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304 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



June 29, 1905. 



CARNATIONS WITH ROSES. 



We are short of room in our carnation 

 houses but I can spare a bed in the rose 

 houses. Do you know if Lawson and 

 Stella Mill stand the temperature of a 

 rose house, or do you know any other 

 carnation that will? W. J. E. 



I have seen several attempts at grow- 

 ing roses and carnations in the same 

 house but never with any great degree 

 of success. Mrs. Lawson, on account of 

 its strong constitution and strong stems, 

 would come nearer to standing the ordeal 

 than any other carnation I know of. It 

 was this variety that was tried in each 

 case, but it would not do. As far as 

 the temperature is concerned, there 

 would be little trouble where it were 

 housed with such cool growing roses as 

 Golden Gate and Ivory. The culture re- 

 quired by roses to grow high grade 

 blooms, and that required by carnations 

 are so different in details, however, that 

 the chances are that the one or the other 

 would have to suffer. 



A far better plan would be to divide 

 your house with a cross section of glass 

 and put an extra length of heating pipe 

 in the section nearest the boiler. This 

 would cost but little and it would enable 

 you to give each its proper treatment. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



TROUBLE WITH STEM ROT. 



I have a house of carnations which 

 I planted in the middle of April and 

 I notice from time to time quite a few 

 dying off with stem rot. Can you tell 

 fne the reason? I was thinking of 

 shading the house lightly, as there are 

 so much board walks and cement walks 

 in the house. There is plenty of head 

 room and front and top ventilation, 

 which I keep wide open day and 

 night. Would you advise shading and 

 could you please tell me a good fungi- 

 cide to spray the carnations with, and 

 how often, as a preventive to dis- 

 eases? I keep the floors well dampened, 

 syringing twice a day. The varieties of 

 carnations I have are Enchantress, 

 Eoosevelt, Harry Fenn, Flamingo, Car- 

 dinal, Adonis, W. Lawson and Golden 

 Beaut v. All are in the same house. 



L. F. W. 



The first thing I would do would be 

 to discontinue the frequent syringing. 

 As long as there are no signs of red 

 spider discontinue it altogether for a 

 time. When you water, keep the water 

 off the plants as much as possible. A 

 good plan is to make a furrow in the 

 center between the rows about one 

 inch deep by two inches wide and 

 when watering fill these furrows. Dust 

 the surface of the soil with slaked 

 lime and stir it into the soil. Dampen 

 the walks about midday to moisten the 

 atmosphere, but try to keep the at- 

 mosphere as dry at all times as the 

 plants will stand. I would not advise 

 you to put a speck of shading on your ' 



glass, as that would have a tendency 

 to make it worse. The best fungicide 

 I know of is a preparation called 

 formaline. Dilute this to about one to 

 500 of water and apply with a sprayer 

 every second day for ten days and 

 then apply once each week. Give all 

 the ventilation you can both day and 

 night. A. F. J. Baur. 



PINE NEEDLES. 



I note in the Review of June 8 that 

 H. S. A. asks advice about pine needles 

 in carnation soil. I live in a pine sec- 

 tion, Florence, S. C, and know from ex- 

 perience that well decomposed pine 

 needles make a good fertilizer. I go into 

 the pine forests and scrape up the loose 

 needles and get the decomposed ones, 

 which are very fine, loose and about the 

 color of the dead needles, mix it with 

 heavy clay soil to open it, and also to 

 fertilize it, and get good results with it, 

 with palms, ferns and such plants as we 

 set in rich soil. I also use it under straw- 

 berry and dewberry plants six and eight 

 inches deep, to mulch them, and let it 

 rot down and next year add more to it. 

 I have fine plants and plenty of fruit 

 and use no other fertilizer. I can get the 

 decayed pine needles here as fine as meal, 

 four inches thick, and believe it to be of 

 great value. I also mix it in my soil in 

 carnation benches and mulch with it and 



believe it to be good for that purpose. 



Dewitt House. 



IT IS TO LAUGH. 



Out in Iowa there is "a modest, un- 

 assuming" man who made a stir in 

 Hawkeye newspaper circles by sending 

 some carnation blooms to the King of 

 England, to be ten days on the road. 

