■ V'--t./ 



998 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Mabch 23, 1905. 



in some cases cannot be denied. Over- 

 feeding, especially with chemical 

 manures, will put the carnations to 

 sleep even on the plants. I have seen 

 instances of it. Heavy fumigating has 

 the same effect. Allowing inexperi- 

 enced help to pick the flowers, improper 

 ventilation, keeping the houses too hot, 

 either night or day, and injudicious 

 watering, are some of the causes that 

 the grower is responsible for. 



Of the causes above I think over- 

 feeding is the most common. The keep- 

 ing qualities are sacrificed in the at- 

 tempt to get large flowei-s. Next comes 

 over-heating. I read lately that En- 

 chantress gave the best results at 56 

 or 37 degrees night temperature! I 

 am sure carnations grown under those 

 conditions must suffer, both in strength 

 of stem and keeping qualities. 



Picking the flowers is also an import- 

 ant matter. Some varieties can be left 

 on the plants until fully developed, 

 while others are better when picked 

 before they are quite open. This the 

 grower finds out by studying the vari 

 eties he grows. Flowers in which the 

 female organs are abnormally developed 

 are more apt to go to sleep than those 

 without that peculiarity, more espe- 

 cially in fall and spring, when consider- 

 able ventilation is necessary, and the 

 pollen is carried around by the wind or 

 by insects. 



But the trouble does not all rest with 

 the grower by any means. The com- 

 mission man has to take his share of 

 the blame. A visit to the average 

 wholesale store in the morning rush 

 hours will give the grower a jar, for 

 there he will see the flowers he has 

 watched over and cared for for months, 

 to the best of his ability, handled in no 

 gentle manner. The flowers that he 

 picked and made haste to get into 

 water, packed as carefully as he could, 

 the boxes put on the express wagon as 

 if they were full of eggs, the express- 

 man told that he must be extremely 

 careful, are in some stores lying on 

 the counters and under the counters in 

 heapSk Sometimes they may lie for 

 hours, and if eventually they are put 

 in water, so many are put in a pot 

 that the flowers have no chance to 

 develop and the limit is reached only 

 when the vase will hold no more stems. 



That the carnation will recuperate 

 and improve after being taken from the 

 shipping box goes without saying, a 

 case in point happening in our own 

 club some years ago when we met in 

 Elks' hall. A carnation was sent from 

 near Boston to be judged by our award 

 committee. It was unpacked in the 

 ante-room, taken into the club room and 

 received 85 points. About an hour af- 

 ter one of the committee called the 

 attention of his colleagues to the fact 

 that the flower was better than when 

 it was passed upon. They therefore 

 re-examined it and gave it 87 points. 

 This happening before the advent of the 

 canteen, due weight can be given to the 

 circumstances. 



One important matter which does not 

 seem to be fully recognized, either by 

 the grower or commission man, is the 

 fact that some carnations are more deli- 

 cate than others and require far more 

 care, both in packing and handling. En- 

 chantress is one of these, I believe, if 

 it is properly picked, packed and handled 

 -it will stay awake as long as the aver- 

 age carnation. I have kept it in my 

 own sitting-room for ten days in good ' 



shape. Marquis was another good flower 

 that had to secumb to rough handling. 



The carnation is no doubt the most 

 popular flower in commerce at the pres- 

 ent time, and will certainly retain that 

 popularity if due care is given to the 

 handling of it. The grower is constant- 

 ly improving his methods at great ex- 

 pense to himself, as is shown by the 

 improvement in the carnation in the last 

 fifteen years. Is the distributer im- 

 proving his methods at the same ratef 

 Is he as particular about ventilating his 

 store as the grower is about ventilating 

 his greenhouse or flower room? Does he 

 put the flowers consigned to him into 

 water as soon as he can after receiving 

 themf Does he pay any attention at all 

 to the temperature of his store? Does 

 he understand that all carnations, in 

 fact, all flowers, require gentle handling? 

 Does he see that his employes handle 

 the flowers as they should be handled? 

 In short, does the average distributer 

 give the same care to the flower as does 

 the average grower? Are we still "look- 

 ing," as Mr. Simpson said last rose 



night, "for some Moses to lead us out 

 of the land of Egypt?" 



CULTURE FOR RED SPORT. 



A. B. Davis & Son, Purcellville, Va.^ 

 send out the following cultural details: 



We have bad numerous Inquiries from par- 

 ties who have bought rooted cuttings of Red 

 Sport (of Maceo), and from others interested in 

 the variety, as to the best method of culture- 

 for this carnation to insure a full crop of bloom 

 for Cbrlstmaa. 



