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DXCKljBEB 31, 1014. 



The Florists' Rcvieiv 



15 



A OBOWEB'S NOTES. 



[A paper by Charles B. Herr, of Strasburg, Pa., 

 read before a December meeting of the Lancaster 

 County Florists' Club.] 



We plant out young carnation plants 

 from pots in the field as early in May 

 as we can, in rows twenty inches apart 

 and eleven inches apart in the rows, 

 cultivating' them with a hand harrow 

 after every rain and keeping the har- 

 row moving in dry weather. Topping 

 in the field cannot be done too care- 

 fully. Do not wait until a great num- 

 ber are ready. There may be in the 

 first topping only a few hundred. All 

 season we try to keep the plants down, 

 never allowing them to get too high, 

 as we find the high, "leggy" plants 

 are more liable to be hard-wooded and 

 have dead foliage. 



Of course, the high topped plants 

 look larger than they really are be- 

 cause they have fewer side shoots. You 

 all know different varieties must be 

 topped differently, but none should be 

 allowed to get too high. 



In preparing the houses for planting, 

 which with us is done the last week 

 of August, we clean out all the soil and 

 give the houses a thorough cleaning, 

 whitewashing the sides of the benches. 

 The bottom boards are taken out and 

 swept clean, then floated in lime water 

 and carried by forks on tracks to dry 

 in the sun. After they are dry, we 

 place as many in a pile as a man can 

 readily carry. Next they are taken 

 back to their places and put in piles 

 of four. In that position they do not 

 warp as they would if spread over the 

 benches. We leave them in piles until 

 we are ready to fill in the soil. 



In placing the bottom boards, we 

 allow a small space between each 

 board, using excelsior to cover cracks 

 to keep the manure from falling 

 through. The benches are then ready 

 for the soil. I can say that by treating 

 the bench boards in this way we havl 

 been able to use a great many of the 

 same boards ever since I have been in 

 business, which is fourteen years. 



ruling the Benches. 



We do not sift or screen the soil as 

 we once did, but by handling it over 

 two or three times and watching for 

 clods when loading the barrows, we get 

 It in good shape. In screening the 

 soil, if you are not careful, you will 

 find a great deal of your best soil and 

 manure wasted. I know it was so in 

 our case. 



After the benches are filled with 

 «)il, we water just enough for planting. 

 Before planting we shade the houses, 



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and after planting 300 or 400 plants 

 we keep watering them over and over 

 again, to be sure the soil is saturated. 

 After that, we only give them a light 

 spraying two or three times a day, 

 depending much on the kind of 

 weather we are having at the time; 

 ever trying to get the soil back to its 

 normal condition, yet never allowing 

 the plants to get dry until they are 

 well established; being careful not to 

 let drafts of air blow over them, for 

 if they are once wilted, it will take 

 some time to get them back to their 

 normal condition again. 



We take all the buds off when plant- 

 ing the plants in the houses and, in 

 fact, for some time after they are 

 housed. 



Beacon, for one, will start a great 

 many buds soon after housing, with 

 short stems. I must say right here, 

 Beacon truly is a grand carnation, a 

 free bloomer, of fine habit of growth, 

 and carries out to the end of the season 

 with me, which last season was the 

 end of July. And so long as it does 

 that for us, We surely will not drop it. 



My argument is that you are only 

 taxing your plants when you allow 



S. J. Goddard. 



(Prealdent of the Ajnerlcan OarnaUon Society, who becomes 

 an Affiliation" Director of the S. A. F.) 



I; 





