56 



HORTICULTURE 



July 17, 1920 



practically the same with all our 

 American friends, whether they are 

 private or commercial growers. Pot 

 culture is non-existent, at least, I have 

 never seen a carnation in anything 

 larser than a two-inch pot on the other 

 side of the Atlantic. The cuttings are 

 rooted from December to February: 

 now and then a grower may commence 

 earlier or keep on later. As soon as 

 rooted the cuttings are transferred to 

 two-inch pots or boxes or benches. The 

 earlier rooted carnations are again 

 transplanted into benches or boxes. As 

 soon as the weather permits, which, 

 according to the latitude, may be any- 

 where from April 1 to May 15, the car- 

 nations are planted out into the open. 

 Here they are well cultivated and fre- 

 quently hoed. Watering, however, is 

 avoided unless the season is extraor- 

 dinarily dry. The plants are kept well 

 pinched, and by the time they are 

 planted into the houses, which is from 

 about July 1 to August 1, large bushy 

 plants with 20 and more breaks are 

 produced in a favorable season. A car- 

 nation will break more freely when 

 planted out in the open than it does 

 when grown under glass. 



A very limited number of growers 

 cultivate their plants entirely under 

 glass, that is. they plant them into 

 their permanent quarters as early as 

 May. The one advantage of this 

 method is a high grade flower with a 

 long stem can be produced early in the 

 season, whereas the first blooms of the 

 field grown plants are generally rather 

 inferior and short stemmed. In the 

 houses the majority of the carnations 

 are planted on raised benches about 

 three feet high, in four to five inches of 

 rich soil, which latter is prepared dur- 

 ing the preceding winter and spring, 

 and frequently contains as much as 

 one-fifth part of well rotted manure. A 

 few growers construct their benches on 

 the ground, the bottom of these is 

 formed by a layer of square drain pipes 

 or hollow cricks. Here and there one 

 also finds the carnations grown on well 

 drained solid beds with sides about 12 

 inches high. 



The distance between the plants is 

 mostly eight inches by ten inches with 

 a few variations according to variety. 

 The carnations are generally supported 

 by one wire ring, and series of wires 

 stretched above them lengthways and 

 string cross-ways. Little or no artifi- 

 cial manure is given before January, 

 from then onward most growers start 

 with small doses, and these are in- 

 creased and applied more frequently as 

 the spring advances. 



Plants are grown during one season 

 only under glass with the occasional 

 exception of new and valuable varie- 



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ties, these are sometimes cut back and 

 kept tor the production of cuttings 

 during a second winter. 



Before the replanting begins in July 

 all the old soil is removed and fresh 

 soil put into the benches. This, with 

 an outside temperature frequently as 

 much as 90 degrees in the shade, is far 

 from being the most fascinating job in 

 carnation culture, and I have often 

 wondered why in this age of mechani- 

 cal power, and in the country with the 

 most advanced labor-saving appliances, 

 nothing more wonderful than a wheel- 

 barrow is used in the operation. 



The temperature is kept as even as 

 the outside atmospheric conditions will 

 allow, and it seldom varies more than 

 two degrees throughout the winter 

 nights. Most growers favor a night 

 temperature of 48 to 50 degrees during 

 the dullest month and 50 to 52 degrees 



during the rest of the winter. By far 

 the most young stock is sold as rooted 

 cuttings direct out of the sand, very 

 few plants change hands from two-inch 

 pots. From July to September quite a 

 considerable trade is done with larger 

 plants lifted from the field. 



The labor and coal shortage during 

 1917 and 1918 checked the carnation 

 industry very considerably, and many 

 carnation houses were either entirely 

 closed down or used for production of 

 other crops, which at that tinu* ap- 

 peared more necessary or profitable. 

 This temporary set-back is, however, 

 l)eing speedily overcome, and with the 

 introduction and increase of varieties 

 of the "Laddie" type of carnation will 

 soon occupy a higher position among 

 the popular flowers of the United 

 States than it has ever done before. 

 C. Engelmann. 