Fair success may be had with this variety 

 from field-grown plants if housed by July 25, 

 but It takes good cultivation in the field to- 

 malse large plants by early housing time, but 

 after brought inside it takes bold very quickly. 



Bed Sport is an Ideal carnation for all bouse 

 culture, which fact we accidentally discovered. 

 We bad a batch taken from the sand too late 

 to plant in the field, so^ they were planted on 

 the bench from thumb pots In June. This 

 batch gave us an average of better than two 

 fine blooms to the plant for Christmas. 



Plant In a moderately enriched compost 8x10 

 inches apart on the bench, and as soon as the 

 plants are maklnc; good growth, mulch with ii 

 half Inch of leaf-mold or well rotted manure. 



Keep well stopped back until the first of 

 .Sontember, by which time the plants wil have 

 made fifteen to twenty-five strong leads, a large 

 proportion of which will bloom around the 

 rhrlstmas holidays and the early winter months. 

 We grow it in a night temperature of B? 

 ilecrees. This variety requires 36 inches of 

 head room. 



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BEST COMMERCIAL SORTS. 



I notice in today 's Eeview Mr. Totty 's 

 notes entitled "Best Mums in England" 

 and am much interested but would sug- 

 gest that an even better subject would 

 be the "Best Mums in America." By 

 this I do not mean the best exhibition 

 sorts; not one florist in a hundred ex- 

 hibits for prizes the blooms he grows. 

 But tell us the best sorts to grow to 

 meet market requirements and don't list 

 a lot of novelties; we cannot af- 

 ford to stock up on expensive sorts. Tell 

 us what sorts made the most money for 

 the growers for the wholesale market 

 last season. There is another large class 

 of growers who retail their own cut. 

 Most of them do not have "fancy" 

 trade and what they want is the varie- 

 ties which will pay best. And the head 

 room needed is another important item, 

 for many of us grow our mums in old, 

 low houses. H. 0. 



I will do my best to answer H. 0., 

 though in so doing I do not suppose that 

 everyone will agree with my list 

 of varieties, nor does it follow as a mat- 

 ter of course that what suits one market 

 will suit all. The kinds here submitted 

 are what seem to be most largely grown 

 for this market (New York), though it 

 does not follow that the kinds most large- 

 ly grown are the most profitable. On 

 the contrary, a grower who has a new 

 thing or a variety not generally han- 

 dled is far more likely to make money 

 on his flowers, providing they have merit, 

 than the man who will not touch any 

 but the cheap, standard kinds, and this 

 remark applies equally well to growers 

 of other flowers. 



While it is true that Bonnaffon and 

 Appleton are well Kked by the wholesale 

 trade, since they can be handled rough- 

 ly with impunity, one can have too much 



of even a good thing and the flower buy- 

 ing public are sick and tired of the- 

 eternal Bonnaffon long before the mum 

 season ends and gladly turn to some- 

 thing different if it be brought before 

 them, even though the price be higher. 

 In accordance with the request, I have 

 omitted any of the high priced novel- 

 ties. Duckham and Enguehard were nov- 

 elties last year, it is true, but they are 

 now so widely distributed that they can 

 be bodght as cheaply as any. 



While indiscriminate buying of novel- 

 ties is very poor business policy for a 

 commercial grower, I have noticed for 

 some years that the growers who are wide- 

 awake and take in the shows and having, 

 after due deliberation, made up their 

 mind to "take a flyer" on some par- 

 ticular variety that seemed to suit them, 

 these same growers are the men who have 

 the least to say about there being no 

 money any more in mums. 



To return to our list, I have placed the 

 varieties in the order of their flowering 

 and the height to which they attain under 

 ordinary commercial cultivation. 



Whites. Flowers by Height, ft. 



Polly Rose October 5 2 to ."? 



Alice Byron October 12 3 



Mrs. H. Robinson.. October 18 4 to 5 



Timothy Eaton ...November 1 4 to 6 



Chadwick November 10 5 to 6 



Yellows. 



Monrovia October .I 3 to 3%- 



SoIoU d'Octobre October 8 4 



Robt. Halllday October 15 4 



Col. Appleton . . October 20 5 



Yellow Eaton November 1 4 to 6 



Bonnaffon Novembers 3 to 3!4 



Pinks. 



Glory of Pacific .. .October 5 2 to 3 



Mrs. Coombes . . . .October 12 4 



W. Duckbam October 20 3 .to 4 



Enguehard November 1 3 to 4 



Lavender Queen ...November 10 4 to 6 



The height of a variety depends a good 

 deal on the conditions under which it is 

 grown. When plants are set very closely 

 in the bench they pull up more and make 

 a longer jointed growth, and also when 

 terminal buds are taken instead of 



