1206 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



March 22, 1906. 



commercial grower not to go too heavily 

 into the newer varieties until by due 

 trial and observation he feels himself 

 capable of handling the same, as it is 

 best to try first and succeed afterwards. 



^ Right Kind of SoiL 



The question of soil is a serious on« 

 for the majority of growers, and very 

 often considertible outlay is necessary 

 for the procuring of the right kind. 

 What is the right kind? Each grower 

 eeems to have his own ideas about that. 

 One successful man, located near Buf- 

 falo, with an area of 20,000 square feet 

 of glass, has used the same soil continu- 

 ally for the p^st seven years, mixed, 

 of coutsfe, with manures and fertilizers. 

 If L could procure discarded rose soil, 

 thoroughly mix this up outside with lime 

 and bone meal or cow manure, propor- 

 tionately, I venture to say it would be 

 no bother to produce good flowers, pro- 

 viding good care and treatment were 

 given. 



In the matter of planting the different 

 varieties in the benches, I have been 

 most successful using nine inches be- 

 tween the rows and seven inches in the 

 row. This applies, of course, to medium 

 sized plants and to those which grow 

 compactly; most of them can be made to 

 do so by the usual method of wire and 

 string support. One point I must bring 

 before you strongly is that in planting 

 these distances apart, careful watch will 

 have to be kept for red-spider. To the 

 beginner in carnation growing I would 

 advise planting a little further apart 

 each way. 



•Care in Feeding. 



During the growing season care should 

 be exercised in feeding, as some varieties 

 require considerably more than others 

 and if overdone it simply can't be un- 

 done. As to what is considered the best 

 way of feeding tl>e plants is a matter 

 of conjecture, but I would recommend 

 the frequent application of pure bone 

 meal, as it can be handled far more eas- 

 ily and is cleaner than manure. The 

 one great advantage I find this method 

 has over manurial waterings, is that 

 each plant gets its own share and can 

 absorb the nourishment at leisure, while 

 a heavy douche of manure water given 

 once a week, besides occasional clear 

 waterings between times, has a tend- 

 ency to keep a good many plants too 

 wet. I have yet to find the greenhouse 

 so situated that all the plants are ready 

 for water at the same time; consequent- 

 ly, if you are soaking the plants that 

 are wet with your weekly feed, the re- 

 sult is soon apparent, as the benches will 

 'be empty. I would not in any way de- 

 spise top dressing of cow manure or 

 other manure and consider it of a de- 

 cided advantage in giving a change of 

 diet, but as soon as the manure goes on 

 the bench your troubles begin, with 

 weeds, mites, sour soil, worms and, inci- 

 dentally, I might say stem-roi. 



The past season has been a very poor 

 one in regard to propagation, owing no 

 doubt to the long spells of cloudy 

 feather making the growth soft; but 

 not all the blame can be laid to that 

 alone, as, in a matter of so much im- 

 portance, the question of experienced 

 help arises, and this part of the work 

 should be undertaken by an efficient 

 man. 



Should G>ach Green Help. 



During the past few years it has been 

 my misfortune to have to deal with 

 green help and while I have learned 



something, the knowledge has been de- 

 rived after losses which could have been 

 avoided. "When the operation of trim- 

 ming the cuttings commences, take the 

 time to give careful, instructions to the 

 uninitiated; yes and to some of the so- 

 called "experienced," not to destroy the 

 outer skin or bark at the base of the 

 slip, thus exposing to the water and air 

 the soft pith which has no power to 

 withstand the elements; consequently 

 after four or five days these cuttings 

 will have rotted. In putting in the sand, 

 too, the same care should be given to 

 see that each cutting rests firmly on the 

 sand. This fact is the reason why so 

 many cuttings look dry at the top, yet, 

 when pulled out, the part in the sand is 

 all right. How is that? you ask. The 

 reason is that when inserting them in 

 the sand, the cut was so deep that many 

 short cuttinges did not reach the bot- 

 tom and when watered in, were hanging, 

 held up by the sand which closed the 

 cut. Now, unless these two, the bottom 

 of the cutting and the sand, come di- 

 rectly in contact with each other, the 

 capillary action does not commence its 

 work, and as the action which is all on 

 the side of the cutting is not a magnet 

 to draw the moisture up, the result is 

 apparent in a dry cutting. 



The Split Girnation. 



The Split carnation is a topic to which 

 one might perhaps be able to devote an 

 entire paper, so that here I might say 

 that the two great causes, in my mind, 

 are the sudden changes in tempera- 

 ture and the lack of sunshine. The 

 first can be avoided by constant atten- 

 tion to the ventilators and boilers, so 

 that in the cold, bright days of midwin- 

 ter when the fires are low, care should 

 be taken to have the pipes hot enough 

 to let the temperature drop easily as 

 the sun departs. The latter cause can 

 be helped somewhat by giving all the 

 air possible consistent with common 

 sense, so that the plants may become 

 strong. Also, in the selection of stock 

 for propagating, select only the strong- 

 est and best cuttings, as this trouble 

 of splitting is, I believe, hereditary and, 

 while some varieties will split however 

 good you treat them, we can keep down 

 the percentage if we handle them cor- 

 rectly. 



