700 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Januauy 24, 1»07. 



tions that would not score eighty-five 

 points on the exhibition table would, 

 when examined growing on the bench, 

 be found to possess other good points, 

 such as health, productiveness, habit, 

 etc., which would make them desirable 

 for commercial purposes, and probably 

 prove more profitable than the larger 

 varieties. Many of our best paying com- 

 mercial carnations today would have no 

 show on the exhibition table. 



Look Behind the Scenes. 



The society might with propriety go 

 a step farther and keep a watchful eye 

 on every new carnation, from the time 

 it is registered until it makes its debut 

 after receiving its final certificate, and 

 also inquire into the merits and demerits 

 of all new cirnations, whether they are 

 introduced through the medium of the 

 American Carnation Society or other- 

 wise. 



Those committees might also, with 

 propriety, take a walk through the in- 

 troducer's propagating house^ just to 

 have a look at those ' ' selected ' ' cut- 

 tings, and see if conditions are all right. 

 Tt is said that cuttings which go in there 

 in good condition often come out with 



seem to be directing their efforts more 

 to increasing the size of the flower than 

 anything else, and their success in that 

 direction is wonderful, but while they 

 are struggling for size, it looks as if 

 they were losing sight of one of the chief 

 attributes of the carnation; namely, 

 fragrance. The only two varieties in 

 commerce at the present time which re- 

 tain the much-admired clove scent are 

 Flora Hill and Boston Market. A car- 

 nation with the color and size of En- 

 chantress and the fragrance of Boston 

 Market would be an acquisition worthy 

 of the efforts of our introducers. Or is 

 strong fragrance a characteristic of the 

 white carnation as it is of the white 

 verbena? However that may be, an ef- 

 fort in that direction would not be 

 amiss. Taste demands fragrance, just 

 as fashion demands color. 



Size, however, is likely to be the main 

 aim of the American introducer for 

 some time to come, and the successful 

 efforts of our British brethren in the 

 profession to improve the carnation will 

 furnish the incentive. We read of Mal- 

 maison carnations eight inches across, 

 and also of some crosses between Eng- 

 lish and American varieties which the 



White Caroation Sarah A. Hill, Actual Size of the Bloooa Photographed 



,^ 



weakened constitution and other ail- 

 ments which make them of little value 

 to those who buy them. 



Only bu adopting some such methods 

 will ti^ A-merican Caijuflttion Society 

 give tfi^^urcbaser of i\ew varieties the 

 protectjoh he is entitled to, and at the 

 same tlhie make it impossible to intro- 

 duce * * too many new carnations. ' ' 



"Size Versus Fra£rance. 

 Our present-day carnation introducers 



Englishmen claim are improvements on 

 the latter. Under those circumstances 

 the Amerie|in introducer is not likely to 

 rest on Mts t^aurels ; evidently there are 

 foemen worthy of his steel on the other 

 side of the water. 



For Pol Culture. 



Hitherto our introducers have devoted 

 their entire attention to the development 

 of the carnation as a cut flower, but 

 there is another pha?e of carnation ad- 



vancement which they have altogethei 

 neglected, although they have had nu- 

 merous hints regarding it, both in the 

 trade press and from the platform, i 

 refer to the carnation for pot culture. 

 We need a race of dwarf carnations, of 

 every shade of color. Colors that could 

 not be used in the cut carnation would 

 be very desirable in this class, and fra- 

 grance should be one of its prominent 

 features. 



A race of carnations of the kind men- 

 tioned would mark an epoch in the plant 

 trade. They could be grown in ordinary 

 pots for the general plant trade, or put 

 in pans or vases for decorative or holi 

 day purposes. They could be flowered 

 at any time without undue forcing, and 

 would certainly make a far more satis- 

 factory house plant than the short-lived 

 although pretty azalea. They could also 

 be used for summer planting and would 

 fill a long-felt want in that direction, 

 as I think it is extremely improbable 

 that a carnation which would prove to 

 be entirely hardy in our northern lati- 

 tudes wiH ever be produced. There 

 won't be "too majiy carnations intro- 

 duced" until this much-needed class re- 

 ceives the attention it deserves. 



Encourage the Introducers. 



Any effort to discourage carnation in- 

 troducers in their endeavor to improve 

 the carnation would be a mistake. Those 

 whom we might call our professional 

 hybridizers have hybridizing down al- 

 most to a science, and with the magnifi- 

 cent varieties now at their command as 

 subjects to work on, decided improve- 

 ments may be looked for in the near 

 future, both on this and the other side 

 of the Atlantic. The 4-inch flower may 

 materialize at any time, but that will 

 not satisfy the ambition of our carna- 

 tion introducers. To them one step in 

 advance only suggests another, and when 

 the 4-inch carnation is an accomplished 

 fact they will, with characteristic perse- 

 verance, reach out for one still larger. 



CARNATIONS IN CANADA. 



[A paper by William Gammage, of London, 

 Ont.. read before the American Carnation Soci- 

 ety at the Toronto Convention.] 



When I accepted your invitation to 



write a paper on "Carnations from a 



Canadian Point of View," it seemed as 



if it would be an easy thing to comply 



with your request. But when the time 



came for me to prepare the matter it 



seemed to embrace a good deal more than 



one would infer from a casual glance at 



that innocent looking heading. 



Commercial Progress. 



If I may subdivide it: First, I pre- 

 sume, ' * point of view ' ' means, commer- 

 cial value. Without statistics at hand, 

 I have to rely on observation. My first 

 observation would lead me to surmise 

 that we Canadians have a speculative 

 faith in the future, for, year by year, we 

 see new additions to our ranks, new 

 structures of the most modern architec- 

 tural design, and invariably a large per- 

 centage of these new additions are de- 

 voted to carnations. Nor are these 

 increased investments confined to new 

 concerns alone, for all along the line 

 you will find the older establishments 

 building, building; not as they used to 

 a few years ago, one or two small houses 

 aka time, but now it is a whole block of 

 houses, comprising many thousands of 

 feet of glass, and these, too, are largely 

 devoted to producing carnations for 

 bloom alone, for as yet no one seems to 



