 which they select the candidates for 

 popular favor from among the hun- 

 dreds, or even thousands of seedlings 

 from which they may make a choice. 



Results of Indoor Culture. 



Then we have to take into consider- 

 ation the fact that varieties are likely 

 to depreciate after having been grown 

 for several years, possibly owing in 

 part to some inherent weakness of the 

 stock from which they sprang, and in 

 part to the artificial conditions under 

 which they are grown, for under the 

 present conditions of commercial cut 

 flower growing, our carnations are 

 grown along under comparatively high 

 pressure, having no season of natural 

 rest such as most plants demand. In 

 fact the seasons are too short to allow 

 of any rest period, so we keep on prop- 

 agating and growing a variety until its 

 constitution gives out, and then look 

 for something of similar or better col- 

 or and habit to take the place of the 

 older variety. 



Continued indoor culture of carna- 

 tions seems to bring about the failure 

 of a variety as soon as anything, 

 though in making this assertion I am 

 fully aware that there are differences 

 of opinion on this subject. There are 

 arguments in favor of indoor culture, 

 not the least of which is found in the 

 fact that the bench-grown plant is 

 likely to produce a large flower on a 

 long stem at an earlier period in the 

 season than may he had from a field- 

 grown plant, but the total number of 

 flowers from a field-grown plant is 

 likely to greatly exceed the result from 

 the bench-grown specimen, and taking 

 the season as a whole the net returns 

 will probably be in favor of the field- 

 grown plant, without taking into con- 

 sideration the greater vitality that is 

 retained in the stock by the outdoor 

 system. Those three months in the 

 open air counts for much in the prep- 

 aration of a plant that is to endure a 

 long season of forced growth under 

 glass. 



The Test of Novelties. 



Then in the race to produce a given 

 number of plants, some of the new 

 varieties are over-propagated: every 

 possible shoot, and some that we might 

 term impossible are put in as a cutting 

 with the natural consequence that 

 many deficient plants are put out each 



season, and many disgruntled custom- 

 ers are made. It is not necessary at 

 this time to specify instances of this 

 practice, but that such is frequently 

 the case will be readily admitted by 

 anyone having much experience in the 

 trial of novelties in the carnation line, 

 and, while speaking of novelties, it 

 must be admitted that every hybridizer 

 is liable to view his own production 

 with a somewhat lenient judgment, 

 which makes it the more necessary 

 that these novelties should be passed 

 upon by a qualified committee, and 

 served in a somewhat similar manner 

 to that in use by the Rose and Chrys- 

 anthemum Societies. The more gen- 

 eral adoption of such a plan would 

 possibly lessen the number of varieties 

 that may he introduced, but would al- 

 so save quite a sum to those growers 

 who find it needful to try out a batch 

 of novelties each season with a view 

 to keeping up with the procession. 

 It is not merely the original outlay for 

 a limited number of plants that counts 

 in these experiments, but there is also 

 the loss of so many feet of bench 

 space that ought to be productive. 



Record of Some Recent Varieties. 



Dorothy Gordon bears a strong re- 

 semblance to Rose PinK Enchantress 

 but seems to be a little more even in 

 color, though in form, size, stem, and 

 general characteristics it is extremely 

 difficult, and as a matter of fact is well 

 nigh impossible, to distinguish the one 

 from the other. Then there is the dark 

 sport from Pink Enchantress that has 

 been named Washington, and if this 

 variety looks anything like a colored 

 cut supposed to represent it that has 

 recently been issued, it is a flower that 

 would not appeal to the writer, but it 

 is more charitable to blame that on 

 the printer rather than the flower, and 

 it would be better to suspend judg- 

 ment until a later period. 



In scarlet there does not yet appear 

 to be a better than Beacon, this va- 

 riety being so extremely free that 

 most growers are ready to forgive its 

 serious fault of splitting badly in mid- 

 winter. Scarlet Glow is a fine flower, 

 and very bright and cheerful in color, 

 but thus far does not equal Beacon in 

 growth and number of flowers. 



