CARE OF CARNATIONS 151 



one-ounce bottle. When we are ready to hybridize, we make use of a 

 pair of jeweler's pincers. With these we extract the stamens, early 

 in the morning, before the flowers have been fertilized by insects or 

 self-fertilized. A little later we pass with the pollen bottle and shake 

 a little of it on the pistils when the operation is complete. The same 

 method is employed in fertilization for seedlings of roses, gladioli, 

 amaryllis, cannas, dahlias, etc. Use the best flowers for seedling pur- 

 poses and retain only the best from which to propagate." 



Care of Carnations. The plants should be well watered in hot, dry 

 weather, and if mulched with old manure, leaf-mold or grass to a depth 

 of two inches will improve their growth. The buds also, when 

 crowded, should be thinned out as in rose-bushes. 



One of the worst enemies of carnations is the gopher, which must 

 be killed if the plants are to be safe. As this is easier said than done, 

 the amateur may want to know how to grow a few plants out of their 

 reach. Choose a sunny place, if you are near the coast, and make a 

 bed four feet wide and as long as you choose. Dig out the soil to the 

 depth of 8 inches, the whole size of the bed. At the bottom lay a 

 piece of galvanized wire netting (chicken wire) with a mesh not larger 

 than 1 inch; then lay a border of 12-inch boards so that the bottom of 

 the board rests on the chicken wire. This gives you a bed that is 

 gopher proof and will last a long time and will more than pay for 

 itself in the long run by preventing the gophers from taking your 

 choice carnation plants, for it seems that they always take the choicest 

 varieties. Fill this bed with the mixture of soil, lime and manure, 

 mentioned above. Fill it heaping full, for it will settle 2 or 3 inches. 

 Work over the soil two or three times before it is time to plant out 

 the young plants, and work over and smooth well immediately before 

 planting. The young plants should be planted direct from the cutting 

 bed or sand into the prepared bed as soon as they have rooted strongly. 

 Do not leave them in the sand until they begin to run up tall and 

 spindling, or you will never have healthy plants. 



The plants should be placed one foot apart each way, and should 

 be headed out before they become thoroughly established to make them 

 branch close to the ground. In planting out rooted cuttings from 

 sand let the sand that adheres to the root remain. 



Another back-yard carnation arrangement which may become very 

 pleasing to look at is made in this way. Take an old barrel and saw 

 it in two. Put the large end in the ground 2 or 3 inches, first having 

 knocked out the top. Fill the half barrel up with old leaves, cow 

 manure, and loam. Plant young plants out around the barrel, say 6 

 inches from the edge and about 10 inches apart. After the plants are 

 thoroughly established, and are in a good growing state, give them a 

 mulch of about one inch of thoroughly rotten manure. After this 



