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CAN CARNATION 



COME BACK? 



Thai the carnation has not attained the popularity to which it is en- 

 titled is laid hy this great advocate of that flower to conditions which the 

 trade can remedy. His judgment will he heard hy the whole trade with 

 the same interest it received at the convention of Tennessee florists. 



wmn^: 



TJCH has been said, during 



the last year or two, about 



the wauiiig popularity of 



the carnation, the reasons 



therefor, etc. I submit 



that the carnation is not 



losing popularity, except 



in certain quarters, and in 



these instances its loss of 



prestige is not due to any 



fault of the carnation itself, nor to the 



public. The fault lies entirely with the 



grower and the dealer. 



There is perhaps no flower that offers 

 a greater range of color or greater pos- 

 sibilities in combinations and contrasts 

 than the carnation. Then why, may I 

 ask you, do the growers limit their stock 

 to the few staple colors, white and two 

 shades of pink and red, and why do not 

 the dealers demand of the growers a 

 steady supply of the 

 many beautiful 

 shades not seen in 

 the large markets 

 nowf And why do 

 the dealers not 

 avail themselves of 

 the opportunity to 

 use them when they 

 are offered f 



Monotonous Fare. 



It is a well known 

 fact that one may 

 become surfeited 

 with the finest deli- 

 cacies if they are 

 served up too stead- 

 ily. Can you blame 

 the public for tir- 

 ing of carnations, or 

 of tabooing them in 

 their home decora- 

 tions, when the 

 only thing they can 

 buy is what they see 

 at every funeral? 

 Even at the • fu- 

 nerals there is too 

 much sameness, and 

 because of this lack 

 of variety the pub- 

 lic tires of your 

 carnations. I feel 

 safe in saying that 

 ninety per cent of 

 the carnation sprays 

 you make are of one 

 solid color and that 

 color is either white, 

 light pink or dark 

 pink. 



How many of you 

 have made sprays 

 of the beautiful 



By A. F. J. BAUR 



Benora, or a combination of En- 

 chantress Supreme and Pocahontas 1 

 You have, all of you, made sprays of 

 daffodils, but how many have ever used 

 Yellow Prince carnations in a spray, 

 and who among you has ever gone out 

 of his way to procure blooms of a flaked 

 variety to offer a customer who would 

 appreciate "something different "t 



Whetting the Public Appetite. 



This, I claim, is one of the principal 

 reasons why the carnation has lost popu- 

 larity in the big markets. It is up to 

 you floral artists to whet the public's 

 appetite for new colors and combina- 

 tions. The growers will produce any- 

 thing that you will assure them a sale 

 for. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



I maintain that the carnation has lost 

 popularity only in the large markets, 

 partly for the reasons already stated 

 and for the further reason that the 

 blooms are not handled properly. Un- 

 less there is a radical improvement in 

 the method of packing and handling 

 carnation blooms in the wholesale 

 houses, there will bo little chance for 

 the return of the carnation's old-time 

 popularity. How many of the carna- 

 tions that you buy in the average whole- 

 sale house have even a semblance of the 

 form the flowers possessed at the time 

 they were cut from the plants, espe- 

 cially if the blooms were shipped to the 

 wholesale house from a distance of 100 

 miles or thereabout t 



While a pleasing color may be of 

 first importance, a form that is pleasing 

 to the eye is not far behind. 



Many of the car- 

 nation blooms that 

 come through the 

 wholesale houses 

 have a striking re- 

 semblance to col- 

 ored rags on sticks. 



Popular as Ever. 



But the grower 

 who retails his own 

 carnations, or the 

 retailer who has his 

 carnations brought 

 to him direct from 

 the g r e e n h uses, 

 finds the carnation 

 as popular as ever, 

 especially if he does 

 not confine himself 

 to the three or four 

 staple colors. 



This brings us to 

 the buying of new 

 varieties; also va- 

 rieties of earlier in- 

 troduction, but not 

 seen growing in the 

 average carnation 

 range. That we 

 must procure stock 

 of the new varie- 

 ties as they are 

 offered, goes with- 

 out saying. New 

 varieties must bo 

 produced ; other- 

 wise, not only would 

 improvement stop, 

 but within a few 

 years there would 

 not be a single va- 

 riety with health 

 and vigor in culti- 

 vation. Without a 



