CHAPTER VI 



Sectional Cultural Treatises 



southern california 



The culture of Carnations for cut flowers in Southern 

 California is an immense business, but one so unorganized 

 and detached that it is ahiiost impossible to give any data 

 as to numbers grown or capital tied up in it. Of recent 

 years it has passed ver\^ largely into the hands of Japanese 

 growlers, and while they are excellent cultivators, it is a 

 little difficult to get any reliable information as to their 

 business. One grower to whom the writer appealed, and 

 who has many acres devoted to Carnations, gave it as his 

 impression that there were 100,000 plants grown around 

 Los Angeles. But as one firm sends out more rooted 

 plants annually than this, the value of the information 

 given with the insinuating smile characteristic of the 

 *' little brown man " is not very great. 



There are three principal methods of growing for cut 

 blooms. One method is to grow outdoors entirely, and 

 there are hundreds of acres devoted this way. Another 

 is to grow under cheap cloth or canvas houses built in the 

 span roofed form of the ordinary commercial greenhouse. 

 The third is strictly under glass culture, and it is this way 

 that the *' hothouse " flowers, as they are locally termed, 

 are grown. The last named flowers are best quality and 

 command the highest prices. Indoor culture is about the 

 same as practised in the East and Middle \\ est, and the 



