1008 



The Weekly Florists^ Review 



"t 



Febbuabx 21, 1907. 



are just as -wide diflferences as to cli- 

 mate and soil as there are between the 

 New England and the western states. 



My knowledge being limited to Ala- 

 bama and adjoining states, I will en- 

 deavor to give my personal experience, 

 and those facts which I have picked up 

 from neighboring growers, rather than 

 attempt a broader scope. 



I believe that we growers in the south 

 have a far more difficult problem in 

 growing carnations than our northern 

 Drethren. Our long, hot summers and 

 lack of good soil are our most serious 

 handicaps. 



Treatment of Cuttings. 



In selecting the cuttings I am always 

 careful to take them from the healthiest 

 and strongest plants, using side cuttings 

 from the blooming stem always, except 

 when we wish to work up the stock of 

 a certain variety; then we use top cut- 

 tings also; but we have found the side 

 cuttings root better and make the 

 strongest and best shaped plants. 



We use fine, clean sand. It does not 

 make much difference about the sand, 

 just so it is clean and entirely free from 

 decayed matter of any kind. 



We use a little bottom heat, about 

 56 to 58 degrees, with a top or outside 

 temperature of 48 to 50 degrees. With 

 too much bottom heat the vitality of 

 the plant is injured. Our first effort, 

 six years ago, to root carnations was a 

 total failure, due entirely to too little 

 water. For the first two weeks you can- 

 not give the cuttings too much water: 

 then afterwards water very lightly, un- 

 til, after three weeks, none at all. In 

 thirty days most varieties will be rooted 

 well. If you can so arrange it that the 

 cuttings can get the full sun after two 

 weeks they will make better cuttings. 

 The more light the better after the 

 cuttings are struck. 



Transplanting. 



We transplant them into a bench with 

 about two and one-half inches of soil 

 planting them one and one-half inches 

 apart in the row and rows about two 

 and one-half inches apart. We find this 

 method better than pots, for then the 

 cuttings are not liable to become stunt- 

 ed or pot-bound and do not dry as 

 when they are planted in pots. When 

 the time comes to plant them in the 

 field, we cut them out with a tiat trowel. 



We always try to plant in the field 

 the first good weather we get after 

 March 25, believing in an early start 

 and early planting in the house'i after- 

 ward. In our locality this date is not 

 too early, for we never have cold weath- 

 er enough to injure them after March 

 25. Probably this date would be some- 

 what too early for those north of our 

 latitude. After getting them planted 

 we keep the cultivator and hoes going 

 once or twice a week. In fact, as often 

 as the weather will permit we cultivate 

 shallow and often, keeping a light, loose 

 layer of soil on top all the time. 



A Problem of Soil. 



By the second week in July we are 

 ready to plant indoors again. But be- 

 fore taking this up I will take up the 

 soil. Here we have our most vexing 

 problem. We have been using ordinary 

 red clay subsoil mixed with manure in 

 the proportion of three parts clay to one 

 part manure. This soil is made up one 

 year before using. In fact, this soil 

 is the only kind used by the majority of 

 growers in Alabama, Georgia and Mis- 



sissippi. The top soil in most of these 

 localities is too light and sandy. 



We have this year invested in thirty- 

 two acres of an old pasture. This soil 

 is what is known as black prairie soil, 

 and this is the best farming soil in the 

 state. It can be found in all degrees 

 of stiffness, to a sandy loam. It closely 

 resembles the prairie soil of the west- 

 ern states and is found in limited areas 

 in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, 

 the belt of it in Alabama running just 

 south of Montgomery. 



Treatment of Plants. 



We use about four to five inches of 

 soil on the benches and give the plants 

 a distance of ten to twelve inches, de- 

 pending on the size of the plants and 

 variety planted. We have an experienced 

 man in the field to dig the plants, be- 

 ing careful to get as many roots as pos- 

 sible and to injure as few as possible. 



Just before planting we give the soil 

 a light dressing of bone meal. We are 

 careful not to use too much, for I be- 

 lieve too much of it retaras the early 

 taking hold of the soil by the plants. 

 After planting, being careful not to 

 plant too deeply, we give the plants a 

 thorough soaking. When the soil be- 

 comes dry enough, we keep it scratched 

 and loose half an inch down so that the 

 air is admitted to the soil freely. We 

 are ca.reful not to give them too much 

 water to start on, but keep them rather 

 on the dry side for the first month or 

 six weeks. As the plants take a firmer 

 hold they require more water. 



