Mabch S, 1821 



The Rorists' Review 



31 



!t;&ZH^iamfl:R2Bg^saR2ffi^2!M 



^ SIM'S WAY WITH SOIL s^ 



irr»^iy*Airr»^irr*>rtrr*^irr4AiY*>(ir^*\iY*\irr*\irr*>irr*Y;rr«^ 



CARNATIONS AT CLIFTONDALE. 



Boston Florists Examine Sim's Methods. 



When the Gardeners' and Florists' 

 Club of Boston held its first field day 

 of the year at William Sim's, Clifton- 

 dale, Mass., February 19, some sixty 

 growers from leading commercial and 

 private establishments were able to ex- 

 amine the unusual methods by which he 

 has obtained marked success in 'grow- 

 ing carnations this season. '-. 



Mr. Sim has been located at Cliftoii- 

 dale for over twenty years and kks 

 earned a national reputation for the 

 various crops he has grown. He was the 

 first grower to plant violets in big mod- 

 ern houses and at one time grew 200 000 

 Princess of Wales of grand quality in 

 houses and frames. Still later sweet 

 peas of marvelous quality were pro- 

 duced, which created a sensation at a 

 number of exhibitions. At the Phila- 

 delphia national show, Mr. Sim 's poly- 

 anthus was one of the features of the 

 show, just as his mammoth pansies, 

 which were awarded a gold medal, riv- 

 eted attention at New York. Gladioli 

 were at one time featured and, until the 

 advent of the corn borer, some 40,000 

 hills of early sweet corn started under 

 glass provided the earliest in the Bos- 

 ton markets. Tomatoes, chiefly Comet, 

 were for years produced by the scores 

 of tons, filling the beds occupied by vio- 

 lets in winter. 



- Carnations Supplant All Else. 



Last year Mr. Sim, owing to labor and 

 other conditions, turned a number of 

 his houses into carnations, and this win- 

 ter all houses are planted with them, to 

 the exclusion of all other crops. Of 

 special interest to flower growers arc 

 the facts that Mr. Sim has never steril- 

 ized any of his soil, that all plants are 

 on solid beds containing two feet or more 

 of loam with excellent drainage below, 

 that the soil has never been changed 

 even in the oldest houses, although con- 

 tinuously cropped for eighteen or twenty 

 years in some cases. The soil is deeply 

 forked and liberally manured before 

 each crop is planted. All the larger 

 houses are equipped with the Skinner 

 watering system and are also piped with 

 faucet connections for spraying umler 

 high pressure with nicotine to keep 

 the plants clean through the summer 

 months. 



Never Changes Soil. 



It is truly remarkable to see house 

 after house of wonderful carnations and 

 to think that for j'ears these same houses 

 have never had a change of soil after 

 growing cjops of chrysanthemums, roses, 

 sweet peas, violets, tomatoes, pn'yan- 

 thus, pansies and auriculas. Earlv 

 planting is practiced here and the first 

 houses are completed before Memorial 

 day; the last in July. Stock for the 

 earlier houses never goes outdoors. No 

 flats or pots are used for young stock. 

 From the cutting houses they go into 

 solid beds, spaced 4x4 inches. From here 

 they go into their permanent quarters 

 in other houses or outdoors for a time. 

 For the later-planted stock, when out- 



side, the sprinkler system is used to 

 keep the plants growing steadily. In 

 one large house 68,000 young plants were 

 to be seen and Mr. Sim remarked that 

 he would propagate about four times 

 that number. Of these about 200,000 

 would be for his own planting. The re- 

 mainder would be sold. 



A variety of types of houses are used, 

 from those forty to sixty feet wide to 

 the older and narrower type in vogue 

 two decades ago. It was remarked by 

 many that the plants in the old houses 

 were equal in quality to those in the big, 

 wide, modern houses. The paths in the 

 houses are some fifteen inches wile, but 

 plants are not set close to the edge 

 boards. Practically all disbudding is 

 done by one woman. On Laddie one or 

 two side buds are left. Customers pre- 

 fer this variety branched in this way 

 and leaving the buds on helps to prevent 

 bursting. 



Varieties Qrown. 



Of the 200,000 plants grown at Clif- 

 tondale, some 40,000 are white. Of these 

 three varieties are grown. Matchless, 

 White Benora and White Delight. The 

 last named seemed to be more vigorous 

 than Pink Delight and produces cuttings 

 more freely. Of some 35,000 cuttings put 

 in, about 500 failed to root. White De- 

 light Mr. Sim finds to be an earlier and 

 more persistent bloomer than Matchless, 

 when the latter comes at its best. Plants 

 here are being thrown out in getting 

 ready for the new plantings. White 

 Benora is fine, but not free enough. 



Of Laddie some 15,000 are planted at 



Cliftondale and they are extremely fine. 

 In early fall there is considerable split- 

 ting, but now few splits are to be seen. 

 For a big, fancy type, this is a remark- 

 ably free bloomer. Pink Delight is 

 heavily grown. Enchantress Supreme 

 will be dropped; it will not sell in com- 

 petition with Pink Delight. Morning 

 Glow is well liked and is a wonderful 

 producer, although somewhat small. Mr. 

 Sim has good expectations of a cross 

 between Laddie and Morning Glow. 

 Kuth Baur will be droppetl. 



Pinks and Scarlets. 



Mrs. C. W. Ward is really the only 

 medium pink and, while it splits a good 

 deal, it is of a popular color and helps to 

 sell other varieties. There are large 

 plantings of both Rosette and Rosalia. 

 For dark pink the first xamed is much 

 the best here. 



Few crimsons are grown, as the de- 

 mand for these is limited. Of the four 

 scarlets. Aviator is liked much better 

 than any other and is quite free. Belle 

 Washburn has a fine color and produces 

 a fancy flower, but does not produce as 

 freely as Laddie and fewer will be 

 planted next season. The Herald is a 

 steady bJoomer, but is too single. Ethel 

 Fisher has proved disappointing. It is 

 now coming bull-headed and will be 

 dropped. Plantings of scarlets will be 

 much cut down the coming season. Such 

 varieties as Rosette and Rosalia sell far 

 better than scarlets. 



Benora is still the best variegated, but 

 considerable batches of Gay Gordon and 

 Fairy, two Cliftondale seedlings, were 



William Sim. 



