Febuuary 2, 1922 



The Rofists^ Review 



37 



CARRYING OVER CARNATIONS 



Valuable Discussion at Hartford. 



At tlie morning sesHion of the Anier- 

 H-nn Carnation Society's meeting at 

 Hartford last week, a highly interesting 

 and instructive discussion was carried 

 on in regard to carrying over carnation 

 jdants, a subject that is of constantly in- 

 creasing interest. The remarks at 

 Washington a year ago jjroved to be 

 the starting point of the discussion, 

 wliich carried the matter much further. 



The fullest description of the method 

 was that given by A. V. J. Baur, who 

 stated that his firm had used carnation 

 jdants a second season for a number of 

 years. He thought that the method 

 was of more value to propagators than 

 to cut flower men, because the first year 

 the plants could be used primarily for 

 the cuttings and the second year for 

 blooms. He stated that the i)roduction 

 of blooms was larger the second year. 



He emphasized the fact that the 

 jilants should be given no severe check 

 when they are cut back, the method 

 being quite opi)osite to that emjiloyed 

 with roses in this respect. In March 

 he tops the short shoots, leaving the 

 long ones to come into bloom naturally. 

 With this process of taking off the short 

 shoots as they appear, the plants will 

 bloom themselves out in May, the proc- 

 ess of cutting back being effected grad- 

 ually without the plaitlB receiving a 

 severe setback. 



Not Like Roses. 



Mr. Baur said he did not allow the 

 plants to dry off as in the case of roses, 

 but watered naturally and mulched. Af- 

 ter topping in June, as summer jjusses 

 the succeeding crop is allowed to come, 

 water being liberally supj)lied. In Sej)- 

 tember blooms sixteen to eighteen inches 

 in length are had, as compared with 

 those from the field at that time of only 

 ten to twelve inches. Uj) to Jjinuary 1. 

 the 2-ycar-old plants produce, Mr. Baur 

 said, about twice as many ' blooms as 

 the young stock. During the months 

 at the beginning of the year, the young 

 jilants produce more and better flowers. 

 When spring comes the plants of tlie two 

 ages are about on equal terms. Mr. 

 Baur was of the opinion that if the 

 jdants arc carried over properly, the 

 system pays; otherwise it does not. At 

 Indianajjolis the carnations are grown 

 in beds with eight to ten inches of cin- 

 ders covered by four inches of soil. He 

 thought that solid beds were to be pre- 

 ferred to benches, and advised against 

 transplanting 1-year-old plants from 

 benches. Shade is required on the glass 

 in summer. 



Mr. Baur stated at the same time 

 that his firm was now getting along 

 without cattle manure entirelv. For 

 some years nothing but stable "manure 

 has been used, with the addition of 

 some chicken manure, acid phosphate, 

 tone and blood. 



Carl Ilagenburger told of a house of 

 Laddie at Merkel & Sons', wliich had 

 been treated in much the same nuinner 

 as roses and had been carried over quite 

 successfully. William Sim said that he 

 carried over Laddie only for stock 

 plants. 



Carnations might be carried over 

 three or four years successfully, said 

 Peter Fisher, if the proper methods 

 were employed. He thought care should 

 be taken not to i)inch the shoots too 

 late in the spring, so as to give the 

 plants too severe a check. He suggested 

 the use of half-decayed leaves, particu- 

 larly those of the beech or oak, as a 

 mulch on top of manure, to hold the 

 moisture in tlie benches during the sum- 

 mer. He had found that the use of 

 leaves had enabled him to cut down on 

 the water otherwise netM?*>iary in hot 

 weather. 



(ieorge Hetzel, foreman for ('. B. 

 .Tohnsou, at Woburn, Mass., and for- 

 merly at the range of S. J. (ioddard for 

 a number of years, told of carrying over 

 Laddie for stock plants, in the j)rocess 



of which they had been transplanted 

 successfully. 



Latldie was grown on raised benches 

 not only a second year, but a third, 

 by John Ilartje, who said the cut the 

 third year was more than that of the 

 second year. The fourth season the 

 jdants were thrown out because they 

 lool<ed poorly. The jilants were topped 

 in March, given a slight mulch and 

 shaded continuJiUy. 