 He is John Poland, of Eldora, and, of 

 course, he must be an expert or he 

 wouldn't do a thing like that. Accord- 

 ing to one paper this is "how Poland 

 works": 



The survival of the fittest, a process of natu- 

 rul selection. This is the keynote of the Po- 

 land carnation farm. Each perfect flower that 

 leaves the greenhouse has on Its velvety petals 

 the blood of hundreds of Its sisters, ruthlessly 

 destroyed that this one might reach the sum- 

 mit of exqulsiteness. 



This process Is repeated over and over. See^l 

 from the perfect blossom Is preserved for plant- 

 ing the following season. This crop In turn U 

 weeded out until as the years have gone by the 

 unexcelled Poland variety has been produced. 



Hundreds of experiments Lave "been tried In 

 the culture of these flowers. This array In- 

 cludes tests with lighting, heating, soils, fer- 

 tilizers, time of planting, pruning, watering 

 and grafting. Many of these Innovations have 

 proven valueless, others have borne fruit. 



The most Interesting has been In connection 

 with grafting processes. A remarkable attempt 

 was made to impart a rose perfume by grafting 

 the carnation flower on a rose stem. The re- 

 sult has not yet been achieved, but seems to 

 have every promise of suecesst In the future. 

 It Is naturally a delicate operation. Blossoms 

 liavc been sickly and poorly developed, but 

 this is due to the fact that the method of 

 Joining the two stems together is yet In an 

 experimental stage. When this is perfected, 

 startling effects in the matter of aroma may be 

 expected. 



Interesting results have been obtained when va- 

 rieties of seeds were mixed In the ground. What 

 this natural process is no one has satisfactorily 

 explained, but It is nevertheless a fact that 

 white and red seeds planted together will pro- 

 duce a mottled variety. Sometimes the mix- 

 ing is in peculiar form. A blossom may have 

 a white center and a red rim, or vice versa. 

 Seeds saved from these blossoms are planted 

 a following season and oft«n the peculiar ef- 

 fect is accentuated. 



VIOLET GROWING. 



BY B. T. GALLOWAY. 



Soils. 



A good, sandy loam makes the best 

 type of soil for violets. There should be 

 plenty of turf in it. Soil for the beds 

 should be prepared early; that is, the 

 preparation should begin, if practicable, 

 the autumn previous to the spring plant- 

 ing. If this is not practicable, get up 

 good sod as early in spring as the ground 

 can be worked. 



We prefer to cut the turf from two to 

 three inches thick, stacking it in heaps, 

 and mixing at the time of stacking one 

 part of well-rotted stable manure to 

 three parts of the soil. A sprinkling of 

 lime added at the same time is always 

 advantageous. The soil may be stacked 

 in heaps three feet high and as wide as 

 may be convenient. After standing for 

 two or three weeks, the stacks should be 

 cut down and shoveled over thoroughly. 

 If this process can be repeated before 

 taking the soil into the beds, it will be an 

 advantage. We never add any bone or 

 chemical fertilizer to the soil, preferring 

 stable manure in all cases, as there is 

 no risk in using this kind of material. 



Soil well prepared in this way will be 

 ready to be brought in to the beds by 



the middle to the last of April. It is 

 not necessary to put in more than six 

 inches of such soil. The rest of the soil 

 in the beds may b3 the ordinary material 

 surrounding the buildings, providing 

 there is good drainage. The soil is put 

 in the beds slightly above the top of the 

 boards in order to allow for settling. 

 After filling, the rougher portions are 

 raked off into the walk and a board with 

 a straight-edge is moved along the top 

 of the bed completely leveling the same. 

 The beds are now ready for planting. 



Settios: the Plants. 

 Lay off the beds with a straight-edge, 

 setting the rows of plants nine inches 

 apart and the plants eight inches apart 

 in the row. As soon as the bed has been 

 marked off, the young plants are cut out 

 from the flats in squares, taking care not 

 to shake off very much of the soil, and 

 set in with the fingers, pressing the 

 earth firmly about each plant after set- 

 ting. After cutting out the plants from 

 the flats they should be gone over veiy 

 carefully and all dead leaves removed. 

 In other words, the plants should be 

 thoroughly cleaned up. Plants standing 

 close together in flats or in small pote 



