48 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



Charles Henderson: Deep crimson. 



Egandale: Soft red; fine dark fo 

 liage. 



Chicago: Vermilion scarlet; fine 

 green foliage. 



President Cleveland: Orange scarlet; 

 one of the best. 



Admiral Avellan: Orange scarlet; fine 

 dark foliage. 



Mrs. Kate Gray: Orange scarlet, yel 

 low throat. 



President McKinley: Brilliant crim 

 son. 



The Express: Fine scarlet; very 

 dwarf. 



Buttercup: Pure rich yellow. 



Black Beauty: The darkest of all 

 foliage; small flower. 



Madame Berat : Deep pink. 



Niagara: Dwarf growing, large truss, 

 rich crimson and golden yellow. 



CARLUDOVICA. 



Though frequently considered among 

 palms and grown with them, yet this 

 handsome foliage plant, is not a palm, 

 being more nearly related to the pan- 

 danus family. C. atrovirens has been 

 in cultivation for many years, but does 

 not appear to have become common 

 in the trade on this side of the ocean 

 and as a matter of fact is seldom met 

 with outside of private collections. 



C. atrovirens is a stemless or nearly 

 stemless plant of bushy habit, the leaves 

 of which are bifid, plaited somewhat 

 like those of a curculigo, and very dark 

 green, as indicated by the specific name. 



This plant grows freely in a warm 

 house and is not hard to please in the 

 matter of compost, but makes more 

 rapid growth in ught, rich soil with 

 good drainage, the latter point being the 



Carludovica Atrovirens, 



And dozens of others. Test carefully 

 the new varieties as they appear, unless 

 you have a chance to see a whole bed 

 of them growing. 



CANDYTUFT. 



See Annuals. 



more necessary from the fact that an 

 abundant supply of &quot;water is needed for 

 its welfare. 



Propagation may be effected by seeds 

 when these are obtainable, but more 

 often depends on division, as C. atro 

 virens produces suckers freely, and by 

 washing out the roots these suckers may 



be separated from the parent plant with 

 out difficulty and soon become estab 

 lished plants. 



The carludovicas are said to be na 

 tives only of tropical South America, 

 where a number of handsome species 

 has been found, one of which, C. pal- 

 mata, possesses additional interest on 

 account of its leaves furnishing the 

 material for the so-called Panama hats, 

 those luxuries of summer dress that are 

 unfortunately beyond the purse of the 

 average florist. But we may be permit 

 ted to grow a plant of Carludovica pal- 

 mata and by exercising the imagination 

 we may see the patient South American 

 native selecting one large young leaf, 

 carefully removing the stiff veins or ribs 

 from it, then slitting it into narrow 

 strips and finally plaiting it into a shape 

 ly head cover without separating the 

 strips at the stem end. Such ingenuity 

 deserves a proper financial reward, but 

 in all probability the larger portion of 

 the profit is secured by the European 

 or American hatter who ultimately re 

 tails the product. W. H. T. 



CARNATION. 



If not the most important flower we 

 grow, the carnation certainly stands 

 next to the rose, both in area of glass 

 devoted to its culture and value of the 

 flowers sold. Of all our commercial 

 flowers the type of carnations we grow 

 are most distinctively American. They 

 are very different from the tree carna 

 tions of Europe, which had the reputa 

 tion of being perennial bloomers there, 

 but the flowers were few and far be 

 tween and had no such stems as our 

 present-day carnations. Nor are they 

 like the garden carnations which come 

 witn a grand burst of bloom in June 

 and July, but have no tendency to 

 flower again for another year. It is 

 certain that our strain inherits the blood 

 of more than one breed, for seedlings 

 often revert back to varieties that pro 

 duce a strong growth and few flowers, 

 and some again are croppers. 



The splendid varieties we have today 

 have been produced not suddenly but 

 by the slow operation of the law of 

 evolution, aided by artificial selection. 

 The first carnations that I attempted to 

 flower in the winter months were La 

 Purite, carmine, and Edwardsii and 

 President Degraw, both white, all very 

 free bloomers, and the flowers were al 

 ways used with short stems. If we had 

 disbudded and picked the flowers with 

 long stems I doubt whether they would 

 be as free as many of .our present vari 

 eties. 



Astoria was a pioneer among carna 

 tions and a cross between it and Ed 

 wardsii produced Buttercup, which was 

 a wonderful flower in its day and which 

 for years had no rival. From 1875 to 

 1885 there were no carnation specialists 

 and tfce few varieties introduced during 

 that tirne are gone and forgotten. About 

 the latter date appeared Grace Wilder, 

 the first of its color (Scott is almost 

 the same shade). Then Mr. Simmons, 

 of Geneva, sent out his famous varieties, 

 several of which were a great advance 

 on existing varieties. Silver Spray, J. 



