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Febbuaky 7, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



859 



plants that are rather below the aver- 

 grre of what you like to house for winter 

 l,]!:.oraing will prove better stock for this 

 purpose than large plants would. They 

 ^'jll transplant better in the spring and 

 the growth, being younger, will start oflP 

 quicker. Keep all the blooming shoots 

 topped back until they are established 

 again in the field. 



In your climate, the plants ought to 

 •winter first rate in a coldframe or a 

 ci'ld house. Personally, I have never had 

 nvuch use for coldframes or hotbed 

 frames, though I admit that for some 

 few things they are excellent. They are 

 almost as expensive as a house, and are 

 a lot more work for the one caring for 

 tie stock, besides being out in the 

 weather and subject to hard freezing, 

 etc. 



If you have a small house which you 

 can run near 40 degrees it will be just 

 the place for your plants to winter. 

 Growth will be slow and you can plant 

 out very early in the spring, the earlier 

 the better. There wiU be a tendency to 

 bloom, as spring approaches, and if you 

 can get them, planted out before this 

 progresses too far the plants will be 

 better for it. If they seem to be start- 

 ing up a heavy crop of blooming shoots, 

 then cut out the most forward ones in 

 order to encourage steady blooming 

 through the season. Plant them where 

 you can water them in dry weather and 

 mulch them with stable litter before hot 

 weather sets in. A. F. J. B. 



MR. HAINES' EXPERIENCE. 



[The address of John E. Haines, Bethlehem, 

 Pa., before the Florists' Club of Philadelphia, 

 February 5, 1907.] 



John Welsh Young, a few weeks ago, 

 wrote to me, urging me to make a speech, 

 or write up something on carnations, to 

 deliver before you this evening. 1 appre- 

 ciated his kindness, but I really hesitated 

 to comply with his wishes, as speaking in 

 public is a new venture for me and a 

 career of speech-making, at my age, may 

 not be as successful as my experience in 

 raising carnations has been. But I have 

 concluded to give you my experience in 

 growing the divine flower, the carnation, 

 and tell you how I drifted into this line 

 of business at my advanced age. 



Early Occupation. 



After serving a period in the Civil 

 "War, I learned the trade of moulding, 

 which trade I followed until, owing to 

 poor health, I was compelled to change 

 my occupation. I became a retail oil 

 merchant and later in connection with 

 this I also had a few acres of land which 

 I devoted to trucking. Finally, at 48 

 years of age, I sold the oil business to 

 the Standard Oil Co. 



Then I built one greenhouse, 22x80, to 

 raise lettuce and radishes. Meanwhile, 

 I kept on trucking, raising all kinds of 

 vegetables, and am doing the same today. 

 My lettuce crop was successful the first 

 year and the following year I put up an- 

 other house of the same size. The let- 

 tuce crop was again successful and in 

 two years more I erected three more 

 houses. Florists began to pay me visits 

 and praise my good work in lettuce 

 growing, but telling me that my good 

 success with lettuce had about reached 

 its limit and I would find out that suc- 

 ceeding crops would not always reach this 

 same standard. The following year, I 

 grew 50,000 lettuce. It was not quite 

 as good as it had been in previous years, 

 but it was not bad. 



At this period I became deeply inter- 



Carnation White Lawson Grown by Breitmeyer's Sons, Mt. Clemens, Mich. 



ested in the florists' trade papers and 

 devoted most of my spare time to read- 

 ing them. I sent to the government for 

 seeds and among the collection was a 

 packet of carnation seed. I again raised 

 some lettuce and began raising a few 

 flowering plants, a few roses, carnations, 

 etc. Lettuce was not a success that year, 

 but the flowers did very well. This in- 

 creased my interest in flowers. 



With the florists' help which I had 

 hired I commenced experimenting on the 

 stock I received from the government 

 and a few standards I had purchased. 

 The government stock came mostly in 

 bullheads and single blooms. There were 

 also a few fine plants, possessing fine 

 stems and vigorous growths among them. 

 We hybridized these with the following 

 standards: Jubilee, Crane, Wm. Scott, 

 Lizzie McGowan, New York, Albertina, 

 etc. I was successful. I got numerous 

 good ones, would raise them for a while, 

 discover some bad trait, then discard 

 them. I kept on trying and discarding, 

 until I secured enough stock of seedlings 

 of my own, which, compared with the 

 standard varieties I had on the place, 

 were superior to those in my opinion. 



Visits Exhibitions. 



Seeing glowing accounts in the papers 

 of the flower shows held at various 

 places, I decided to visit a show and see 

 how my carnations compared with those 

 of others. The first show I attended 

 was at Brooklyn. I enjoyed my first 

 visit at the show and found, to my de- 

 light, that my carnations were at least 

 good enough to exhibit. Then I dis- 

 carded most other stock and devoted my 

 space, which I kept increasing a little 

 year by year, to seedlings of my own 

 raising. Lettuce was a dead member. 

 I found the growing of the carnation 

 more interesting, and today, you see, I 

 am still making a specialty of raising 

 seedlings; a work which gives me ex- 

 treme pleasure. I have visited some 

 shows each year and at times have come 

 home feeling overjoyed with success and 



at other times disappointed. You florists, 

 no doubt, have had similar experiences. 

 We all leave home feeling confident that 

 our flowers cannot be beaten, but when 

 we get there we see such fine displays 

 that certainly open our eyes. Every 

 time, I come home, however, with re- 

 newed courage and aroused ambition to 

 do better. 



Methods of Culture. 



As to the treatment of the carnation; 

 first, I began by watering my plants at 

 night. My reason for doing this was as 

 follows: Early in the morning, after a 

 good rainfall at night, I had a habit of 

 taking a walk into my truckpatch. 

 Everything looked so fresh and crisp^ 

 that it seemed to me, I could almost see 

 exactly how much things had grown over- 

 night. I concluded, the night-watering 

 would be the best method and for a 

 while followed my method. The plants 

 were doing finely. All florists, however, 

 who came to visit me, and papers, all 

 gave instructions for watering in the 

 morning and I finally changed to the 

 general method of watering, though I 

 must say, I did not see a decided dif- 

 ference. 



By attending the diflferent conventionSj, 

 club meetings, and reading essays lt>j 

 various writers, I discovered that my 

 way of growing the carantion was not so 

 different from other florists' methods. 

 I gradually learn more, get new ideas 

 talking to different florists and visiting 

 other greenhouse establishments. 



The question, "How do you get such 

 long, strong stems on your carnations?" 

 is so often put to me. As I have said 

 before, my methods are not different 

 from others. I claim it is in the varie- 

 ties I grow. In the other standard vari- 

 eties I had been growing I could see no 

 difference in that respect. 



The soil on my place is a heavy clay. 

 I prepare it by making compost. 1 have 

 never had experience in growing carna- 

 tions in a sandy soil, but I belieye it can 

 also be prepared in compost to grow car- 



