Calendar of Operations 



bud is well developed. The carnation field should be gone over each week 

 and all shoots showing bud development pinched out. Do not take off any 

 shoot that is not well advanced, but leave it until the next pinching time. 

 Some growers allow their plants to stand until the buds are fully developed 

 and then cut everything back hard. This is detrimental, if a continuous crop 

 of bloom is desired, as it has a tendency to cause the flowers to come in 

 crops. 



July 



The hottest periods of the year are apt to occur during this month and 

 the following one. All insect pests, especially thrips and red spider, will be 

 exceedingly troublesome this month. In extreme hot weather, the plants 

 may be syringed every evening and in the morning as well. Ventilation 

 should be kept on at all times. Young stock upon the benches should be 

 syringed, and close attention given to watering. The shoots should be 

 pinched back as fast as they show formation of flower buds, care being taken 

 not to cut them back too hard. In pinching back a shoot, at least three strong 

 joints should be left. Cultivation outside, and the hoeing and weeding 

 of stock in the field, should be persisted in. Follow up the pinching back of 

 stock in the field. The bench soil should be cultivated wherever weeds are 

 showing, or the surface soil has become encrusted. Plants for blooming in 

 pots should all be outdoors, and will now be growing rapidly. When the pots 

 have become well filled with roots, water must be administered liberally, but 

 after shifting, and before the roots have taken possession of the new soil, 

 watering must be carefully done. If too much water is given at this period, 

 the new soil may become soured and the plants will not make as good growth 

 as otherwise. All old flowering plants remaining inside should now be 

 thrown out as rapidly as the houses are needed. As soon as it has been de- 

 cided to stop the care of a bench of carnations, the plants should be thrown 

 out at once and burned, as it will not pay to allow the plants to stand upon the 

 benches and dry up, for insects will leave such plants and go to adjoining 

 growing stock, to get food. The houses should now be cleared out, fumi- 

 gated and refilled, and prepared for planting as rapidly as possible. Late 

 varieties, such as Prosperity, Mrs. Thomas W. Lawson and Governor Roose- 

 velt, should all be benched not later than the 20th to 25th of this month. 

 Houses should be shaded lightly where any plants are growing. This shad- 

 ing, if not too heavy, may be kept on until October, at which time it should be 

 gradually removed. Continue the pinching back of all plants, both in the 

 field and in the houses. Follow up cultivation, both in the field and on the 

 benches, vigorously. 



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