Soils 



abundance of vegetable fiber, as well as to render available for the purpose 

 of field culture an abundant area well supplied with vegetable fiber. Where 

 no sod lot or pasture lands are available, the only alternative is to apply a 

 heavy coating of coarse, well-rotted manure to the field and plough under, 

 ploughing several times as before described. Many growers have no other 

 soil than this, and accomplish very good results. But wherever sods or 

 pasture lots are to be had, they are to be preferred. 



Preparation of Bench Soils in the Field 



About the latter part of August, select a piece of ground of sufficient 

 size to furnish all the sod required when the land is ploughed to the depth of 

 six inches. Give this ground a covering of well-rotted stable manure, putting 

 on sufficient to make an even coating of an inch to an inch and a half in 

 thickness. This should be spread evenly, the ground ploughed to a depth 

 of six inches and allowed to remain undisturbed until about the middle of 

 October; it should then be ploughed again and thoroughly broken up with 

 a disk harrow. A third ploughing should be done late in November, just 

 before the land freezes up, leaving the ground rough, so that frost will more 

 easily penetrate all the soil proposed to be removed to the benches. This 

 thorough freezing has a tendency to kill all insects and larvae which might 

 otherwise exist through the winter and be taken into the greenhouses the fol- 

 lowing spring. In the spring the ground should be ploughed as early as 

 possible ; that is, as soon as the frost is out and the soil sufficiently dried to 

 work easily, and this ploughing should be repeated two or three times, at 

 interval of three or four weeks, finally throwing the soil together in long 

 ridges with alley- ways between, so that when removing the soil from the 

 field to the greenhouses, the carts may be driven in the alleys, between 

 the ridges, and the soil will not be tramped on or compacted by driving 

 over it. 



Where carnations are grown in the same field year after year, the soil 

 will eventually become exhausted ; it is also liable to become infested with the 

 various fungi and insect enemies of the carnation. A frequent change of 

 location is, therefore, imperative in order to avoid the various fungous dis- 

 eases that infect the roots as well as the plants. It is also important to 

 practice a system of rotating crops upon locations where carnations are grown. 

 Our experience has taught us to avoid planting such crops as beets of any 

 kind, potatoes, or other root crops, the roots of which are infected with 

 various fungi. The stem rot fungus which causes so much damage to car- 

 nations also attacks the beet, producing what is known as the beet scab, and 



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