The Rorists^ Review 



Januauy 19. 1922 



CARNATIONS AT MILFORD. 



Wliere Quality Speaks. 



The esteemed president of the Ameri- 

 can Carnation Society has a national 

 reputation as a skilled grower, his 

 flowers at several conventions having 

 won many premiums and having set 

 new high records for quality. W. D. 

 Howard is a most unassuming and 

 modest man, who worked in Milford, 

 Mass., as a machinist until he was 30 

 years of age. His health giving out, he 

 decided to help his father for a year 

 in the truck-growing business and he 

 became especially interested in green- 

 house vegetables; so much so, that when 

 he decided to start in business in 1896, 

 vegetables were his first love, but they 

 were soon discarded in favor of carna- 

 tions and some of his earliest varieties 

 were William Scott, Daybreak and Liz- 

 zie McGowan. 



He has stuck to carnations consist- 

 ently and has grown them so success- 

 fully that his flowers for years have 

 commanded top market prices. At pres- 

 ent practically his entire pick goes to 

 New York, instead of Boston. He has 

 a fine and up-to-date range of houses. 

 The largest, 65x300, contains ten 

 benches four and one-half feet wide and 

 holds 27,000 plants, probably one of the 

 finest sights in America at this time. 



Mrs. C. W. Ward is a favorite with 

 Mr. Howard and has always been well 

 done here; 18,000 of this variety are 

 grown and it is worthy of note that 

 wild growth, quite prevalent this sea- 

 son with some growers, is conspicuous 

 by its absence here. Matclilcss comes 

 next to Ward in favor, about 12,000 

 plants of it being grown, and wonder- 

 fully fine they are. Mr. Howard created 

 a sensation a couple of years ago with 

 his exhibits of this variety, grown inside 

 all summer, at Boston. Such flowers 

 had never previously been seen here or 

 elsewhere. 



A considerable number of White De- 

 light are grown. It has a larger stem 

 early in the season than Matchless and 

 is pure wliite in color, but lacks the size 

 of the latter. It is, however, a fine 

 commercial white. Speaking of Match- 

 less, Mr. Howard says that if plants are 

 kept well watered after planting and 

 never allowed to become dry, they will 

 throw much larger stems than are or- 

 dinarily seen. 



Pink Delight continues to find favor 

 here. It is evidently running out in 

 some measure, for, in spite of careful 

 selection, occasional plants throw quite 

 single flowers. These flowers are not 

 picked and the plants are all discarded. 

 Cottage Maid, the light pink sport 

 of Mrs. Ward, is largely grown here still 

 and is a favorite with Mr. Howard. It 

 bursts a little at this season, but other- 

 wise proves a first-class sort and sells 

 well. Benora is the only variegated 

 variety grown and has a house to itself. 

 Laddie filled several benches and 



carried quantities of big, handsome 

 flowers. There is some splitting in mid- 

 winter and, of course, the plants don't 

 give the same quantity as smaller sorts, 

 but Laddie still stands in a class by 

 itself, as a fancy. 



And Production Flourislies. 



Speaking of production per plant, I 

 was shown plants of Mrs. Ward from 

 which sixteen flowers each had been 

 already picked this season, yet Ward is 

 generally classed as a rather shy 

 bloomer; it is otherwise here. A small 

 lot of Morning Glow is grown, and 

 while this is a wonderful bloomer, it is 

 not fancy enough for Mr. Howard's 

 trade. Hope Henshaw is being tried, 

 and while it seemed small compared 

 with Ward, and a much dwarfer flower, 

 it is of a good color and blooms freely. 

 Lassie is another variety being given 

 a trial. Here were some interesting 

 sports under trial and a few fine seed- 

 lings of Edward Winkler's raising. 

 Maine Sunshine proved satisfactory as 

 a yellow. 



Bernice is grown as a crimson and 

 blooms freely. Eureka is the favorite 



scarlet, although some Belle Washburn 

 is still retained. The latter carries a 

 fancy flower, but is a somewhat shy 

 winter bloomer. 



All plants here are in raised benches. 

 The largest house was planted July 15, 

 1920, other houses from August 1 to 15. 

 The earliest planted show the advantage 

 of getting an early start. Sheep manure 

 is chiefly used as a mulch, with a little 

 dried blood. Except for a house of 

 Godfrey callas, grown where carnations 

 would not succeed, and some sweet peas 

 grown on the posts in the carnation 

 houses, only carnations are grown here. 

 The vigor, cleanliness and all-around 

 excellence of the plants is remarE"able 

 and show that W. D. Howard and his 

 son, Kay, have got carnation culture 

 down to a fine science. W. N. C. 



UTILIZING SPACE VACATED. 



After poinsettia plants are taken up,, 

 what can be used to fill the space va- 

 cated by them in the way of plants for 

 Easter? R. A.— O. 



I do not know of any crop which you 

 can plant and flower for Easter unless 

 you happen to have plants in pots of 

 calendulas, snapdragons or sweet peas. 

 There are a number of pot plants, such 

 as rambler roses, hydrangeas, genistas, 

 spirffias and lilies, which could profitably 

 occupy the space vacated. Various bulb- 

 ous plants, like hyacinths and tulips, 

 could also bo grown there a little later 

 on. C. W. 



TREATMENT OF VALLEY PIPS. 



We have just received a case of lily 

 of tlie valley pips, imported from Ger- 

 many. How should we handle them? Can 

 we keep some for next Easter? How 

 long does it take to flower them, and 

 what temperature do they need? 



B. J. C— W. Va. 



Upon arrival in this country, lily of 

 the valley pips are placed in cold stor- 

 age. They keep best in a temperature 

 of 28 degrees. After resting two or 

 three months, they are taken out when 

 needed. If you have storage facilities 

 so that you can keep the pips in such 

 a temperature, you will be able to hold 

 some of them long enough to have 

 blooms at Easter. 



It requires about three weeks to force 

 lily of the valley properly in a tempera- 

 ture of 68 degrees. New valley re- 

 quires a bottom heat of about 70 to 75 

 degrees. Cold storage valley does not 

 need any bottom heat. The plants do 

 best in a temperature of about 65 de- 

 grees, but require a little longer time to 

 come into bloom in that heat. 



Successful handling of lily of the val- 

 ley depends upon the kind of pips used. 

 That is one reason that specialists do 

 better with this flower than small grow- 

 ers of a general line of stock. Plant 

 the pips in benches, filled about five 



inches deep with clean sand which is not 

 too fine. After planting, keep them 

 well watered. After the first ten days 

 to two weeks, the plants should be kept 

 dark. To accomplish this, benches are 

 usually boxed in and covered with 

 boards or cloth. After the stalks are 

 well up, give light gradually and finally 

 remove the shade altogether, in order 

 to develop the flowers and give them 

 more substance and to color the foliage. 

 ^ B. 



COLD STORAGE VALLEY. 



I have my lily of the valley pips, for 

 cold storage, in six inches of sand and 

 they are blooming, but the flowers bend 

 down and the bells are small. They 

 have plenty of foliage, but there are 

 no flowers to speak of. T. G. G. — Ala. 



It is quite possible that your lily of 

 the valley has been grown in too light 

 a position. Try any future batches in 

 a darkened case, where the flower stalks 

 can be well drawn up before any light 

 is given. As the flowers start to open, 

 admit more light gradually; this will 

 stiffen the stalks, give the flowers more 

 substance and allow some foliage to 

 grow. You will never get satisfactory 

 results with cold storage valley unless 

 you grow it protected from the light. 



C. W. 