After the plants have begun to grow 

 nicely then we stake them, getting the 

 lanky varieties staked first. We use the 

 model carnation support, but believe a 

 combination of this support and string 

 wire is just as good, using the rings 

 to support the body of the plant and 

 the wire and string to support the 

 shoots. 



We always spray our carnations on 

 bright, sunshiny days, trying to get as 

 much force as possible. Using judg- 

 ment as to the varieties more subject to 

 rust, and being sure that the day will 

 be clear, we are always able to keep 

 down red spider and have no trouble 

 with the rust, except where some varie- 

 ties have contracted it before housing, 

 especially during a wet summer which 

 we sometimes have. A solution of this 

 I believe is early housing or indoor cul- 

 ture, of which I will have more to say 

 a little later. 



The first feeding is given about the 

 middle of November or the first part of 

 December in the form of one-half inch 

 of well-decayed cow manure with light 

 dressing of hard-wood ashes and bone 

 meal. By January 1 the roots are all 

 through this mulch. Then we begin 

 feeding liquid manure, using it weak 

 at the first three or four applications, 

 making it a little stronger each water- 

 ing. 



We give them a watering with this 

 once a week. We use all wood ashes 

 and a little bone meal about twice a 

 month, mixing it with a little rotted 

 manure and giving it to them in the 

 form of a light dressing, letting the wa- 

 ter wash it into the soil. Toward the 

 first part of April, when the sun gets 

 hotter and the soil begins to crack light- 

 ly, especially along the edges of the 

 benches, we give them another mulch, a 

 little heavier than the one we gave in 

 the early winter. 



Insects. 



Our most dangerous enemy is thrips. 

 In fact, it is hard to get entirely rid 

 of them, for you can find them on every- 

 thing outdoors during the summer. Our 

 best remedy is fumigating with tobacco 

 dust and red pepper. Spraying with 

 To-bak-ine with a fine spray pump is 

 also an efficient remedy. We found it 

 a little more expensive than tobacco 

 dust, but I believe it has a quicker ef- 

 fect in that it reaches the insects quicker 

 and more readily than the smoke. We 

 keep a close lookout for this insect, for 

 it may ruin the plants before we know 

 it. In fact, after the plants have taken 

 good hold of the soil I think it as good 

 a plan to spray them with To-bak-ine 

 once a week, even if we do not see signs 

 of thrips being present, or fumigate 

 with tobacco and red pepper as soon as 

 the houses are closed in. 



The aphides are easily handled. In 

 fact, we get rid of all of them in trying 

 to keep down thrips. 



With careful spraying we never have 

 much troubles with the red spider. 



Diseases. 



The most dreaded and the only dis- 

 ease that has given us any trouble is 

 stem-rot. This was due mostly to plant- 

 ing the carnations in the same field two 

 or more years in succession. I think.it 

 a good plan never to plant carnations in 

 the same plot of ground the succeeding 

 year. Carrying this plan out strictly, 

 and being sure that no kindred disease, 

 as wilt or stem-rot in other plants, has 

 been in the field we intend to plant, I 

 am sure this disease will give us no 

 trouble. Sometimes when the summers 

 are rainy we have ^rouble with rust. 

 But by housing early in July this is 

 usually avoided, for we generally have 

 this rainy spell in August. 



Indoor Culture. 



I would like to say here a little about 

 indoor culture entirely. From the little 

 experience that I have had on this line, 

 and what I have seen from greenhouse 

 in adjoining cities I am sure it can be 

 made a success. 



The Lawson, Enchantress and kindred 

 types have already proved adaptable to 

 indoor culture and I think with more 

 experience as to the care and growing 

 of them indoors it will succeed field cul- 

 ture, and I feel sure that I will be able 

 to say more about this next year. 



Varieties. 



The following are the varieties grown 

 by us: For white, our mainstays are 

 Boston Market and White Cloud. We 

 also grow Wolcott, Moonlight, Fred 

 Burki, White Perfection, Lieut. Peary 

 and The Queen. White Perfection is 

 undoubtedly the best commercial white 

 to date. For pink, we grow mostly E. 

 A. Nelson and Lawson. We also grow 

 Joost, Nelson Fisher and Helen Goddard 

 in limited numbers. For light pink, we 

 grow Enchantress only. What is the 

 use of growing others in this shade 

 when you have Enchantress! We have 

 a rose-pink sport of Enchantress which 

 is a good one; probably the same thing 

 that is on the market elsewhere. For 

 red, we grow Crusader and Cardinal as 

 the best. We also grow Red Lawson 

 and America. For maroon shades, we 

 grow Harlowarden and Glow Worm. 

 The last named I consider better than 

 Harlowarden, 



