58 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



plants will give us their blooms in March and April, not by ones 

 and twos, but in sheaves. We freely admit that we have found 

 500 plants of " Harold " in 32*5. pots a paying proposition at that 

 time of year, for to all intents and purposes every bloom is nothing 

 more or less in appearance than a medium-sized perpetual carnation. 

 Our success with plants lifted from the open ground in November 

 and planted in a cold house and also in frames were a more qualified 

 success, but even so the experiment was worth the making. 



In May the young and the established plants in the open beds 

 become a mass of buds. Acting on the advice of the raisers we 

 remove the central bud, with the result that when we cut a stalk 

 we cut a spray of blooms with it, and these we find are easily disposed 

 of in the market. The length of stalk which it has inherited from 

 the perpetual carnation makes it a very acceptable florist's flower, 

 and this is a prime recommendation for any market flower. We 

 have used it very largely in bouquets and designs, and found we could 

 utilise it in place of carnations at considerably less cost to ourselves, 

 and therefore at greater profit. These points are of value to all 

 growers for market. 



Our latest flowers, from October till December, are culled from 

 plants in the cold houses or in frames. We purposely prevent the 

 plants from flowering until we need them, and as they persist in 

 their efforts to bloom they come along directly we allow them to. 

 The plants we use for this purpose are young, lifted from the beds 

 and potted up at the end of August and grown on in frames, or 

 as occasion offers, in a cold house. The remnant of our last year's 

 crop were gathered in Christmas week. 



The soil we use is that which we described in detail for perpetual 

 carnations, with perhaps a little more lime. Periodically we dust 

 a little lime about them and this dissolves when watered they 

 appear to appreciate it and it tends to keep the soil sweet and free 

 from worms. It is well to attend to these details, the more so because 

 of its remarkably floriferous propensities, for so abundantly does it 

 produce its blooms that unless well looked after it would rapidly 

 exhaust the soil and would give smaller blooms. Sustenance must 

 be given on light soils more frequently than on heavy. 



We have frankly placed ourselves among the admirers of this 

 pink X perpetual carnation hybrid, and that admiration is for its 



