16 



The Florists' Review 



July 5, 1917. 



CARRYING CARNATIONS OVER. 



It will be greatly appreciated if you 

 will answer a question on carnation 

 culture for me, as I am green in this 

 business. Last year I planted a house 

 of carnations, about 800 plants. They 

 grew fairly well till the 40-below-zero 

 weather came. Then they did not bloom 

 well, but as soon as the weather be- 

 came mild they began to bloom freely 

 and they now are bearing a profuse 

 crop of flowers. Please tell me whether 

 it would pay to carry them over. In 

 that case, how shall I treat them? Shall 

 I cut them down, and how closely? 

 What would be the best feed for them? 

 When I planted them last year I put 

 in entirely new soil. E. W. — Can. 



If, as you state, you are "green" 

 at the business, I would hesitate to 

 advise you to try to carry your carna- 

 tions over for a second season. Many a 

 veteran grower has tried and failed. 

 While I feel confident that these fail- 

 ures have, in most cases at least, oc- 

 curred because of failure to heed a 

 few facts which are patent to anyone 

 who will take a second thought, yet 

 a little more skill and judgment are 

 required in this operation than in re- 

 planting from the field. One of the 

 most important factors is that you can- 

 not cut back hard, in the heat of sum- 

 mer, a plant which has worked hard 

 all winter and is pretty well exhausted, 

 and expect it to break from the hard 

 wood and thrive. This is the most com- 

 mon cause of failure. The old maxim, 

 *'You cannot eat your cake and have 

 it," applies in this case. In order to 

 run carnation plants over the second 

 season you must sacrifice a portion of 

 the first season's crop by cutting the 

 plants back wliile the weather is yet 

 comparatively cool, thus allowing the 

 plants to recover and make a new 

 start under favorable weather condi- 

 tions. That means to sacrifice at least 

 the June crop and part of the May 

 crop. 



Now for your case. You are up in 

 Canada, where the temperature prob- 

 ably does not rise high enough to be 

 oppressive to the carnation. Assuming 

 that to be true, if your plants have 

 not made a normal season's growth, 

 so that they are in good condition as 

 regards tlie supporting, you might be 

 able to run them right through without 

 much difficulty. Make sure that the 

 supports you are using will hold the 

 plants erect during the next season, 

 as on that will largely depend your 

 success during the second season. Give 

 the beds a mulch of half rotted stable 

 manure, to prevent too rapid evapora- 

 tion, after first sprinkling on a light 

 application of ground bone. This will 

 carry them through the summer, until 

 about September, when you can begin 

 feeding a little with ground sheep ma- 

 nure, dried blood, acid phosphate, 



tankage or any other food you may 

 wish to use. Keep the plants upright in 

 the supports, keep them disbudded and 

 keep them clear of aphis, thrips and 

 red spider. A failure to heed any one 

 of these principles would diminish, if 

 not ruin, your chance of success. 



A. F. J. B. 



USING SOIL A SECOND SEASON. 



Please tell us whether it would be 

 profitable to use carnation soil for two 

 years. As it is almost impossible to 

 get the necessary help, we thought we 

 might use the soil that is at present in 

 the benches for another season. What 

 kind of fertilizer should we use? 



C. W. E. & S.— Pa. 



It would have to be a case of rather 

 stern necessity before I would give up 

 changing the soil in my carnation 

 benches every year. Occasionally we 

 run across a grower who claims to grow 

 high-grade carnations on the same soil 

 for several seasons in succession. "Just 

 as fine as anyone could grow them on 

 new soil," is the way they usually 

 put it. Further inquiry, however, gen- 

 erally discloses the fact that these 

 claims need more or less modification. 

 I know of only one instance where a 

 grower produced really high-grade car- 

 nations on what he called second-year 

 soil, and he admitted that the 



plants were slow in starting and 

 were not really in first-class condi- 

 tion until well along in the season. The 

 blooms I saw were staged late in 

 March. I know of no method of han- 

 dling this kind of soil to restore it to 

 its original fertility. Should such a 

 method ever be discovered, it would in- 

 deed be a boon to the growers, espe- 

 cially the carnation growers. 



If you really find it necessary to use 

 some of this soil, I suggest that you 

 take out the plants and allow the soil 

 to dry out somewhat. Do not allow it to 

 become powder-dry and do not allow it 

 to dry out too rapidly, but touch up the 

 dry spots with the hose every day or 

 two until you have the whole bed just 

 a little drier than you would have it at 

 the time of planting. If you have some 

 well decayed cattle manure on the place, 

 spread a layer about an inch thick over 

 the entire bench, preferably after you 

 have got the soil into the state de- 

 scribed. Then grind the whole mass 

 through a soil grinder, of which there 

 may be many styles, but perhaps none 

 that is handier and more practical than 

 the one made at North Tonawanda, 

 N. Y. I think the W. F. Easting Co., 

 of Buffalo, N. Y., sells it. I refer to 

 the one which is operated by hand. 



In the absence of cattle manure, you 

 might substitute well rotted horse ma- 

 nure, to which you would add pulverized 

 sheep manure to the amount of 200 

 pounds to 1,000 square feet of bench 

 space. Level this off and plant a few 

 days later, after adding moisture grad- 

 ually to the soil until it is in proper 

 condition for planting. Bone meal, acid 

 phosphate and other fertilizers may be 

 added later, as they are needed. Eun- 

 ning the soil through the grinder is for 

 the purpose of breaking it up and also 

 thoroughly mixing it with the manure. 

 Both of these results are essential, in 

 my estimation. A. F. J. B. 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST, 



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■ I 



A CHAIR OF FLOWERS. 



The "chair" shown in the accom- 

 panying illustration was made by the 

 Art Floral Co., of San Francisco, for 

 the funeral of Alexander Davidson, the 

 superintendent of Cypress Lawn ceme- 

 tery, San Francisco, for twenty-five 

 years, who was struck and killed re- 

 cently by an automobile as he was com- 

 ing out of the gate of the cemetery. 

 The "chair" represented an expendi- 

 ture of $100 and was the tribute of the 

 cemetery employees. Russell roses were 

 used, except on the arm rests, which 

 were covered with Ophelia roses, and 

 the legs, which were made of sweet peas. 

 S. H. G. 



$2 PER POUND. 



A florist in a small city recently had 

 a wedding order on which the cost was 

 not limited quite so closely as is cus- 

 tomary in his community. Not only 

 was he called on to decorate the church, 



but he was asked to do his best on the 

 bouquets for tlie bride and her maid. 

 He received $30 for one and $25 for the 

 other, so he spared nothing. "They 

 weighed twelve pounds apiece," he 

 proudly declares. 



Lightness and grace often are char- 

 acteristics of wedding bouquets for the 

 attainment of which the florist feels 

 himself entitled to charge, but the com- 

 parison of weight with price is some- 

 thing distinctly novel. Let us hope 

 weiglit will not become the standard of 

 value in cut flower arrangement. 



PARCEL POST C. O. D. FEES. 



Growers, and those of the retailers in 

 the trade who take advantage of the 

 c. o. d. service of the parcel post, will 

 be interested in the changes that be- 

 came effective July 1. The fee for re- 

 turning money now is 10 cents for 

 amounts of $50 and less and 25 cents for 

 amounts of $100 and less. The pay- 



