488 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



January 11, 1906. 



etc., but you cannot tell whether that 

 bunch of flowers was cut from 100 plants 

 or 5,000 and you don't know how many 

 blooms were discarded when these were 

 selected. 



By watching the exhibition reports you 

 will be able to see whether a variety 

 comes in late or early, but you cannot 

 tell whether or not it is a free bloomer; 

 whether it will pay the grower a fair 

 rental for the bench space it takes up. 

 As is well known to those who have at- 

 tended exhibitions and bought the prize 

 winners, it is not always the varieties 

 that make the finest show that prove 

 to be the most profitable. In fact, the 

 show reports are very misleading, in 

 that way. Many a first-class bread-and- 

 butter variety is entirely outclassed by 

 the more showy ones and of course it 

 suffers at the hands of the reporter, 

 when really out of the whole bunch it 

 might be the' most profitable to grow. 

 These varieties are usually taken up and 

 pushed the second and third year, after 

 they have forced recognition by sheer 

 persistence, while those fine looking 

 prize winners are reluctantly discarded 

 after a year or two. 



Fortunately the varieties with the 

 enormous sales do not always prove un- 

 profitable; frequently one proves worthy 

 of the confidence the growers have placed 

 in it, like, for instance, Enchantress. 

 Surely no grower who bought Enchan- 

 tress ever regretted it. >>^ 



How many to buy of each/variety is 

 a question each one must answer for 

 himself. It will depend on many condi- 

 tions. If you are a retail grower you 

 may not grow more than a house or two 

 of carnations and you may want only 

 enough to see what they are like and 

 how they behave with you. If you run 

 across a desirable one you can buy a few 

 hundred the second year. If you are a 

 wholesale grower you should have enough 

 to make a good lot for the next season 

 of any one that proves worthy. Those 

 who make a specialty of rooted cuttings 



of course want a big lot of any good 

 thing and it pays them to investigate 

 thoroughly before buying and then 

 plunge into whatever looks best. Even 

 these men are tripped up occasionally, 

 after looking a variety over carefully 

 on its home place. We do not buy less 

 than 100 of any variety, because it seems 

 one can size up a variety better when 

 there are that many or more. Often 

 some are lost one way or another. 



Does it pay to buy the new varieties? 

 From our own experience I would say, 

 most emphatically, yes. Perhaps we 

 have been more careful in buying than 

 the average, but anyway we have tried 

 to follow the suggestion made above. 

 Every season we buy many varieties, some 

 we know but little of, before we see 

 them here and we always get enough good 

 ones every season to more than pay up 

 for what the poor ones lost us. Then, 

 too, we know how all of them behaved 

 for us in our soil and climate and we 

 are not in danger in the future of in- 

 vesting in a variety that failed with us. 

 This knowledge alone we consider pays 

 for what we invested. We find that in 

 these days of high grade blooms the 

 grower has to keep his stock up to the 

 top notch, and he can do this only by 

 substituting the improved varieties for 

 the older ones, as well as adopting every 

 improved method of culture. Suppose 

 we were still growing Lizzie McGowan, 

 Silver Spray, Grace Wilder, Portia, etc., 

 who would buy our stock? 



There are those who think that after 

 a variety has been out a year or two and 

 has done well everywhere it is time 

 enough for them to buy. This is a mis- 

 taken idea and really loses money. If 

 your neighbor starts with 100 plants and 

 the variety does well with him he can 

 make 1,000 for the next season. You 

 visit his place and see the variety 

 and if you want to have as many 

 as he has they will cost you $50 

 or $60 and you don't know how it 

 is going to do for you. He knows its 



habits and you don't, so he stands a 

 much better chance of growing "it well 

 the next season. If he bought five varie- 

 ties and only got one good one he is still 

 ahead of you in money and in ai few 

 years ' time he will have the reputation of 

 being progressive and up-to-date and you 

 will be one of the trailers. You will 

 find that those who have bought the new 

 varieties consistently in the past are 

 the ones who are now the most liberal buy- 

 ers, and those who are disgruntled are 

 the ones who plunged spasmodically and 

 missed it almost regularly. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



NO BLOOMS. 



Our carnations are Boston Market, 

 Lawson and Flamingo. They were 

 planted in the house the middle of Au- 

 gust. They look healthy and strong. 

 The temperature of the house at night 

 is from 50 to 55 degrees; during the 

 day to 60 degrees. When the sun is 

 shining it is sometimes 65 degrees. The 

 ventilators are open part of each day, 

 but the plants do not bloom as freely 

 as they should. We hope you can help 

 us overcome the diflSculty. J. T. 



I shall be very thankful if you can 

 tell be what I can do for my carnations, 

 as they do not bloom. The plants are 

 growing and look healthy and good, but 

 they do not throw any buds. I have sev- 

 eral kinds, one no better than the other. 

 I have been using bone meal and air- 

 slaked lime, and the temperature has 

 been run up to 52 degrees. They were 

 planted in August. J. W. 



Boston Market and Lawson are, as a 

 rule, very free bloomers and at this time 

 of the year ought to be in full crop. 

 Flamingo is a late bloomer and many 

 growers last season did not get a bloom 

 until toward spring. It is hard to say 

 just what may have caused your plants 

 to behave as you say, since they are 



Gu-nation Rangfe at the New Plant of G. Van Bochove & Bro., Kalamazoo^ Mich. 



