THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



47 



For years I practiced and preached 

 watering when the plants were put 

 out. Not surface watering, but a lit- 

 tle water in the hole around the plant 

 and then filling up with dry soil. That 

 is the correct way to plant anything 

 from a geranium to an oak tree; in 

 fact the only way. But for the past 

 two seasons we have not done that 

 with carnations and never will again; 

 there is no need of it. There is plenty 

 of moisture in the ground and rising 

 from its depths to keep the plants in 

 good order till we get a rain. There 

 is another great advantage in getting 

 the plants out early. The weather 

 is cool and you will catch the spring 

 rains. I have always condemned wa- 

 tering during summer under any con- 

 ditions and know that it is unneces- 

 sary and wrong. 



Stopping the plant by pinching out 

 the leading shoots is one of the most 

 important operations connected with 

 carnation culture. If not stopped: once 

 before planting out they will need it 

 very shortly afterward. By stopping 

 the leading shoots the intent is to pro- 

 duce a greater number of growths. A 

 few years ago we discontinued stop- 

 ping the plants early in August and 

 did not lift them till the end of Sep- 

 tember. The plants would then be full 

 of buds and we expected to go right on 

 cutting flowers from the newly lifted 

 plants. Such flowers as we then pro- 

 duced would not sell at any price to- 

 day. With hardly an exception (the 

 Scott may be one) no carnation should 

 show buds at lifting time. All flower 

 bearing shoots should be made in- 

 side, then you will get a fairly good 

 stem and a clean flower. The plant 

 should have its powers taxed as little 

 as possible when undergoing the trans- 



The last week in August I would call 

 the ideal time. If it could all be done 

 then so much the better, but the quan- 

 tity handled compels large growers 

 to extend the operation from Aug. 

 15th to the first or second week in 

 September. The question is often 

 asked and discussed "Is it best to lift 

 carnations with a ball of earth?" It 

 is a foolish question to an old carna- 

 tion grower. If your soil is of a light 

 texture it will be impossible to lift 

 with any ball, and most undesirable if 

 you could. If planted in a clay soil 

 you must wait for a rain or thorough- 

 ly soak the plants before lifting. Clay 

 when wet is as friable as sandy loam 

 and will drop off and leave the roots 

 and fibers intact. We do not want to 

 retain any of the soil that they occu- 

 pied in the field, but we do want all 

 the roots, and to preserve these we 

 raise the plants with the aid of two 

 digging forks, each on opposite sides 

 of the plant and six or seven inches 

 from the plant. It is a job you can 

 work hard at, but it should not be 

 done in a hurry. 



As soon as the plants are lifted and 

 the soil shaken off the roots they are 

 laid in flats and the flats carted to 

 the door of the greenhouse and then 

 carried to the planter so that the roots 

 are exposed very little. It is not un- 



Carnation White Cloud. 



planting from field to bench and the 

 buds and flowers would be the great- 

 est hindrance to a speedy and success- 

 ful start under the new conditions. 



Transplanting. 



Large growers cannot fix any one 

 week as the time for lifting, but have 

 to begin early to get done in time. 



usual for us to just strike a very hot 

 spell for this operation. I have been 

 planting carnations more than once 

 in the first week of September when 

 the thermometer under the apple 

 tree's shade was 90 degrees and under 

 glass 110 degrees, but we did not 

 postpone the work "on account of the 

 inclemency of the weather." Oh, no, 



