Carnation Culture in California 



This was necessary here, in San Francisco and suburbs, because when 

 we do get a "norther," and there is snow on the Coast Range, the wind 

 becomes quite cutting, sufficiently so to shrivel the buds and make the 

 flowers unsalable. In the southern part of California, in Santa Barbara, 

 Los Angeles, and other points, this does not occur; and, therefore, the 

 florists in that region are able to cut thousands of blooms from their fields 

 of carnations all winter through. True, these cannot compare with green- 

 house-grown flowers; but they seem to find buyers and admirers, because 

 the florists continue to extend their fields more and more every year. 

 Growers there do not practice disbudding, which, carried out only in a 

 partial manner even, would no doubt increase the size and perfection of 

 their blooms. 



Having heard of the very successful growing of carnations under glass 

 in the East, and having received from there such varieties as Buttercup, 

 Century, Heintz's White, President Degraw, Sunrise, and others, we 

 began, in 1889, to hybridize these with a few of our seedlings that were 

 grown from seed imported from Erfurt, Germany, among which we had 

 found some flowers of fine colors and of fair size and shape. Seedlings pro- 

 duced by this, our first attempt at hybridization, were given a touch of the 

 blood of imported hardy European varieties, to increase the dimensions of 

 the flowers, and with excellent results. Having in the meantime continued 

 to import all the latest novelties in carnations from the East, we followed 

 up our experiments with some of them, and had the satisfaction to number, 

 in our possession, in 1895, some seventy distinct varieties of greatest promise. 

 Of these we catalogued, in 1897, fifty varieties, most of which are yet 

 retained by us as standard sorts. It is true, that, strictly speaking, these 

 were not all commercial varieties, according to Eastern ideas, because a 

 great many were variegated, but they were nevertheless of large and per- 

 fect shape, fragrant, long-stemmed, prolific and constant bloomers. Since 

 then, our efforts have been more directed to obtaining self-colored carnations. 



During my visit, last spring, to several cities in the East, I could not 

 help noticing and admiring the superior construction of the greenhouses 

 on the large establishments there, in comparison with our structures. The 

 substantial foundation, the iron frames and supports, the excellent venti- 

 lating apparatus, the draining tubes under the beds, and such like, are 

 seldom met with here, and then only in private places. Perhaps it is not 

 quite so necessary in our part of the country to build such solid houses, 

 on account of the lesser degrees of heat in summer and cold in winter; but 

 from the standpoint of economy alone, it would be wise, when one does 



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