12 



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The Florists^ Review 



Dbcbmbbb 24, 1914. 



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PEOPAGATING CUTTINGS. 



Start After Holiday Rush. 



While carnation specialists begin 

 propagating carnations in December 

 and some even start as early as No- 

 vember, the average grower does not 

 care to start so early. The chances are 

 that during the Christmas rush the car- 

 nation cuttings are apt to be forgotten 

 at some critical time and failure will 

 more often result. While, of course, 

 some of the slower growing sorts may 

 be slightly benefited by this early 

 start, especially where extremely eferly 

 planting is practiced, experience has 

 taught us that, unless it is inteiidM 

 to bench quite early and especial at- 

 tention is given this early propagated 

 stock, its chances for making good are 

 less than those of cuttings that are 

 rooted in January and February. Far 

 be it from me to discourage the spe- 

 cialist in making an early start. I be- 

 lieve in starting early, and I need 

 only state that a large part of our next 

 year's stock is in sand right now. But 

 I am writing now for the benefit of the 

 beginner and those who have not made 

 enough progress in carnation growing 

 to be specialists or experts, and these 

 include a host of retailers who grow a 

 house or two of carnations along with 

 a variety of other stock. On such 

 places I have noticed that the early 

 propagated stock is apt to suffer for 

 want of attention and by May 1 is in 

 poorer condition than the later cut- 

 tings. So I would suggest that you 

 prepare to start in right after the holi- 

 day rush has passed. 



If you have a special propagating 

 house, you will, of course, root the cut- 

 tings there, but be sure you use the 

 cool end. The temperature should never 

 be higher than ifl the growing houses. 

 If you have no special house for this 

 purpose, select a bench that can be well 

 protected from both sun and draft, as 

 either one will be ruinous to the cut- 

 tings in the early stages. Be sure the 

 bench is thoroughly cleaned before 

 the sand is put on. Wash all the wood 

 parts clean with the hose and allow 

 to dry before applying a good coat of 

 hot lime wash. Do not use a bench 

 in which the boards are half rotted, as 

 you would be sure to have trouble with 

 fungus. Rather build a new bench. 

 We have for several seasons used a 

 brick bottom bench and find it quite 

 satisfactory. The cuttings seem to root 

 sooner, and the sand can be dried off 

 more quickly after the cuttings are 

 rooted, thus enabling us to get them 



out of the sand sooner than was pos- 

 sible on the wooden bench, I take it 

 for granted that you have provided 

 suitable sand for this work. Do not 

 make the mistake of using the same 

 sand for more than one batch of cut- 

 tings. It is about the poorest economy 

 imaginable. Unless you have a never- 

 failing source of supply, I would sug- 

 gest that you get in a large ^art of what 

 you will need during the propagating 

 season. A few days of delay might 

 cause you serious loss during the height 

 of the propagating season. 



The Question of Varieties. 



In your preliminary ajrrangements 

 you will be confronted with the ques- 

 tion of what to propagate. If you 

 bought some of the new varieties, as 

 every grower who tries to keep abreast 

 of the times does, you will have to de- 

 cide whether or not any of them are 

 good enough to displace some of the 

 old stand-bys, either as a whole or in 

 part. Up to the present time there 

 seems to be nothing in sight that is 

 likely to displace the Enchantress fam- 

 ily with the small retail grower. He 

 finds they fill his wants better than 

 most other varieties, and they do so 

 uniformly well that until that trio of 

 Enchantress, Rose-pink Enchantress 

 and Wliite Enchantress go bad, as they 

 undoubtedly will some day, they will 

 be grown. And now is added Enchant- 

 ress Supreme, which is certainly a 

 superior sport of old Enchantress, and 

 it is already supplanting that variety 

 wherever it was tried out. The spe- 



cialist and the large wholesale grower, 

 however, find that some of the other 

 varieties are returning them more 

 money than the Enchantress varieties 

 and that for shipping purposes some 

 of them are far and away ahead. They 

 find that Pink Delight will ship twice 

 as far as Enchantress and come out 

 better at the end of the journey. The 

 same may be said of Mrs. C. W, Ward. 

 White Wonder is fast taking the place 

 of White Enchantress among all classes 

 of growers, and Matchless bids fair to 

 demand a share of the bench room in 

 the future. It is a great keeper and 

 should prove a fine shipper. Then, too, 

 the larger grower needs more variety 

 in color. He needs scarlet in quantity, 

 especially at Christmas; and crimson, 

 yellow and variegated, to say nothing 

 of that exquisite pure pink shade of 

 Gloriosa. Many of the smaller growers 

 have lost patience with this variety 

 on account of its disinclination to 

 make a plant in the field. We find 

 that it does need special attention to 

 get good plants, but we also know that 

 fine plants can be produced with proper 

 handling. We are inclined to think 

 that the prevailing idea of its making 

 poor plants is largely imaginary, be- 

 cause it makes no grass and a plant 

 with the same number of flower shoots 

 as a plant of Enchantress will appear 

 much smaller. We have here a bed 

 of Gloriosa, the cut from which is 

 within half a bloom per plant of an- 

 other bed of Rose-pink Enchantress, 

 and it will pass that variety within the 

 next month, judging by their present 



Bench of C. H. Frey's Free Blooming Red Seedliog^Gimatioa, Nebraska. 



