THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



53 



moisture. Extremes are bad, but it does 

 not hurt to let them get slightly on 

 the dry side or in that healthy state 

 when a watering will be greatly ap 

 preciated by the plant. We try to keep 

 the surface of the beds slightly loosen 

 ed up and entirely free of weeds at all 

 times. 



Some growers tell us to keep the beds 

 free of weeds and &quot;dry leaves, which 

 should be removed.&quot; I am happy to 

 state that we have not had occasion to 

 remove any dry leaves for some years, 

 and there is no occasion to have any if 

 the plants are properly treated during 

 the first month on the bench, particularly 

 the first week. Some of our best grow 

 ers clean the surface of the beds thor 

 oughly in August and then put on a 

 half or three-quarters of an inch of 

 mulch, which feeds surface roots, pre 

 vents the drying out of the beds and the 

 necessity of continually stirring the sur 

 face of the soil. It is an excellent plan. 

 This should be repeated again by the 

 middle of February. For the mulch we 

 use finely broken up cow manure, and 

 before putting it on the bed we stir the 

 surface and sprinkle on a good dusting 

 of bone flour, covering the bone with the 

 mulch. If you are going to carry your 

 carnations on into June this mulching 

 will be of the greatest benefit. 



I don t think i have yet said any 

 thing about temperature. If a house is 

 very light the day temperature is not 

 of great importance providing it is 

 high enough. It is certain that some 

 varieties do better in lower tempera 

 ture than others. Enchantress flowers 

 freely in a night temperature of 45 de 

 grees, Lawson wants 55 degrees at night, 

 or does very well at that, but 50 de 

 grees at night will be found to suit the 

 great majority of rarieties very well, 



House of Mrs. Lawson Carnation in Full Crop. 



and is high enough for any if first-class 

 flowers and a continuous supply is ex 

 pected. All of them should go up to 

 65 degrees in the daytime, unless the 

 weather is very cold and it is all fire 

 heat; then stop at 60 degrees. If the 

 sun is shining let the house go up to 

 70 degrees; that is only the carnation s 

 natural temperature. Some growers at 

 tribute bursting of the calyx largely to 

 a very uneven temperature; that is, let 

 ting the house get down some nights as 

 low as 40 degrees or less. But this 

 may be theory omy. The nearer you can 

 keep the house to 50 degrees at night 

 and to 65 to 70 degrees in the daytime, 

 or noon, the better success you will have. 

 A little ventilation should be given for 

 a short time every day except in the very 

 severest weather. On cloudy days when 

 the outside temperature is perhaps 35 

 to 40 degrees it is economy to fire up 

 and give ventilation. 



Disbudding. 



Disbudding, which was practiced by 

 few nfteen years ago, is now universally 

 done by all growers. It seems a great 

 labor, but when the expense is spread 

 over every hundred carnations you pick, 

 the cost is extremely small, and more 

 than that, it is now an absolute neces 

 sity. Disbudding should be done every 

 week. The buds develop very quickly, 

 and they should be rubbed off when 

 quite small, not left on till they are al 

 most showing color, or disbudding will 

 be of little avail. The object of dis 

 budding is to have only one bud receive 

 the whole strength of the shoot. If you 

 allow two or three buds to share its 

 strength till they are nearly full size 

 you have done little good to the flower 

 which is to remain. 



Tying. 



The matter of tying is of the greatest 

 importance and a considerable part of 

 the expense of growing carnations. 

 Thirty years ago and for many years 

 thereafter nothing better was thought of 

 than the primitive straight stick, and 

 in the days of short-stemmed, or really 

 stemless, flowers, it did very well. Now 

 adays it is uselws, and the advent of 

 the long-stemmed flower has compelled 

 us to use some better method. 



A great many devices have been 

 thought of and many arrangements in 

 the shape of wire supports invented, 

 mostly all useless. There is, however, 

 one device of wire that seems pre-emi 

 nently ahead of anything yet invented, 

 and which it seems to me is about per 

 fect. I do not say this to favor any 

 manufacturer, but in justice to my 

 readers must say that the support known 

 as the &quot;Model,&quot; made in Brooklyn, is 

 about perfection. The immense quan 

 tities used by our largest growers is evi 

 dence of this. The large, stiff wire, 

 bent into a gigantic hairpin, the wire 

 netting and many other schemes are 

 good. 



The plan used first by Mr. Dorner, 

 and now generally adopted, is very good, 

 and with many varieties answers the 

 purpose well. It is to stretch a strong 

 wire (No. 14 or 16) along both sides 

 of the bench about six inches above the 

 soil, and between each row, lengthwise 

 of the bed, two lighter wires. Then from 

 the two outside wires a string is run 

 across the bed and near the plants, 

 carrying the string around each wire as 

 it is passed. Between each row of 

 plants crosswise two strings are needed, 

 one against each row. The common white 

 string used by grocers, which is very 



