48 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



we kept right on, and I don't remem- 

 ber of losing or injuring any plants by 

 so doing. 



At the risk of being thought ego- 

 tistical I will say that we do not lose 

 any plants through transplanting. I 

 have time and again noticed that in 

 houses holding about 2,500 plants we 

 have lost none up to the following 

 May; in others, perhaps one plant. I 



I have had to listen more than once 

 to an ex-farmer carnation grower who 

 would inform me with pride and pleas- 

 antry that his boy could plant four 

 carnations to my one. The best an- 

 swer to that is: "You don't say so!" 

 with pleasure and surprise on your 

 features. When you notice in a 

 month's time that half of those "My 

 boy planted" are dead or dying you 



A Bunch of White Carnations. 



have read of growers who thought 

 they had fair success if they did not 

 lose more than 10 per cent. A loss of 

 5 per cent would worry us. When we 

 consider the crude and ungardener- 

 like way in which transplanting is 

 done by some of the smaller growers, 

 or men who have perhaps taken to the 

 business after a failure at many other 

 callings, it is no wonder that the loss- 

 es are 10, or even 20 per cent. The 

 great evil in this simple but impor- 

 tant operation is that the beginner 

 who is without a gardener's education 

 attempts to attain speed before he has 

 gained the knowledge "How to do it." 



are reconciled to your old slow ways. 

 I am not by any means encouraging 

 slowness (far from it), but learn to 

 plant and pot and shift and tie prop- 

 erly first, and then when performing 

 any of these operations speed will 

 never interfere with the quality of 

 the work. 



The distance between plants on the 

 bench will vary some with the varie- 

 ties and also with the size of the 

 plants. McGowan used to do with 

 eight inches between the plants and 

 ten inches between the rows. Scott 

 and Daybreak, when fine plants, 

 should be ten inches apart and twelve 



inches between rows. Two years ago 

 it was very rainy and our carnation 

 plants -grew so fast during July and 

 August that both the last mentioned 

 varieties needed 14 inches between 

 rows and by Christmas were quite as 

 thick as health would allow. Your 

 good sense must guide you in this. To 

 plant too far apart is not economical, 

 but it is better to err in this direc- 

 tion than to crowd them overmuch, 

 for that means mildew and rotting of 

 the lower growths, a weakening of the 

 whole plant and poor, weak flowers. 

 I have seen them so closely packed in 

 (because the owner had more than he 

 needed and hated to see any perish 

 in the field) that half the plants rot- 

 ted and the rest were useless. Air 

 and daylight should have access to the 

 plant on each side if you expect good 

 flowers, and only fine flowers will re- 

 turn a profit now-a-days. 



Twenty years ago we used six inches 

 of soil in the bench and later five 

 inches was found to be enough. I be- 

 lieve that four inches is ample to 

 grow any carnation, and some of the 

 finest flowers we see at exhibitions 

 are grown in less, but I would say 

 four inches is about right. 



Carnations seem to do fairly well 

 in a great variety of soils. Such 

 sandy loam as they have on Long 

 Island is undoubtedly the ideal for 

 most of the varieties, but if properly 

 handled a varied texture of soil suits 

 them. Mr. W. N. Rudd, of Mt. Green- 

 wood, 111., grows prize-takers in the 

 fat prairie land of his state, and my 

 neighbors, W. J. Palmer & Son, grow 

 magnificent Daybreaks and several 

 others in a stiff loam that is almost 

 a clay. At the organization of the 

 American Carnation Society in Phila- 

 delphia there was a discussion as to 

 renewing the soil annually in the 

 benches. I was surprised to hear any 

 one say that they grew them several 

 years in the same old soil. We had 

 never dreamed of such a thing, but 

 always renewed the soil every sum- 

 mer. Now that we have come down to 

 only four inches of soil I would cer- 

 tainly advocate a change of every par- 

 ticle of soil annually. 



Our method is to plow up a piece of 

 clover sod towards the end of May 

 when the clover has made a good 

 growth. We plow five inches deep 

 and plow and cultivate this piece fre- 

 quently during summer, and early in 

 July spread the manure on the surface 

 and plow it in, and then add the bone 

 flour and harrow it in. We will most 

 likely have had a rain before hauling 

 in the soil and if so it may need an- 

 other run over with the cultivator, 

 which helps to distribute the manure 

 and bone. It is then hauled to the 

 door of the house and wheeled on to 

 the benches or got in by the most 

 expeditious method that you can de- 

 vise. It should, however, be a wheel- 

 barrow or small tramway and truck; 

 the old hand-barrow is killing, and 

 not fit work for bipeds, black or white, 

 male or female. 



We try to get about a sixth or sev- 



