CHAPTER V 



ENEMIES 



WE have several times referred to diseases, but so far have not 

 attempted to deal particularly with them. The time has now come 

 for us to do so, for though the actual diseases peculiar to the car- 

 nation are few in number, they can be exceedingly virulent. Before 

 discussing them, we feel obliged once again to insist upon the fact 

 that they are, one and all, preventable, and that when they attack 

 plants it is almost always in response to conditions that invite them. 

 Possibly there are times when those conditions are unavoidable, 

 but, even so, there is almost sure to be an aftermath of evils. If 

 we took as many pains to keep our carnations free from them as we 

 do on behalf of our tomatoes, there would be little to fear. In 

 the summer we should defeat them by spraying, as before stated, 

 and in the winter we should call in the aid of sulphur and lime as 

 our chief agents. Let us glance at them seriatim. 



Stem Rot. This is one of the most common, as it is the 

 most deadly, and it is caused in the majority of cases by 

 deep potting. We have recently been told that it is also 

 caused by the use of unsuitable sand for striking the cuttings, 

 and though we do not challenge that assertion we had never 

 held that theory and should neither endorse nor reject it until 

 we have satisfied ourselves by experiments. But it has the impress 

 of probability about it. But as to the danger of deep potting 

 there can be no element of doubt. In potting, none of the joints 

 of the plant should be buried except the basal ones, for it has been 

 seen again and again that it is at the buried joints that the disease 

 occurs. Deep potting is unnecessary in any case. Just as the 

 carnation resents the wetting of its foliage in winter, so does it 

 object to an accumulation of moisture around its stem at the collar. 

 Yet this is almost bound to happen when a portion of that stem is 

 below the surface of the soil, or when the atmospheric conditions of 

 the house can only be described as humid. This is the case of stem 

 rot so far as we have traced it, and the way to avoid it is by careful 

 potting, watering, and ventilating. It is not hereditary, but some 



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