THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



49 



The Modern Type of House for Growing Carnations. 



J. Harrison, Portia, Tidal Wave and, 

 greatest of all, Daybreak, were sent out 

 by him. 



To trace further the subsequent intro 

 ductions would make too long a chapter. 

 It is about fifteen years since the carna 

 tion was taken up and specialized by 

 many of our best horticulturists, with 

 the result that we have attained what 

 ten years ago would have been consid 

 ered the absolute ideal. But who can 

 tell what Dorner, Hill, Fisher, Ward, 

 Witterstaetter, Hartshorne, Dailledouze, 

 Patten or other enthusiasts will do? 

 Size has been attained almost or quite 

 to the desired point. Length and stout 

 ness of stem with most of the latest in 

 troductions is about ideal, some very 

 fine varieties having a little more length 

 of stem than is essential; that, however, 

 is a fault much easier to remedy than in 

 sufficiency of stem. 



Fragrance should be an attribute of 

 all varieties. In color we have shades 

 from deep maroon to purest white, and 

 yet perhaps it is in color that the future 

 promises most for the raiser of new va 

 rieties. I would say just here that when 

 any good variety does well with you 

 don t discard it till you are sure you 

 can grow a better variety of the same 

 color. 



There are few plants that accommo 

 date themselves so readily to a great 

 variety of soils. Yet from quality of 

 soils, or more likely methods of han 

 dling, good gardeners fail with some va 

 rieties while entirely successful with 

 others. 



Whether we have reached the limit 

 in the improvement of the divine flower 

 or not is a question that it is not at 

 all essential to worry over, because we 

 shall want the disseminator of new va 

 rieties always with us. Whether under 

 our continuous winter culture varieties 

 should gradually lose health and vigor 

 is a question that has led to some con 

 troversy. We don t force carna 

 tions by any means, yet to a great ex 

 tent we reverse the seasons and propa 

 gating by cuttings is not raising a new 

 individual, as is growing from seed. We 

 are merely dividing and perpetuating 

 the old original plant. And my experi 

 ence is that after five or six years a va 

 riety loses its vigor and is a prey to all 

 carnation diseases. And even if it did 

 not it would be superseded by improved 

 varieties. 



Propagation. 



In cultural hints the proper place to 

 begin is with the cutting. Let me re 

 peat that the plants from which you 

 take the cuttings have not been forced. 

 They have been subjected to a lower 

 temperature than that in which they 

 would flower in their native habitat. So 

 the plant is not exhausted and there is 

 no need of having any plants in a cold- 

 frame to propagate from. No better 

 material can be had than that from 

 your flowering plants. And the earlier 

 you take the cutting, say in October, 

 the less can it be said the plants have 

 been forced. 



Much has been said of late in ad 

 vocacy of early propagation, say in No 

 vember and December, and in these days 

 of early planting there is much in its 

 favor. If by New Year s or the middle 

 of January you have the young plants 

 rooted in pots they could be removed 

 to a cool house at a night temperature 

 of 40 degrees. This would give them 

 a partial rest of two or three months 

 and they would be in good order to 

 grow vigorously when warmer weather 

 came. Where large quantities are need 

 ed you cannot raise all you need in one 

 batch, or three or four, and propaga 

 tion will be carried on into April, but 

 what you can take out of the sand be 

 fore New Year s will make excellent 

 stock and this slight rest will be a bene 

 fit to them. Although we don t truly 

 force our carnations by reversing their 

 season of flowering, we keep up a per 

 petual active growth. Thirty years ago 

 we considered bottom heat a necessity 

 for rooting carnations. Then later we 

 were converted to the theory that the 

 sand should not be warmed at all. Now 

 we believe that if the atmosphere is 

 kept as near 50 degrees as possible and 

 the sand at from 55 to 60 degrees we 

 have the ideal conditions. That mild 

 heat of the sand cannot injure the cut 

 tings and it will hasten their rooting 

 by several days. 



Avoid a direct draught either from a 

 door or ventilator. Carnations want 

 the light and little shading is needed 

 during December, January and Febru 

 ary. When the sun gets high enough 