Pink Delight is a variety that has 

 received much favorable criticism dur- 

 ing the past year, the flower being of 

 fair size and even in color, and the 

 stem unusually good. It is not pink in 

 a strict interpretation of the color, 

 there being rather too much salmon to 

 be called pink, but it is a beautiful 

 carnation just the same. 



Admiration is a fine colored variety, 

 and a good sized flower, but unfortu- 

 nately it has no constitution and thus 

 seems to be out of the race. Princess 

 Charming as shown the past fall is a 

 variety of much promise, but as to 

 whether it will replace Enchantress 

 remains to be proved. 



Mrs. C. W. Ward is making many 

 friends among the growers, this varie- 

 ty having a good-sized flower of pleas- 

 ing color, and produced on a particu- 

 larly good stem. It is somewhat liable 

 to bleach as the sun grows stronger, 

 but withal is a fine carnation. Alma 

 Ward is a fine exhibition variety, but 

 not free enough for the average grow- 

 er. Some of the Lawsons are still 

 grown, but most commercial growers 

 requite more size and stem than is 

 found in Mrs. Lawson and the nu- 



merous varieties that have been de- 

 rived from that prolific source, and 

 while many are still growing Winsor 

 for color, yet it scarcely reaches up to 

 the standard cf the large city markets. 

 Variegated varieties are not in 

 lai tje demand and Mrs. Patten and Va- 

 riegated Lawson occupy a considerable 

 proportion of the space that is devoted 

 to those of fancy marking. It can 

 scarcely be said that there is a stand- 

 ard crimson variety at this time, for 

 although there are many that are be- 

 ing tested in various parts of the coun- 

 try there seems to be something lack- 

 ing, either in constitution, size, stem 

 or color, and there still seems to be 

 room for a good variety of this color. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



Messrs. Rice and Eschner had a 

 pleasant outing with their visitors 

 from the south, to the Heacock estab- 

 lishment at Wyncote and the Hatboro 

 place of H. Weiss. 



\V. Atlee Burpee is home from his 

 European trip looking bronzed, hearty 

 and happy. He is already getting in 

 touch with home affairs — and wonder- 

 ing who is to be our next mayor. 



Philip Freud of the Henry F. Michell 

 Co., is the busy man this week. 960 

 cases of French bulbs came in and had 

 tc go out to about 960 different points. 

 That takes some hustling; three men 

 and a boy. What gets Philip is that 

 the High Brows up in the advertising 

 department think they do all the work! 



Pennock-Meehan Co., Berger Bros, 

 and the Henry F. Michell Co. were 

 among the prominent stores we heard 

 of as closing at noon on Labor Day. 

 Force of habit, conditions and con- 

 servatism are probably among the rea- 

 sons why all did not fall into line. 

 There is mighty little doing in any 

 department on the afternoon of Labor 

 Day. 



Owing to the high price of immor- 

 telles this year many florists are go- 

 ing in for cape flowers instead. The 

 Rice experts seem to have struck the 

 right combination for producing a 

 bright scarlet for Christmas work. 

 Nothing quite so dainty and perfect 

 for this purpose has come under our 

 notice. The foreigners have not been 

 able to approach this in brilliancy so 

 far. 



M. Rice & Co. have been compelled 

 to institute a new department. Fred- 

 erick W. Smith entered on his duties 

 as chief of publicity, Sept. 5th. He 

 will look after catalogue and circular 

 work, and other advertising. The 

 heads of the firm have reached the 

 point where they have had to get 

 some relief from exacting work of 

 that kind. We congratulate them on 

 having secured an able and experi- 

 enced man. 



The Dreer catalogue this fall is the 

 most dignified and finished proposi- 

 tion we have ever seen them get out — 

 and that is saying much. The covers 

 are •'idealized tulips" with a vim and 

 swerve to them that is exceedingly ef- 

 fective — and the brown duo-tone fin- 

 ish is artistic and in the finest taste. 

 Inside bears the same stamp of the 

 master mind. All the heads of depart- 

 ments contribute; but the head chef 

 in the main achievement is George D. 

 Clark. Wha's like us! 



We do not know where Samuel S. 

 Pennock is. He may be frozen up on 

 some cool seascape in Rhode Island, 

 or he may be down among the Blue 



