CHAPTER XII. 



TOPPING CARNATIONS -SHIPPING FLOWERS AND ROOTED 

 CUTTINGS— ENIGMA OF FLOWERS "GOING TO SLEEP"— 

 OPINIONS OF CARNATION SPECIALISTS- 

 FUNCTION OF PETALS. 



Cx\RNATION plants in pots, flats, or fields, should not be 

 permitted to mature flower buds. Most plants that at- 

 tempt such premature maturity are taken from near the 

 top of the mother plant. All the vital energies of a plant are di- 

 verted to the processes of perfecting seed, and, incidentally, flowers. 

 When they bud in a small cutting, those life forces must be ar- 

 rested and diverted to vegetative growth, and not to reproductive 

 efforts. 



In topping carnations, some cut with a knife, others pinch 

 off the tender top, others pull out the center stems. The 

 better mode is to seize the stem with the thumb and finger be- 

 low the rupture to counter-poise the pulling force. The time to 

 top carnations grown for winter blooming is on the appearance of 

 a flower bud. Some growers remove all incipient buds from 

 mature plants when they are lifted in the field for the benches, 

 claiming with reason, that good flowers can not be obtained from 

 buds started in the field and matured in the house. 



CUTTING AND KEEPING CARNATION BLOOMS. 



Carnation flowers must open full on the stems and the petals 

 reach a proper stage of maturity, to be lasting when picked, 

 "going to sleep," or "early wilting" of carnation flowers de- 

 pends on the hygrometric condition of the plant that produces 

 them, and a corresponding condition of the petals of its flowers. 

 A proper flower from a non-dropsical plant may maintain a pre- 

 sentable condition for three weeks. 



