March 31, 1921. 



The Florists^ Review 



INDOOR CARNATION CULTURE 



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FROM time immemorial the uni- 

 versal manner of growing car- 

 nations has been, with but few 

 exceptions, field culture and the 

 time of planting into the houses 

 lias in former years ranged 

 from September to October. It ranges 

 to July and August at present. Each 

 season the more successful grower ap- 

 pears to be advocating earlier plant- 

 ing and, as many of our attempts in the 

 past at planting from the field have 

 met with only partial success, we de- 

 cided to try out the method that has 

 proved unusually successful with Wil- 

 liam Sim. 



Climate Small Factor. 



The remarks brought out at Washing- 

 ton during the discussion of Mr. Sim 's 

 method showed clearly that many 

 growers are loath to try indoor culture, 

 under the impression that it can only 

 succeed under certain climatic condi- 

 tions, and Mr. Sim's location climati- 

 cally was given as the deciding factor 

 in his continued success. While I do 

 not know anything about New England's 

 summer temperature, I am sure wc think 

 our section is about as hot and dry as 

 any average district in the United 

 States and, from our season's experi- 

 ence, I feel sure that the climate has 

 little to do with the success of the 

 method. With certain minor changes, 

 we shall try the same method this sea- 

 son and, should results prove the same, 

 we are through with outdoor planting 

 while we grow carnations. 



We have found that cer- 

 tain varieties ■ apparently 

 need to have a large por- 

 tion of the roots broken 

 off, due to the regular 

 transplanting practice to 

 force tlicm to early bloom, 

 chief of which are Matcli- 

 less. Red Matchless and 

 two seedlings of our own, 

 as these varieties have 

 made a wonderfully 

 strong, vigorous growth, 

 but ha\e been retarded 

 several weeks longer than 

 Renora, White Benora, 

 Aviator, Lassie, Red Head 

 and Ruth Banr. We do not 

 grow Mrs. Ward, so I am 

 unable to say what effect 

 indoor planting would 

 have on this variety, al- 

 though, from a guess, I 

 think it would have a ten 

 denoy to come late. 



Wo grow carnations in 

 solid beds without any 

 artificial drainage. Our 

 soil is a heavy clay which 

 bakes quite hard after a 

 rain. Tt is underlaid with 

 a hard, though apparently 

 porous, red clay subsoil. 

 We did not renew our soil 

 last summer, except a por- 

 tion of one bed that we 

 filled with rose soil, which 

 we used as a check. This 

 new soil was placed in 

 part of a bed which had 



By ELMER J. WEAVER. 



contained the same soil for over ten 

 years. The remainder of the space had 

 been renewed a year ago. No one has 

 been able to see any difference between 

 the various soils used. The new rose 

 soil shows no advantage whatever. All 

 our soil was sterilized with steam be- 

 fore planting, partly as a renewing 

 agent, but more particularly as a means 

 of destroying weed seeds. I think we 

 can grow a finer collection of weeds 

 than any other section of the United 

 States. For years Lancaster county. 

 Pa., has been known as the garden spot 

 of America and I think we have the 

 garden spot of Lancaster county for 

 weeds. 



Sterilizing Soil. 



The following process is used in ster 

 ilizing our soil: We dig a furrow from 

 about six to eight inches deep on one 

 edge of a 4M!-foot bed and lay a 1%- 

 inch pipe in it the length of the bed. 

 This pipe has a 3/16-inch hole drilled 

 in it every foot on the side turned down- 

 ward. We have three sections of pipe to 

 each bed, buried an equal distance 

 apart, and admit steam at three points 

 in the length of a 220-foot house. 



The soil should be medium-dry, leveled 

 and raked fine before the steam is turned 

 in. We carry fifty to seventy-five 

 pounds' pressure on the boiler at the 

 start, which pressure gradually drojis to 

 twenty pounds in the course of about 

 forty-five minutes. The steam is turned 



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HOSCCouPLiM ^ STS/IM HOSE 

 CONNECTING TO LINE 

 FROM BOILER 



\THREE RUNS Of//z P/PE, BURIED 

 'in SOIL, IN WHICH ^' HOLES HRE 



DRILLED E\/ERY fZ INCHES 



Method of Connecting Pipes for Sterilizing Soil. 



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 FEMRLE HOSE COUPLING 



Home-Made Nozzle Used in Syringing for Red Spider. 



off when it appears to bo coming through 

 the soil in a uniform cloud and the soil 

 on the top of the bed is near to 200 

 degrees. As before stated, we have 

 three outlets for a house 220 feet long 

 and connection is established rapidly 

 with the pipe buried in the soil by using 

 three sections of 2-inch steam hose, each 

 twelve feet long. The hose is fitted at 

 one end with ordinary 2-inch thread 

 coupling and the other end is fitted 

 with a regular hose coupling. The three 

 lines of pipe are fed by one section of 

 hose, as shown in the sketch. 



We prepare the soil for sweet peas by 

 plowing the house with a 2-horse plow. 

 Make one furrow and insert the first 

 pipe, then plow it under with one wide 

 furrow or two narrow ones. Then lay 

 the next pipe, covering it over in the 

 same manner, etc., until all your pipes 

 are placed. Here the steam is allowed 

 to flow for about an hour; then the pipes 

 are removed from the hot soil with iron 

 bars. We usually make four or five, 

 changes a day, which does not require 

 much time or coal for a 60-foot house, 

 and the soil is left in such condition that 

 little additional effort is needed to fit it 

 perfectly for planting. 



Several Benefits. 



This process kills nematodes and vari- 

 ous fungi and over ninety per cent of 

 the weed seeds. It also liberates, or 

 makes more available, some of the inert 

 fertilizing elements in the soil. This 

 has been clearly demonstrated by com- 

 paring the growth of sweet pea vines 

 in sterilized soil and in un- 

 treated soil. During the 

 season the vines in the 

 sterilized soil grow four or 

 even five feet taller than 

 the same varieties in tho 

 same soil unsterilized. The 

 seed germinates much 

 more easily and the young 

 plants grow with more 

 vigor and are less sub.iect 

 to the various sweet pea 

 disorders tisually preva- 

 lent where early planting 

 is practiced. A heavy ap- 

 plication of rotted manure 

 was added to the carnation 

 beds after steaming and 

 worked into the soil and 

 also 100 pounds of bone 

 meal to a 4V.-foot bed 200 

 feet long. No manure or 

 fertilizer whatever was 

 added to the sweet pea 

 soil, and our vines now 

 are eighteen inches high. 

 In spite of the fact that 

 it is the almost universal 

 practice of nearly all suc- 

 cessful carnation gfrowers 

 to renew their soil every 

 season, it has been a ques- 

 tion to my mind whether 

 this work is an absolutely 

 necessary adiunct to suc- 

 cess. Our soil may be dif- 

 ferent from most soils, but 

 we have never been able 

 to prepare a compost, as 

 many other growers do, 