The every-day varieties I find do best 

 in a night temperature of 54 degrees 

 and in the day 68 degrees to 70 degrees 

 when the sun shines. On cloudy days air 

 is given when the thermometer reaches 

 60 degrees, accordingly as the weather 

 is boisterous or calm. 



Gitting and Packing. 



The cutting and packing of carnations 

 for the market is work that should be 

 done by experienced help, as upon this 

 depends the success of your enterprise. 

 Try and arrange to have all flowers, if 

 possible, in water at least twelve hours 

 before shipping, and keep them in a 

 cool place. Now that the warm days are 

 approaching, our flowers will be im a 

 more salable condition and last longer 

 when the customer purchases them if we 

 can find it convenient to cut them the 

 first thing every morning, after they 

 have recuperated over night. 



We all know that stock shipped in is 

 not handled with the best of care by ex- 

 press agents, so exercise judgment in 

 packing the same firmly in strong, clean 

 boxes, so that when jolted backwards 

 and forwards, the necks of the flowers 

 will not be broken. This will save you 



lots of unnecessary worrying and argu- 

 ing with your agent, and will enable him 

 to secure better prices. In time your 

 reputation will become established as a 

 first-class grower and, by attending to 

 even the smallest detail, sooner or later 

 success will be yours. 



HOUSE OF FINE LAWSON. 



. Anyone who has an idea that the Law- 

 son carnation is running out should take 

 the trouble to inspect the house of that 

 \*briety at the establishment of W. S. 

 Cfarland, at Des Plained, 111. The ac- 

 companying illustration does the subject 

 little justice, beyond showing the height 

 of the growth, with some indication of 

 the sea of buds which greets the eye 

 of the visitor. The house is 27x250, and 

 since the middle of February has been 

 yielding a cut of 1,000 blooms a day. 

 Stems are of excellent length, flowers 

 large, and there has been a surprisingly 

 small percentage of splits, not over fifty 

 a day. The plants are in the very best 

 of condition and promise to continue 

 large returns to the end of the season. 

 'I'he cut is handled by Percy Jones, on 

 the floor of the Flower Growers' Market 

 at Chicago. 



y ^etable Forcing. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



Chicago, March 21. — Leaf lettuce, 35c 

 to 45c case; head lettuce, $4 to $6 bbl.; 

 tomatoes, $3.90 to $5.50 case; cucum- 

 bers, $1.40 to $1.50 doz. 



New York, March 19. — Boston cu- 

 cumbers, No. 1, $1.12 to $1.37 doz.; 

 No. 2, $4 to $8 box; head lettuce, 35c 

 to 65c doz.; radishes, $2 to $2.50 100 

 bunches; mushrooms, 20c to 60c lb.; to- 

 matoes, 20c to 40c ll3.; mint, 40c to 60c 

 doz. bunches. 



Boston, Mass., March 19. — Cucum- 

 bers, $4 to $10 box; lettuce, 25c to 50e 

 doz.; mint, 60c doz. bunches; asparagus, 

 $5 doz. bunches; parsley, $1.25 to $1.50 

 box; radishes, $1.50 box; tomatoes, 40e 

 to 50c lb.; mushrooms, $2 to $3 four- 

 pound basket; rhubarb, Gc to 7c lb.; 

 beets, $1.25 doz. bunches. 



Cleveland, March 20. — Cucumbers, 

 $13 to $15 100; lettuce, 15c lb.; rad- 

 ishes, 25c to 35c doz. bunches. 



Pittsburg, March 20. — Head lettuce, 

 40c to 50c basket; parsley, 65c to 70c 

 doz. bunches ; mint, 50c to 55c doz. 

 bunches; spinach, 60c to 75c basket; cu- 

 cumbers, Boston, $2 to $2.25 doz.; rad- 

 ishes, 25c to 50c doz. bunches. 



VEGETABLE PLANTS. 



Tlie exact time for sowing seed for the 

 raising of plants for subsequent planting 

 outdoors must be regulated to a certain 

 extent by the locality in which the grow- 

 er is placed, or by the time at which 

 the plants can be safely planted outdoors 

 without danger of injury by frost in said 

 locality. Though the time does not vary 

 to such great extent, nevertheless a week 

 or two makes a good deal of difference 

 in the growth of plants and that week 

 or two must be allowed for. 



The first essential is to have the seed 

 planted in time to have the plants large 

 enough and strong enough by planting 

 time. But the time must be so regu- 

 lated that the plants will be in the best 



