CHAPTER XIII. 



IS PRODUCTIVENESS OF BLOOM DIMINISHING ? IS QUANTITY 



BEING SACRIFICED FOR QUALITY ? BLOOMS PER PLANT 



-SOME RECORDS QUOTED -COMPARISONS. 



THE data to reach a conclusion as to the diminishing product- 

 iveness of bloom on later introduced varieties of carna- 

 tions is such as to justify only a very general conclusion. 

 The number of flowers a carnation plant will produce through the 

 season is an interesting enquiry, as well as the basis of a computa- 

 tion of profit or loss in its cultivation. 



This is information requires time and labor to secure. Some 

 growers have kept tab on the number of flowers they have ob- 

 tained for a month or two, or part of the season, which is not 

 available data for a generalization. In 1890, Mr. R. W. Winter- 

 staetter, a reliable and painstaking carnation grower, gave exact 

 figures of the number of flowers and cuttings taken from four 

 standard varieties of carnations grown at that date by him, reach- 

 ing from October 17 to June 27, embracing their entire blooming 

 life, which was published in an earlier edition of AMERICAN CAR- 

 NATION CULTURE. 



The general average of flowers per plant is twenty four. It is 

 conservatively estimated that every cutting sacrifices one flower; 

 if it was so counted, it would raise the general average of flowers 

 for each plant to thirty. 



