4:8 GREENHOUSE MANAGEMENT. 



near home can grow their plants under high culture 

 and secure large flowers and long, stout stems, but if to 

 be shipped long distances they will need to be grown 

 with a firmer texture, that they may withstand hard 

 usage. 



TOP-DRESSING AND LIQUID MANURING. 



The requirements of the crop will depend upon the 

 character of the soil used for the beds. If composed of 

 loam, stable manure and ground bone, the plants will be 

 able to obtain food for several months, but by the first 

 of November it will generally be well to apply ground 

 bone to the surface of the bed, and from that time on 

 to give the plants an application of liquid manure once 

 in two weeks. The application of a peck of wood ashes 

 to each hundred square feet of bed once in six or eight 

 weeks will be especially desirable in giving strength to 

 the stems. For the further discussion of the use of 

 manures and fertilizers for carnations and other crops, 

 the reader is referred to the chapter on that subject. 



GENERAL CARE OF THE HOUSES. 



As soon as the plants have become established, the 

 surface of the beds should be stirred, to keep down the 

 weeds and to loosen it, that the growth of the roots may 

 be stimulated and the food supply increased. This 

 should be kept up during the season, but it should not 

 be deep enough to injure the roots. All dead and dis- 

 eased leaves should be picked off, and all litter removed 

 from the beds. 



The carnation is less troubled by insects than most 

 flowers. The green fly is about the only one that will 

 require especial treatment, and for this the usual rem- 

 edies can be used. The clanger of the appearance of 

 insects and fungous diseases will be greatly reduced, pro- 

 vided the conditions under which the plants are grown 

 are suited to them; and if they are so handled that they 



