CARNATION GROWING IN AMERICA 77 



during the past few years, and the popular varieties 

 of to-day are giants in comparison to those of a few 

 years ago. A great deal of this is due to the American 

 Carnation Society, which is admittedly one of the best 

 and most active societies in the States. It meets in 

 February or March of each year in one or other of 

 our large cities, and holds an exhibition on some 

 magnitude. The best testimony to its efficiency is 

 the extent to which raisers seek to secure its certifi- 

 cate of merit by exhibiting their new varieties at its 

 annual meetings. It would be difficult to name a 

 single variety of any prominence that had not official 

 endorsement before its distribution. The scale of 

 points by which they are judged is as follows : Colour, 

 25 ; size, 20 ; stem, 20 ; form, 15 ; substance, 10 ; 

 calyx, 5 ; fragrance, 5. A variety must score 85 out 

 of a total of 100 to secure a certificate. 



"The cultural methods are practically the same 

 everywhere, in small private gardens as in the great 

 commercial places, and that is the Carnations are 

 planted out upon the greenhouse bench in 4^ inches 

 to 5 inches of soil. The young plants are all propa- 

 gated from cuttings. January and February are the 

 two best months for propagation. Strong young 

 shoots at the base of a flowering stem are chosen 

 and inserted closely in a bed of 4 inches of sharp 

 sand in a propagating house, which is kept at 

 about a temperature of 55 degrees. With ordinary 

 care and attention every cutting roots. In some 

 commercial propagating houses batches of 100,000 

 cuttings may be seen, out of which not more 



