622 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Jandary 25, 1906. 



CARNATION BREEDING. 



in H. F. HAIJi, DIKHAM, N. H. 



[Si-nopsis of a paper read before the American 

 Carnation Society at tlie Boston meeting, Janu- 

 ary 24, ISKiC.I 



The raetliod of crossing which has 

 given us the best results is as follows: 

 Selected plants of the varieties to be used 

 in crossing are benched about August 1 

 in order to have them well established 

 and blooming freely by October 15, at 

 which time we begin the work of cross- 

 ing and continue until about December 1. 

 This season is selected for several rea- 

 sons: More favorable weather than later; 

 greater freedom in the production of 

 pollen; plants are then strong while 

 later they are often weakened through 

 production and attacks of insects and 

 diseases. Another reason often advanced 

 is that at this season there is less danger 

 of an undesirable mixing of pollen by 

 bees and flies, but in our experience such 

 fertilizing of the carnation very sel- 

 dom if ever occurs at any season of the 

 year. 



Some varieties never produce pollen, 

 others only during fall and spring, while 

 some are productive in this respect at 

 all seasons. By growing in pots and 

 keeping rather dry we have obtained 

 pollen during the winter months from va- 

 rieties which refused to do so when 

 grown in a commercial way. Select for 

 parents the most promviing plants of the 



Uses Blotting Paper. 



I have received best results in using 

 for this purpose a strip of ordinary 

 blotting paper three or more inches long 

 and about one-half inch in width, one 

 end being cut with scissors to resemble 

 a sharpened pencil, the point of which 

 is slightly fluffed to enable it to take 

 up and hold the grains of pollen until 

 lightly rubbed over the stigmatic sur- 

 face of the pistil. By this method we 

 have been successful in setting over 

 ninety per cent of all flowers worked and 

 requiring very little pollen, none being 

 wasted as in other ways. This method 

 is original with us so far as I am aware. 



From 10 a. m. until 2 p. m. on bright 

 sunny days and a fairly dry well venti- 

 lated house, are ideal conditions fgr pol- 

 lenating. If the operation is successful 

 the petals will wilt in from one to three 

 days, soon after which a part of the 

 calyx should be torn down to allow 

 the nectar to drain off, which if allowed 

 to remain would develop a fungus growth 

 and destroy the ovary. The seed pod 

 should remain on the plant about eight 

 weeks or until the seeds are brown, when 

 they may be gathered with their stems 

 and put away in a dry place for a short 

 time to ripen. A good time to plant is 

 from January 15 to February 15. 



Carnation breeding is yet in its in- 

 fancy. The leading varieties of today 

 will be little grown ten years hence; 



Gu-nation Senator Qane. 



(Kxhil)itecl by R. C. Pye. Nyack, N. Y.) 



varieties to be used. If the flower se- 

 lected for female or seed bearing parent 

 contains stamens they should be removed 

 with forceps or tweezers as soon as the 

 flower opens or before the anthers show 

 the pollen, otherwise self fertilization 

 may take place. In most varieties the 

 pollen matures before the stigma is ripe, 

 thus eliminating much of the danger of 

 self fertilization. When the pistil is re- 

 ceptive, which condition is indicated by 

 the development of the stigmatic hairs, 

 the pollen may be applied by the aid of 

 a camel 's hair brush or dusted on from 

 the male flower. 



what the type of that time will be no 

 one can tell. 



The object of crossing is to combine 

 the good qualities of both parents in the 

 progeny. This combination, however, is 

 seldom obtained, but by knowing the 

 pedigree of each of the parents used 

 the lireeder should be able to produce the 

 type desired by growing a large number 

 cf seedlings from which to select. 



I Old Faults in Offspring. 



After breeding out of a variety cer- 

 tain undesirable traits by selection, and 

 using this variety as a parent in mak- 



ing a cross, we often find the old hidden 

 faults very much in evidence in the off- 

 spring. "When the inherent forces of two 

 plants unite in a cross, a struggle for 

 supremacy takes place, whereby the fixed 

 or constant characters are set free, to 

 gather again in the progeny in various 

 combinations of form, color, etc. As 

 no two plants of the same variety are 

 exactly alike, it is very important that 

 a careful selection be made and that a 

 large number of plants be available from 

 which to select the parents for crossing. 

 Some varieties have unknown or hidden 

 qualities ; for instance, the color character 

 of a flower is often compound when it 

 appears to be simple. 



In breeding we often look upon a 

 plant as a unit when it really com- 

 prises a large number of traits or char- 

 acters. The longer we work in a random 

 way the more puzzling becomes the ques- 

 tion of inheritance and cross breeding 

 to one in search of definite results. We 

 should seek a better knowledge of the 

 laws of plant breeding as at present 

 we are groping in the dark so far as a 

 knowledge of past results is concerned. 



I would suggest that all information 

 obtainable upon this subject be collected 

 by this society to be published from year 

 to year in its report, from which con- 

 clusions could be drawn to be used as a 

 foundation for future work, thus enab- 

 ling us to slowly advance in the knowl- 

 edge of the laws which underlie the 

 breeding of this plant. 



CARNATIONS IN THE ROCKIES. 



BY J. A. VALENTINE, DENVER, CULO. 



[A paper read before the American Carnation 

 Society at the Boston meeting, January 25, 1906.1 



Most of you who attend these conven- 

 tions are conversant with the methods 

 and conditions prevailing among carna- 

 tion growers in general, but Chicago has 

 probably been your western horizon, be- 

 yond which there has been little to in- 

 duce investigation. The success or fail- 

 ure of any industry must be the result 

 of the conditions met with, together with 

 the efforts made to counteract or profit 

 by them, as the case may be; and cli- 

 mate, together with soil and water, are 

 the chief natural conditions to be con- 

 sidered by the florist. Other factors 

 that make for success or failure are the 

 transportation facilities (the distance 

 that can be covered before flowers suffer 

 severely in transit) ; the population with- 

 in these transit limits; the ability and 

 the disposition of this population to buy 

 flowers, and the competition from within 

 and without. 



It is true that an overwhelmingly 

 large proportion of the carnation busi- 

 ness of the country is carried on in those 

 states within a thousand miles of the 

 Atlantic coast, yet beyond Chicago lies 

 a territory of equal extent, which must 

 be crosesd and left behind before one 

 reaches the eastern limits of the Eocky 

 Mountain region. It is quite the com- 

 mon thing to admit that a grower will 

 be handicapped by differences in soil 

 and climate if he moves from England to 

 Masachusetts, or from the Atlantic to 

 Ohio or Indiana; yet the difference in 

 conditions between any of these points is 

 not so great as between either of these 

 localities and the Rocky Mountain re- 

 gion. Except in a few limited areas the 

 whole of this country east of Kansas and 

 Nebraska is less than a thousand feet 

 above sea level, and in the small elevated 

 sections the differences in soil, humidity 

 or precipitation are not extreme; but 