C. H. Rice, of Lexington, Mass., told 

 of having carried over carnations in 

 solid beds like those described by Mr. 

 Baur. I'eter Fisher said that ground 

 lieds were cooler and therefore jirob- 

 ably better for carrying over carnations, 

 although he believed they did better the 

 first year in benches. S. J. (Joddard 

 declared that blooms of Laddio were 

 not so good from 2-year-ol(l plants as 

 from 1-year-old, not keeping so well and 

 being shorter in stem. He did not be- 

 lieve that 2-year-old jilaiits would pro- 

 duce blooms good enough for exhibition 

 liurjioses. ILirold J. I'atten stated that 

 some such system in ])incliing the shoots 

 as was described by Mr. Baur was the 

 best to carry over carnation jilants suc- 

 cessfully, in his trials, the plants cut 

 back closely j)roved "flivvers." Those 

 cut not so closely ]iroduced good blooms, 

 and those jiinched at random, as it 

 might lie termed, gave good cuttings. 

 He thought it was easier to carry over 

 plants on ground be(|s than on raised 

 lienches. 



NATIONAL GROWERS MEET. 



Officers Reelected. 



Thursday afternoon, January 26, was 

 set aside at Hartford for the annual 

 meeting of the Xational Flower Grow- 

 ers' Association. The rejiorts at that 

 time showed that the ."issociation, jirin- 

 cijially through its district organiza- 

 tions, is showing steady and sturdy 

 growth. Alterations were made in the 

 constitution and by-laws in order to 

 make them conform to the needs of the 

 organization as exjierience has showed 

 them to the officers and directors after 

 trial. For the ensuing year, William J. 

 Keimel was reelected jiresident, since 

 it was thought that his service with the 

 organization so far would greatly aid 

 its further growth, despite the fact that 

 he wished to make way for a new heiid. 

 Por the same reason James W. Heacock 

 was reelected vice-j)resident. The secre- 

 tary and treasurer are chosen by the 

 board of directors, and it is tliouglit like- 

 ly that J. F. Ammann will be continued 

 .-IS secretary and Wallace R. Pierson as 

 treasurer. 



The meeting opened with a short 

 statement by President Keimel, fol- 

 lowed by the report of Secretary Am- 

 mann. as printed in The Review last 

 week. The rejiort of the finances for the 

 year 1921 showed that, starting with 

 a balance of $899.7.") on hand January 1, 

 1921, and with receipts of $l,103.3.j and 

 expenses of $l,o74.98, the organization 

 had at the beginning of this year a bal- 

 ance of $428.11. The receipts of the 

 organization would have been consid- 

 erably larger had the basis of settle- 



ment by district organizations been de- 

 cided upon earlier. Some of them which 

 have fuiu^s in hand to turn over to thc^ 

 national body have not yet remitted 

 them to the treasurer. 



District Reports. 



At the conclusion of the officers' re- 

 jtorfs, rejiresentatives of the district or- 

 ganizations were called ujion fof brief 

 accounts of the results accomjilished in 

 the various localities. For New Eng- 

 land, E. Allan Peirce jejiorted that the 

 growers there were organized on a sound 

 basis and that they had just jierformcd 

 the ojieration of resuscitating the retail- 

 ers ' organization in Boston, in agree- 

 ment with which it was jilanned to carry 

 on cooperative advertising in that 

 market. 



Harold Brookins rejiorted that the 

 growers in western New York were go- 

 ing ahead rajiidly in their organization. 

 There are thirty-seven mein])ers, repre- 

 senting 700,000 square feet of glass. 

 The growers of the organization, in con- 

 junction with the retailers of Buffalo, 

 spent $10,000 on cooperative advertis- 

 ing last year and expect to make it 

 $1;),000 this year. E. M. Xaukam, sec- 

 retary of the western New York grow- 

 ers' organization^^ spoke further of the 

 achievements of the organization in the 

 matter of cooperative ])urchasing, in 

 making collections, in visiting fellow 

 nuuubers and in carrying on publicity 

 work. 



Carl Ilagenburger, whose personal 

 work is largely resjionsible for the 

 rapid organization of the growers iry 

 the state of Ohio, reported that the tejl 

 largest cities had branches of the Ohio 



