THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



A Bunch of White Carnations. 



in the hole around the plant and then 

 filling up with dry soil. That is the 

 correct way to plant anything from a 

 geranium to an oak tree; in fact the 

 only way. But for the past two seasons 

 we have not done that with carnations 

 and never will again; there is no need 

 of it. There is plenty of moisture in 

 the ground and rising from its depths 

 to keep the plants in good order till we 

 get a rain. There is another great ad 

 vantage in getting the plants out early. 

 The weather is cool and you will catch 

 the spring rains. I have always con 

 demned watering during summer under 

 any conditions and know that it is un 

 necessary and wrong. 



Stopping the plant by pinching out 

 the leading shoots is one of the most 

 important operations connected with 

 carnation culture. If not stopped once 

 before planting out they will need it 

 very shortly afterward. By stopping 

 the leading shoots the intent is to pro 

 duce a greater number of growths. A 

 few years ago we discontinued stopping 

 the plants early in August and did not 



lift them till September. The plants 

 would then be full of buds and we ex 

 pected to go right on cutting flowers 

 from the newly lifted plants. Such 

 flowers as we then produced would not 

 sell at any price today. All flower 

 bearing shoots should be made inside, 

 then you will get a fairly good stem and 

 a clean flower. The plant should have 

 its powers taxed as little as possible 

 when undergoing me transplanting from 

 field to bench and the buds and flowers 

 would be the greatest hindrance to a 

 speedy and successful start under the 

 new conditions. The question is often 

 asked and discussed &quot;Is it best to lift 

 carnations with a ball of earth?&quot; It 

 is a foolish question to an old carna 

 tion grower. If your soil is of a light 

 texture it will be impossible to lift 

 with any ball, and most undesirable if 

 you could. If planted in a clay soil 

 you must wait for a rain or thoroughly 

 soak the plants before lifting. Clay 

 when wet is as friable as sandy loam 

 and will drop off and leave the roots and 

 fibers intact. We do not want to re 



tain any of the soil that they occupied 

 in the field, but we do want all the 

 roots, and to preserve these we raise the 

 plants with the aid of two digging 

 forks, each on opposite sides of the plant 

 and six or seven inches from the plant. 

 It is a job you can work hard at, but 

 it should not be done in a hurry. 



At the risk of being thought egotisti 

 cal I will say that we do not lose any 

 plants through transplanting. I have 

 time and again noticed that in houses 

 holding about 2,500 plants we have lost 

 none up to the following May; in oth 

 ers, perhaps one plant. I have read 

 of growers who thought they had fair 

 success if they did not lose more than 

 ten per cent. A loss of five per cent would 

 worry us. When we consider the crude 

 and ungardenerlike way in which trans 

 planting is done by men who have per 

 haps taken to the business after a fail 

 ure at many other callings, it is no won 

 der that the losses are ten or even twenty 

 per cent. The great evil in this simple 

 but important operation is that the be 

 ginner who is without a gardener s edu 

 cation attempts to attain speed before 

 he has gained the knowledge of &quot;how 

 to do it.&quot; I have had to listen more 

 than once to an ex-farmer carnation 

 grower who would inform me with pride 

 and pleasantry that his boy could plant 

 four carnations to my one. The best 

 answer to this is : &quot; You don t say so ! 

 with pleasure and surprise on your fea 

 tures. When you notice in a month s 

 time that half of those &quot;my boy plant 

 ed&quot; are dead or dying you are recon 

 ciled to your old slow ways. I am not 

 by any means encouraging slowness 

 far from it but learn to plant and pot 

 and shift and tie properly first, and then 

 when performing any of these opera 

 tions speed will never interfere with the 

 quality of work. 



The distance Between plants on the 

 bench will vary some with the varieties 

 and also with the size of the plants. 

 McGowan used to do with eight inches 

 between the plants and ten inches be 

 tween the rows. Lawson and Enchant 

 ress when fine plants should be ten 

 inches apart and twelve inches between 

 rows. But every one s plants are not 

 the same size, and neither are your own. 

 You may begin digging the best plants 

 of a bed of a certain variety and ten 

 inches will appear to suit them; after 

 the oest plants are dug smaller plants 

 will come in and you can shorten up on 

 distance by an inch or two. Your own 

 goo sense must guide you in this, only 

 remember the plants have nearly the 

 whole twelve months to grow and wil 

 greatly increase in size. To plant too 

 far apart is not economical, but it is 

 better to err in this direction than to 

 crowd them overmuch, for that means 

 mildew and rotting of the lower 

 growths, a weakening of the whole plant 

 and poor, weak flowers. I have seen 

 them so closely packed in because the 

 owner had more than he needed and 

 hated to see any perish in the field 

 that half the plants rotted and the rest 

 were useless. Air and daylight should 

 have* access to the plant on each side if 

 you expect good flowers, and only fine 

 flowers will return a profit nowadays. 



