66 AMERICAN CARNATION CULTURE. 



Carnation flowers should be cut in the morning and always 

 before fumigation; the stems immersed in small vases filled with 

 water and kept in a cool dry room until ready for market. They 

 should be packed in nice clean boxes, not more than 250 in a 

 mass, and dispatched to reach the commission man early in the 

 day. 



An experienced dealer in cut carnation flowers writes: "The 

 temperature in which carnation flowers should be kept after they 

 are cut is 50 degrees, in a dry, clean, well ventilated room. A 

 refrigerator, cooled with ice, is the worst place possible to pre- 

 serve carnation blooms. The atmosphere is damp and damaging, 

 when they are taken out, their moisture rapidly evaporates and the 

 flowers 'go to sleep.' " 



Carnation flowers may be cut too soon, or too late, to keep 

 well. If they are cut after they are fertilized or before their 

 structural cells are developed, they quickly wither. A concensus 

 of the most intelligent opinions and experiences on this import- 

 ant point is, if cut sometime before maturity and allowed to stay 

 in water for several hours before shipping, they will invariably 

 improve and appear to better advantage after the dealer receives 

 them. Keep carnations and all flowers in a large, airy cellar, 

 avoid putting them in an ice-box, and have at all times a good 

 circulation of fresh air; and, above all things, avoid a close, 

 stuffy atmosphere. 



Regarding the temperature for keeping carnation flowers 

 after they are cut, experience has been that an average of 50 

 degrees is the best, in conjunction with a dry, healthy atmosphere, 

 without drafts or currents of air directly on the flowers. A 

 moderate amount of light without direct rays of the sun is essen- 

 tial to their good keeping quahties. A thing to avoid, more 

 especially, is ice in any form. Gas, either illuminating, or from a 

 furnace, and sulphuric from heating pipes, are all poisonous to 

 carnation blooms. 



ROOTED CUTTINGS — PACKING AND SHIPPING. 



Few have a conception of the enormous traffic there is in 

 rooted carnation cuttings. The desire of every grower to secure 



