Januabt 23, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists'' Re view* 



are not very enthusiastic over your car- 

 nations. Enthusiasm is what causes men 

 to accomplish things and it is enthusiasm 

 about the carnation that this society 

 keeps up. So get in line and become an 

 enthusiast, and before you know it you 

 will be casting about for better varieties 

 and improving your methods of culture 

 and, in fact, you will be taking new 

 interest in your carnations. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



NINETEEN SPORTS. 



This number of sports in one season, 

 of a single variety and at one estab- 

 lishment, seems to us to be remarkable 

 enough to be worthy of being chronicled. 

 However, this is the number of varia- 

 tions from the original Enchantress that 

 we have noted among our 4,000 plants 

 of that variety, and they are almost as 

 varied as numerous. We have pure white, 

 shell pink, rose pink, variegated, 

 blotched, and splashed specimens. Three 

 of them are particularly worthy of note 

 — the pure white, a large splashed one 

 and a shell pink. Of these three, all of 

 which we consider quite distinct and 

 worth multiplying by propagation, the 

 shell pink one is especially attractive. 

 It is of a delicate, soft tint, without a 

 suggestion of the salmon tinge which at 

 times gives Enchantress a rather faded 

 appearance, and in this instance the 

 whole plant appears to be a sport. 

 Three blossoms have appeared and they 

 have all had the same attractive color. 

 We intend to take particular care of this 

 plant, which is a small one. We will 

 propagate what cuttings we can from it 

 this season, and if the variation proves 

 to be fixed it will certainly be heard from 

 as soon as we can get up a stock of it. 

 State Flobal Co. 



VARIETIES IN SAME HOUSE. 



Could I successfully grow Enchantress, 

 Queen Louise, Lady Bountiful and Wm. 

 Scott in the same house? If so, would 

 it make any difference which would be at 

 the cool end? If the above varieties 

 would not go together, please name white 

 and pink varieties to grow with Enchant- 

 ress. K. E. G. 



You can grow the varieties you men- 

 tion successfully in one house. Plant 

 Enchantress in the cool end and Queen 

 Louise in the warm end. Queen Louise 

 and Wm. Scott are not considered up-to- 

 date varieties any more up this way. 

 In your warmer North Carolina climate, 

 however, they may do better than some 

 of our best sorts. If Enchantress does 

 well for you, its white sport, called White 

 Enchantress, ought to do as well. White 

 Perfection ought to do well for you, too. 

 The Eose-pink Enchantress might come 

 washy most of your season, but Aristo- 

 crat has a good color in warm weather 

 and should do well for you. A. F. J. B. 



BOTTOM HEAT FOR CUTTINGS. 



Can carnation cuttings be successfully 

 rooted without the aid of bottom heat? 

 If so, I should like to learn how it can 

 be done. F. H. B. 



Bottom heat is not absolutely nec- 

 essary for rooting carnation cuttings, but 

 with slight bottom heat they will root 

 in a shorter period of time. This is 

 quite important to those who propagate 

 large quantities, and if the bottom heat 

 is not too strong it is not harmful to 

 the cuttings. Ten degrees warmer than 

 the top temperature is not too high for 

 the bottom, but we do not want more. 



It is not the heat that draws the 



roots out, but the striking out of roots 

 is a natural function on the part of 

 the plant. Root formation and root 

 growth, like top growth, are more rapid 

 in a warm temperature than they are 

 in a cool temperature. The carnation, 

 being a cool-loving plant, will bear but 

 little forcing beyond its natural tem- 

 perature and therefore should be kept 

 cool. By keeping the top cool and the 

 bottom slightly warmer, the cutting it- 

 self is held stationary and in good con- 

 dition, while the root formation is en- 

 couraged or hastened. A. F. J. B. 



STIGMONOSE ON WOLCOTT. 



I am mailing a sample plant of the 

 Wolcott carnation, and should like to 

 know the cause of the spotting of the 

 leaves, and the remedy. I have just a 

 few that are affected this way. I also 

 find now and then one of the Enchant- 

 ress so affected. What would you sug- 

 gest doing? C. A. S. 



The specimen of Wolcott you sent 

 is badly affected with stigmonose, and 

 if your plants are all as bad as this 

 one I would advise you to discard the 

 whole batch. There are a number of 

 white varieties on the market at pres- 

 ent which are far better than Wolcott 

 ever was, so why not stock up with up-to- 

 date varieties? However, if you prefer 

 to keep on growing Wolcott, propagate 

 only from plants which do not show any 

 of those light^ spots. By keeping this 

 cutting selecting up for several years, 

 you can work the disease out of your 

 stock. You must give your plants care- 

 ful attention and sane culture, however, 

 along with it. Especially keep down all 

 insects, as these are supposed to be the 

 cause of the introduction of the trouble 

 in the first place. A. F. J, B. 



MUMS WITH WEAK STEMS. 



Will you let us know how late in the 

 season we can run a mum house without 

 firing? What night temperature is best 

 during October and November? Our 

 mums have been somewhat weak-stemmed, 

 possibly from too high temperature. But 

 if the night temperature is low, will it 

 not affect the keeping quality of cut 

 flowers in a living room temperature 

 or the temperature that cut flowers are 

 subject tot F. D. S. 



It depends on the season as to how 

 late one can run a chrysanthemum house 

 without heat. If the night temperature 

 is 40 to 50 degrees, it is all right, 

 though it is better to have a crack of 

 heat, so as to maintain this temperature 

 with air on, than it is to shut the house 

 np tight and get a damp, close atmos- 

 phere. By giving all the air possible, 

 day and night, F. D. S. will do away 

 with a good deal of trouble from weak 



stems. The chrysanthemum loves air 

 and lots of it at all stages of its growth, 

 and neglect or ignorance of this is re- 

 sponsible for much of the wretched stock 

 one sees in the wholesale markets. 



We generally, in this part of New 

 Jersey, get frost in the last week of 

 September and give heat at that time, 

 though after a few nights the weather 

 picks up again and one can sometimes 

 run through October with no heat to 

 speak of. The heat is given not so much 

 to keep the temperature high as it is to 

 keep a current of dry air moving through 

 the house, so that the flowers will not 

 damp. A high night temperature makes 

 the flowers soft and a low temperature 

 makes them stiff. In other words, flow- 

 ers grown in a low temperature will keep 

 longer after they are cut, because a low 

 temperature is natural to the chrysanthe- 

 mum at flowering time, and the nearer 

 a grower keeps to nature the better suc- 

 cess will he have. Charles H. Totty. 



MUMS ON OPEN GROUND. 



I have a large, level piece of ground, 

 adjoining my greenhouses, on which I 

 wish to grow a large number of mums, 

 two to a stem, for Thanksgiving day, 

 in the following manner: First I would 

 set up posts to support the woodwork 

 for the hotbed sashes; then I would plant 

 the mums in the ground and grow them 

 the same as indoors, only without glass, 

 putting on the hotbed sashes at the ap- 

 proach of the first frost and removing 

 them and piling them away for the 

 winter after the mums are all cut. 



How high should this house be to 

 suit such mums as Dean, Baer and 

 Jones? Should these mums be planted 

 right in the flat ground, or, if planted 

 in beds enclosed by boards set on edge, 

 how wide should the boards be? The 

 sashes are 3x7, and thirty-two in num- 

 ber. How should this house be heated, 

 using hot water? The house would run 

 north and south and would be twenty 



