~-j;iCT=^T^B?W?'S?'H?W'3sT?T«rTT" 



March 23, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



997 



wet too much, but hold the nozzle high 

 over the plants and make _ a fine mist 

 merely to charge the air with moisture. 

 It should show very little water on the 

 plants when you finish. 



"Wbter carefully and watch along the 

 edge of the beds, especially on the south 

 side. There is no longer much danger of 

 over-watering, for several reasons. The 

 plants are large and need lots of water 

 to keep them going, while the roots are 

 all through the soil, and together with 

 the sweetening sunshine they will keep 

 the soil from souring. At the same time 

 you do not want to become careless, but 

 try to keep them just well supplied. A 

 severe drying out during such weather 

 as we are having now will soon tell on 

 the quality of your stock. 



Feeding. 



An occasional dose of liquid manure 

 will help, too, to keep up the quality. 

 A half bushel of cow manure tolerably 

 green to fifty gallons of water is about 

 what you want. If you have a tank and 

 steam pump, as many large growers 

 have, you will find it a less onerous task. 

 Even a hand force-pump will facilitate 

 the work wonderfully. Apply once each 

 week, but do it regularly if you com- 

 mence it. Otherwise it will be better to 

 put on a mulch of half rotted cow ma- 

 nure about an inch thick. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



CARNATION MELODY. 



Melody is one of the numerous sports 

 of Mrs. Lawson. It originated in 1903 

 at the establishment of the late W. C. 

 Hill, at Streator, 111., and is a pleasing 

 shade of Daybreak pink. It has shown 

 no tendency to revert to the Lawson 

 color and when shown at recent Chicago 

 exhibitions has made a very favorable 

 impression. As with other Lawson 

 sports, the claim is made for this that 

 the flowers are larger, stems longer, 

 blooms earlier and more freely than the 

 original variety. It is a good keeper and 

 shipper and holds its color well. The 

 Hill Floral Co. reports no burst calyxes 

 up to March 15, and the houses were run 

 more often at 52 than 54 degrees. Melo- 

 dy is to be sent out next season by the 

 Hill Floral Co. and the J. D. Thompson 

 Carnation Co. The three principal va- 

 rieties to be planted this year by the 

 Hill Floral Co. will be Melody, White 

 Lawson and Mrs. Lawson. 



AMERICAN CARNATION SOCIETY. 



Registering Sports. 



Prior to the advent of Lawson, car- 

 nation sports were of such rare occur- 

 rence that when one did occur, it could 

 be named and claimed by the grower 

 with whom it occurred as his origination, 

 or at least as his exclusive stock. 



Since Lawson and its descendants have 

 <;ome into existence, all claims to ex- 

 clusiveness in the ownership of a sport 

 must be laid aside, as it no longer exists. 

 Much evidence of this fact could be sup- 

 plied, but it is not necessary to go be- 

 yond the White Lawson. With how many 

 ■growers did this appear in one yearT 

 Answer-this for yourself and yoU-Mve 

 the answer to all the other?. Today 

 we are having the same thing in l<.n- 

 chantress and M. A. Patten. 



The three Lawson sports that are be- 

 ing sold commercially are through the 

 ■wisdom of the men introducing them be- 



Carnation Melody. 

 (A Daybreak pink sport of Mrs. Lawson.) 



ing sold exactly for what they are. 

 White Lawson, Red Lawson and Varie- 

 gated Lawson. 



There are true pink l.awsons and light 

 pink Lawsons and Enchantress sports 

 and Patten sports galore to come and it 

 is to be hoped that the growers will con- 

 Bult their own interests and avoid con- 

 fusion by leaving off all special names 

 and selling them for Pure Pink Lawson 

 and Light Pink Lawson, following with 

 a description of their color, etc. 



Two of these light pink Lawsons have 

 been registered through an oversight of 

 "yours truly" and several more are 

 claiming recognition, so that there would 

 be endless confusion in this color alone 

 if they were given independent names 

 with each grower with whom they occur, 

 and on the strength of these facts this 

 society cannot in the future register any 

 sports excepting under a descriptive and 

 uniform name. 



The three Lawson sports being offered 

 commercially have also been shown at the 

 meetings of this society and at various 

 club shows. This is not only commer- 

 cial wisdom on the part of the owners, 

 but the only way in which they can be 

 properly disseminated. 



To show them before this society is 

 the one and only way in which to get 

 them before all of the best carnation 

 growers at one time, and next to that, 

 in order to reach a still greater number, 

 the various club shows can be used. 



As an illustration, if Smith shows^ his 

 Light Pink Lawson at Boston next meet- 

 ing and it strikes me as a good thing, I 

 would buy my cuttings from Smith, no 

 matter if Jones, who claimed to have 

 the same thing, but did not show it. 



w^ould offer it at half the price asked by 

 Smith. Albert M. Herb, Sec'y. 



HANDLING CARNATION BLOOMS. ;- 



[A paper by John Birnle. read before the New 

 York Fl^Vlsts' Club. March 13, 1905 ] 



I don't suppose you expected me to 

 read a paper to you tonight, but I was 

 afraid I would be in the same fix as 

 the old Scotch elder, who on one occa- 

 sion went out with the "boys," got a 

 little "under the weather," and got 

 home just in time for family prayers. 

 He knelt down beside his wife, but 

 nothing being audible, she asked him 

 what was the matter. He replied, 

 ' ' Nothing is the matter with me, but I 

 canna min' a word of my prayers." 

 So, being afraid I would not remember 

 what I wanted to say, I wrote it down. 

 The question put to me is: "What 

 is the most valuable characteristic of 

 the carnation?" I say without hesi- 

 tation, its keeping or lasting qualities, 

 for of what value are all its other char- 

 acteristics, color, fragrance, etc., if it 

 goes to sleep a few hours after leaving 

 the grower's establishment t 



That is the specific answer to the 

 question but I do not consider that the 

 answer would be complete without 

 touching briefly on the cause or causes 

 of the carnation going to sleep. Much 

 has been said on this subject, so that it 

 is pretty hard to say anything new. 

 However^ the fact remains that some 

 carnations go to slecip, and it is up to 

 those who grow and those who handle 

 the carnation to find out the cause and 

 apply the remedy. 



That the grower himself is responsible 



