Field Culture of Carnations 



if the soil is allowed to become hardened, evaporation proceeds very rapidly 

 from the soil itself, and plants will soon suffer from drought. 



Where plants are set in rows, for the purpose of horse cultivation, the 

 cultivator should be run between the rows within a few days after the plants 

 are set. This should be followed up by hand hoeing and weeding, and pul- 

 verizing the soil around the neck of the plant. The horse hoe should be 

 used at least once in every two weeks, and, as a rule, after each rain ; while 

 hand hoeing should be practiced frequently enough to keep the soil pulver- 

 ized. No weeds should be allowed to grow to any size in the carnation field, 

 but frequent cultivation should be attended to, so as to effectually keep down 

 all weeds. 



Cultivation around the plants should be shallow and not deep. The horse 

 hoe should be one with small teeth, that will pulverize the soil finely, but will 

 not run sufficiently deep to tear up or destroy the roots. The workmen should 

 be watched when hoeing, and carefully instructed not to injure the neck 

 of the plant by striking it with the hoe, nor to injure the roots of the plant 

 by digging too deeply into the soil. Half an inch to an inch in depth is suffi- 

 cient stirring for carnations. 



There is quite a divergence of opinion among different growers as to 

 the advantages of horse cultivation compared with hand cultivation. I have 

 not been able to see any great difference between the two methods, except- 

 ing, possibly, a slight gain in economy with horse cultivation where an abund- 

 ance of land is available. So far as I have observed, just as good carnation 

 plants may be grown by either method, and a selection between the two sim- 

 mers itself down to the quantity of ground the grower may have available. If 

 he is limited as to land area, he should plant in beds, and practice hand 

 cultivation ; but if an abundance of land is available, he can well afford to 

 practice horse cultivation. 



Stopping Carnations in the Field 



As soon as the carnation plants have become thoroughly established, 

 and have commenced their season's growth, flowering shoots will be pushed 

 up, and these will soon form buds and blooms unless broken off. If it is 

 desired to have crops of flowers during the winter time, it will be necessary 

 to cut off these flowering shoots as fast as the buds have become well formed. 

 It is desirable not to break off these shoots until the bud is in the condition 

 named. Too close stopping is objectionable, as it has a tendency to dwarf 

 the plant too much, retard the crop of bloom, and, if followed very closely, 

 at wide periods may cause the plant to bloom in crops instead of bringing 



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