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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Januabx 80, 1908. 



BO on, always selecting for future work 

 that which came nearest to an ideal as 

 to color and commercial value. 



Difficulty With Scarlets. 



Some have held that by following this 

 method you lose constitution. We have 

 proven this to our own satisfaction to be 

 untrue, if a selection of vigorous parents 

 is made for the work. This opinion may 

 have arisen from the fact that a very 

 brilliant scarlet has no vigor to back it 

 up, our most vigorous scarlets being only 

 a fair or duU red, and if a good consti- 

 tution and a brilliant color are combined 

 the result is apt to be a slow and shy 

 bloomer, not up to the commercial re- 

 quirements. As most of my endeavors 

 have been devoted to the scarlet race — 

 amounting to about one-third of the num- 

 ber of the seedlings raised — I have taken 

 the pessimistic view that it would be 

 an impossibility to produce a brilliant 

 scarlet of free blooming quality, backed 

 up by a vigorous constitution. Of late 

 years, however, I have observed that this 

 will not be an impossibility. 



on the semi-dofibl6,* or'^'iiOt ■ too many 

 petals to insure a good setting of seeds; 

 also guarding against parents with flow- 

 ers containing too many petals, as the 

 •result will be too many extremely double 

 flowers, with no calyx to speak of. 



Vigor of Constitutiofi. 



Constitution, next to color, is the most 

 important factor of a commercial carna- 

 tion, from a grower's point of view, and 

 should be given the utmost considera- 

 tion. The parents should be selected and 

 bred to such varieties as are noted for 

 their healthy and vigorous constitution. 

 We believe that in order to gain the best 

 results this crossing should be done dur- 

 ing the months of March and April, 

 when plants are making their most vigor- 

 ous and rapid growth, insuring well-de- 

 veloped and ripened seed. 



We sometimes question whether the 

 condition and class of food with which 

 we supply the mother plant when cross- 

 ing, and up to the time of ripening the 

 seeds, are not responsible, to some extent, 

 for our failures or successes, as the ease 

 may be. 



Regarding any other points of hybridi- 



Camation Apple Blossom. 



Qualities Sought in Breeding. 



In breeding for form we always se- 

 lected those that had reproduced them- 

 selves in that point for two or three 

 generations, choosing one or the other of 

 the parents, preferably the seed parent, 

 and using the same as a seed parent. In 

 pink we do not hold so closely to the 

 color line, but are very particular that 

 whatever color is used shall be of 

 good, clear, strong and lively tone, not 

 subject to fading into dull colors, nor 

 easily affected by the sun. 



In breeding for size we do not hesi- 

 tate to use a small flowered variety as a 

 seed parent, provided its progenitors of 

 the first and second generations past were 

 large flowered varieties; neither do we 

 fear to use it as a pollen parent, if it has 

 all the other attributes of a good com- 

 mercial variety. 



In breeding for stem and calyx I like 

 to select a variety that has inherited 

 these good points from one or two gen- 

 erations past, with the bloom bordering 



zation, I might suggest a strong, well- 

 rooted love for the work, untiring pa- 

 tience and perseverance, with a studious 

 observation of the results and with a fair 

 sized bank account at your disposal, until 

 your aim has been attained. 



INTRODUCING NEV CARNATIONS. 



[A paper by S. S. Skidelsky, of Philadelphia, 

 read before the American Carnation Society at 

 the Washington convention.] 



It would be hard to find in the history 

 of floriculture another instance of the 

 rapid development of a flower to equal 

 that of the carnation. 



The divine flower has indeed sprung 

 into favor as if by magic wand. Un- 

 like the short-lived chrysanthemum or 

 the queen herself, the rose, the carnation 

 is preeminently the flower of the masses. 

 It is grown everywhere; it is sold every- 

 where; the "curb merchant," no less 

 than the society florist, handles it in 

 immense quantities. More glass is going 

 up, more carnations are being grown, 



and the demand continually is for still 

 more. Nor is its popularity confined to 

 our own borders. England, Germany 

 and France depend upon our varieties; 

 far-away Norway and Sweden grow them 

 with success, and even darkest Bussia, 

 we are told, can do Lawson, Enchantress 

 and White Perfection well. Let us hope 

 — and you will pardon my slight di- 

 gression from the subject — that with the 

 advent of Beacon there may come a 

 light to brighten the hovels of the semi- 

 civilized, wretched peasantry in the 

 czar's domain. 



A Prophecy Fulfilled. 



When John Thorpe, but a compara- 

 tively short time ago, predicted that 

 our puny carnation of yesterday would 

 attain the respectable size, by actual 

 measurement, of four inches in diameter, 

 there were many among us who were 

 inclined at the time to treat such proph- 

 ecy with a four-inch grain of salt. That 

 prediction of Mr. Thorpe's has come 

 true, nevertheless. We have practically 

 reached the goal of our ambition. The 

 four-inch carnation is here, and has evi- 

 dently come to stay. Nor are we con- 

 tent to rest upon the laurels achieved. 

 We are aiming higher and still higher. 

 What was good enough a season or two 

 ago, does not satisfy us today. We must 

 have something better. It will not do 

 to stay the march of progress or to 

 check the course of evolution. Aside 

 from the size of the bloom itself, we 

 must have also stem, a long and a stiff 

 one at that. We must have a carnation 

 with a non-bursting calyx, of good col- 

 or, good keeping qualities, and last, 

 but by no means least, we insist on 

 varieties that will produce the flowers 

 and yield us dollars and cents — "bread 

 and butter" carnations, if I may bor- 

 row the stereotyped description, now and 

 then applied to seedlings which do not 

 pay for the bread, let alone the butter. 



It is not my intention, however, to 

 point out any particular varieties, nor do 

 I wish to call to the bar of the grow- 

 ers' opinion any of the introducers of 

 the "bread and butter" sorts, the kinds 

 that never paid for either the bread or 

 the butter. 



Origin of W^orthless Varieties. 



I am rather inclined to the belief 

 that the average introducer of a new 

 variety is honest and honorable, that he 

 means well, that his sole aim and ob- 

 ject in introducing a carnation is to 

 give satisfaction, that under all circum- 

 stances he aims to give the grower his 

 money's worth. There have been some 

 exceptions, of course, but this is an- 

 other story, having no bearing upon the 

 subject under consideration. 



Granted, then, that no fraud or decep- 

 tion on the part of the introducer is 

 ever intended, the question arises, Why 

 are worthless varieties thrown upon the 

 market? Why, indeed! 



I shall attempt to answer this question, 

 as I have studied it at close range, 

 depending upon my personal impressions 

 and observations, which, of course, are 

 in no wise infallible. My observations, 

 upon numerous occasions, lead me to the 

 conclusion that there are some hybrid- 

 izers who are inclined to be too opti- 

 mistic, often being carried away, so to 

 speak, by the momentum of their own 

 enthusiasm. The man thus inclined 

 makes his cross, selecting for the pur- 

 pose sturdy and meritorious parents 

 The result, he takes it for granted, must 

 be highly satisfactory. I say "he takes 



