Calendar of Operations 



from none but healthy plants. Watch for red spider, thrips and green fly, 

 and use proper preventive measures. Watering must be carefully attended 

 to. Look out for sharp rises in temperature on bright mornings after heavy 

 firing. Plants are growing more rapidly, and will need increased quantities 

 of water. Abundant ventilation should be carried whenever possible. 

 Syringe if any trace of red spider appears ; a good syringing once each week, 

 on a bright morning, will do no harm. Such varieties as the Mrs. Thomas 

 W. Lawson, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Daybreak, Enchantress, and any of 

 the colors which fade in bright sunlight, should be lightly shaded by striping 

 the glass with a thin paint made from white lead and naphtha. Make the 

 stripes four inches wide, with three inches of clear glass between each stripe. 

 Fumigate with extract of tobacco, or XL-All, to destroy thrips. Always cut 

 the blooms closely before fumigating with tobacco, or syringing with salt 

 solution. Pot all cuttings as soon as rooted. Shift all plants that need it and 

 before they become potbound. Watch the young plants in pots closely ; don't 

 let them wilt for lack of water. Don't soak them all the time; use judg- 

 ment and reason in watering. If young plants are shaded lightly during 

 the brightest part of hot days it will save excessive watering. Young stock 

 that is established should now be in cool quarters ; 45 to 48 degrees at night 

 and 56 to 60 degrees during the day is about the right temperature. Give an 

 abundance of air. Fumigate freely; all young plants should be set in the 

 field absolutely without taint of any insect pest. 



April 



Propagation may be continued, but is now coming to a close. Shade the 

 propagating benches more heavily, and keep the propagating house as cool 

 as possible. Fresh, or sterilized, sand only should be used. All flowering 

 plants need a light shading. Keep down insects. Young plants are growing 

 and need watching and prompt shifting. Late blooming varieties, such as 

 Prosperity, Mme. Diaz Albertini, and others, may be set in the open ground 

 by the end of this month, whenever temperature and soil conditions will per- 

 mit. Plants intended for planting on benches for inside summer growth 

 should now be in three-inch pots, ready to shift into four-inch pots. Such 

 varieties as Mrs. Thomas W. Lawson and Prosperity, propagated in Novem- 

 ber and December, should be in three to three and a half-inch pots, according 

 to strength of growth, and ought to be planted on benches by May ist in order 

 to get best results. Plough the field intended for carnations just as soon as 

 the soil is dry enough. If chemical fertilizers are used, get them into the 

 ground at the first harrowing. If stable manure is to be applied in the spring, 



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