Treatment of Young Carnation Stock 



the summer only extra strong plants should be used. While the young plants 

 remain growing in the pots all blooming shoots should be cut back as soon 

 as in the proper condition. When ready to set in the field the young plants 

 should have a strong, vigorous appearance. The stems should be brittle, 

 and the color should be of a dark, rich green, a striking contrast to the sickly, 

 yellowish green which is seen in plants that have been either over-potted or 

 over-watered, or allowed to become root-bound or stood in an exhausted soil. 



In preparing the young stock, before planting into the field the plants 

 should receive sufficient water to moisten the balls through to the bottom of 

 the pot. Wlien turned out of the pots and placed in flats to be carried into 

 the field, the top soil, to about a quarter of an inch in depth, should be taken 

 ofl:' with the fingers, and the ball should receive a slight pressure to break 

 up its dense, compact condition, for it is always desirable to have the balls of 

 soil mellow, and very undesirable to have them in a hardened, brick-like 

 state when planted out. When planted either on the benches or in the field, 

 the ball of soil should be sufficiently broken up so that it will incorporate 

 readily with and absorb moisture promptly from the surrounding mass of soil. 

 This will not be the case if the balls have become root-bound and hardened 

 and are planted in the field without being broken up or mellowed. 



The time at which young plants should be put into the field varies with 

 different localities. In the Southern States they might be set out as early 

 as the 1st of March. At Queens we have occasionally set out plants as early 

 as the middle to the 25th of March. Farther north, in Canada or the State 

 of Maine, the time may run well into the ist of June before planting out 

 is done. As a general rule, throughout most sections of the country the 

 1st to the 15th of May should see the largest proportion of the young stock 

 planted in the field. But in localities subject to severe late frosts the operation 

 may well be deferred until after the danger from frost is over. This brings 

 up the mooted question: "Are properly hardened carnation plants injured 

 by frosts when freshly planted in the spring?" Many growers hold that they 

 are not, but I am of the opinion that the present race of carnations, which 

 are purely the product of hybridization under glass, and which are grown 

 under glass at all times excepting when planted in the fields in the summer 

 time, are injured by frosts, and I hold that no young carnation plant des- 

 tined for winter blooming should be put into the field before all danger from 

 serious frosts is past. 



We have occasionally taken late rooted cuttings from the sand and 

 planted them in the field during the latter part of May and early part of 

 June with considerable success. These cuttings, if planted out in freshly 



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