THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



55 



spread out, and when lifted every parti 

 cle of root can be preserved. We used 

 to wait for a rain in the old days. With 

 these comparatively small, compact 

 plants there is no need of that, for 

 there are no long roots to lift and the 

 plants relish the change from the often 

 hot, dry field to the moisture of the 

 bench. I have never seen a bench of 

 plants planted in early July wilt to any 

 extent. The plant is in no condition 

 to wilt. The best all round carnations 

 we ever saw, of more than six varieties, 

 were benched from July 5 to July 10. 

 They then will quickly take hold of the 

 new soil, and all the growth they make 

 inside is strong and vigorous and the 

 first flowers you get are perfect. With 

 many growers, particularly those who 

 retail their own flow r ers, it is a serious 

 loss to throw out their plants before 

 school graduations are over, somewhere 

 along after the middle of June. This al 

 lows you to get all there is in your car 

 nations and gives you time to clean out 

 houses, renew soil and in with your new 

 crop. 



Within five or six years an entire in 

 side culture has been tried and in some 

 cases with the greatest success. Some 

 varieties may be better adapted for this 

 method. We believe if you should find 

 yourself with an empty house at the 

 first of April or even up to first of 

 May that it would be the very best plan 

 to put your carnations on the bench at 

 once, instead of in the field, but we do 

 not believe it would pay to throw away 

 a bench on May 1 that was yielding, or 

 would yield within a few weeks, a fine 

 cut p.f flowers. There is no doubt that 

 some varieties, notably Lawson and En 

 chantress, grown entirely under glass, 

 will yield as many flowers, and magnif 

 icent flowers, and what is more con 

 tinue to bear flowers as long as the 

 plants lifted from the field. If you are 

 after long-stemmed, perfect flowers in 

 early fall, say September and October, 

 then the inside culture is the plan. That 

 we have proved. We think the earlier 

 they can be planted the better the re 

 sult and that if you want to try this 

 system, but can t get them on the bench 

 till first of June, you had better have 

 put them in the field at the first of May, 

 and for two months they would be do 

 ing better than cramped in pots and 

 run the very likely risk of suffering for 

 water. The greatest hindrance to this 

 method with the average florist is that 

 he loses a valuable part of his crop and 

 it is more expensive to carry his young 

 stock over the month of May in pots 

 than planted out. The specialist who 

 supplies the fancy trade of a large city 

 it may pay to throw out his carnations 

 after Easter and on his young plants 

 he may gain largely in early fall 

 with his perfect flowers what he loses 

 in May and June. Yet they lift so per 

 fectly and take hold so quickly in July 

 that two months in the field will be 

 found the better plan and least expen 

 sive. No doubt circumstances will in 

 duce us to adopt both plans, for they 

 are both good. The great forward 

 strides we have made is in early plant 

 ing. 



Carnation Lady Bountiful. 



Sub-watering. 



This has been given an extensive trial. 

 Mr. C. W. Ward, of Queens, N. Y., has 

 most thoroughly tested the system. 

 While it has been proved that good flow 

 ers can be produced, they do not surpass 

 those grown on a well drained bench 

 in any respect. The sub-watered benches 

 need greater care in handling than the 

 ordinary benches, and being very expen 

 sive to construct it is not likely we shall 

 hear much more of that unnatural 

 method of watering the benches. 



Houses. 



When the carnation first became an 

 important flower with us any house was 

 used to grow them in. Now thousands 

 of houses are built expressly for the 

 purpose. An ideal house would be an 

 equal span twenty-two or twenty-eight 

 feet wide. The 22-foot house will give 

 you three benches, each five feet, and 

 four paths. The side walls should be five 

 feet and half of it glass. About half the 

 heating pipes should be on the side walls 

 and the other half distributed near the 

 floor in the paths. No need of it be 

 neath the benches, but there will be a 

 better circulation of air among the 

 plants if there are some heating pipes 

 through the center of the house. The 

 ridge should run east and west, or bet 

 ter still, northeast and southwest. Ample 

 ventilation should be given by continu 

 ous ventilating sash on both sides of 

 the ridge and if you can afford it ven 



tilation on side walls is a great benefit 

 in summer, but that is not absolutely 

 necessary. 



Blocks of connected houses are now 

 built for carnations with high gutters. 

 These are very light houses and less 

 expensive to build, as well as to heat. 

 Yet they are not so prefectly light as 

 the equal span detached house with side 

 glass. Much has been written of late 

 about different kinds of benches. There 

 is nothing that gives better results than 

 the wooden bench from two feet to thirty 

 inches high, and now we are using 

 what is known as pecky cypress we 

 shall not have to renew these wooden 

 benches every three or four years. Some 

 build a 4-inch brick wall some fifteen or 

 sixteen inches high, fill in with ashes, 

 then lay a floor of tile or hollow 7 brick 

 and finish off with a cement edging 

 about five inches high and two inches 

 thick. This must be a most excellent 

 bench as nothing can be better drainage 

 than the tile. Others build concrete walls 

 four inches thick, but tapering thinner at 

 top, and fifteen inches high, fill in with 

 clinkers or rubble stone to within five 

 inches of the top, and then the soil. We 

 have proof that a bench of this pattern 

 will grow good carnations, but prefer it 

 higher, and also the tiles for drainage. 

 There is also a bench made entirely of 

 cement or concrete that must be everlast 

 ing, and you can have it any height or 

 width you want. The great essential in any 

 bench is a perfect drainage, and in a low 

 bed, unless you have the heat well dis- 



