July 30, 1008. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



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Showing the Sections in the G>ncrete Bench Built by Otto 'Wittbold. 



should be of a heavy or clayey nature, a 

 very light mulching of well rotted cow 

 or horse manure worked into the surface 

 will prevent the cracking and baking of 

 the soil. 



Care in Use of Fertilizers. 



No manure or commercial fertilizer of 

 any kind need be given to the plants 

 until the middle of September, and then 

 only in light doses, and only to benches 

 where the plants are in a healthy grow- 

 ing condition and therefore require feed- 

 ing. A sickly carnation plant is never 

 benefited by fertilizer of any kind, and 

 one cannot replace a fibrous loam by 

 using any old soil and adding manure 

 to it. 



I am sure that if good soil is used, 

 if the houses had a thorough cleaning, 

 if there is careful watering and proper 

 ventilation, and if the plants are kept 

 clean and the surface of the soil loos- 

 ened up during the hot summer months, 

 it will help more than anything else to 

 prevent stem-rot, or in case of its ap- 

 jiep ranee, to check it. 



The best carnations we ever grew were 

 grown last year. The soil for benching 

 was dug from a pasture; the long grass 

 had to be cut with a scythe. The sod of 

 the soil was laid upside down over the 

 bottom of the benches. No manure or 

 fertilizer, with the exception of a light 

 mulching two weeks after planting, was 

 used until September 20, when some bone 

 meal was applied, followed with a dose 

 of sheep manure October 14. From 460 

 Enchantress treated this way, fifty flow- 

 ers were cut which took first prize in 

 the Chicago show. While this shows that 

 good flowers can be had by this method 

 of culture, it is also interesting to note 

 that we lost less than two per cent of 

 these plants by stemrot, on the balance 

 planted in the house where this soil was 

 used, while in the adjoining houses, 

 where soil had bee^ used which was 

 taken from a pile prepared the fall pre- 

 vious, which was heavily manured, the 

 loss by stem-rot was fully fifteen per 

 cent. F. B. 



CARNATIONS IN ROSE HOUSE. 



I should like to plant one bed of car- 

 nations in my rose house, where the tem- 

 perature will be kept at 60 degrees. I 

 have Pink Imperial, Enchantress, Queen, 

 Bed Lawson, Lloyd, Afterglow, Nelson 

 Fisher and Fair Maid. Which would 

 you suggest as the best to plant in this 

 temperature? L. B. W. 



To begin with. I will say that 60 

 degrees is too higii a temperature in 

 which to expect good results from car- 

 nations. Especially is this true when 

 they are grown in the same house with 



roses, as rose house conditions are not 

 suitable for growing carnations. The 

 carnations could stand the high tem- 

 perature fairly well if it could be accom- 

 panied by an abundance of ventilation. 

 This cannot be given in a rose house, 

 however. Even in such case, only the 

 stiffest stemjped varieties could be grown 

 with any degree of satisfaction. 



The Lawson varieties are best adapted 

 to this purpose and, among the varieties 

 you mention, the Bed Lawson is the only 

 one I would care to risk in the rose 

 house. I cannot say anything about 

 Lloyd, as this is our first season with 

 that variety. 



While we are on this subject, a word 

 on the . placing of varieties will ' not be 

 amiss. The usual method seems to be 

 to begin with the first bed and the first 

 variety, and to fill up as the planting 

 progresses. This is a mistake and fre- 

 quently causes considerable loss and in- 

 convenience later. The placing of each 

 variety should have considerable study 

 and should be carefully planned. In 

 fact, the planting-in should be a part of 

 a carefully laid out and definite plan, 

 covering the entire season. You should 

 know right now which house or bench 

 you will vacate, to be used for the grow- 

 ing of young stock; also which beds you 

 will likely run late next summer for 

 blooms, etc. Of course, your plans will 

 always stand subject to alteration, as 

 may be found expedient and necessary, 

 but, barring failure or accident, your 

 plans should be complete. 



Thus, you would not plant a midwinter 

 variety on the same bed with a variety 

 which holds up finely through the early 

 summer. Nor would you plant a tall 

 growing variety on the same bed with a 

 short grower, like Mrs. Lawson. You 

 will also plant varieties of the same color 

 in the same bed, as far as possible — 

 this last to facilitate cutting and bunch- 

 ing the blooms. We are especially 

 brought up against this proposition with 

 the seedling varieties, of which there will 

 be from a half dozen to a couple of hun- 

 dred plants of each variety. To cut each 

 color separate means going over the beds 

 several times, and to cut them all at one 

 time and sort out each color takes just 

 about as long, and causes injury to the 

 blooms from the extra handling. 



Another thing to which considerable 

 thought should be given is the color of 

 each variety and the eflfect of the sun- 

 light on it. For instance, it is safe to 

 plant all white varieties where they will 

 get the full sun in all its strength, as it 

 insures greater purity in color. It would 

 not be wise, however, to plant Mrs. Law- 

 son where it would get the full sun, un- 

 less shading can be done conveniently 

 without injuring other sorts. Better 



plant this on a north bench, where the 

 light is subdued, as it will save the color 

 and at the same time have a tendency to 

 draw up the stems. All the light pink 

 varieties should be placed similarly, to 

 save the color. Practically none of them 

 can bear the full glare of the sun dur- 

 ing March and April without losing that 

 pleasing glow in the color, if the blooms 

 are allowed to develop on the plants. 

 Enchantress and the Bose-pink sport 

 are especially sensitive on this point. 



The temperature will give you' less con- 

 cern. With the elimination of the Law- 

 son tribe, which is gradually taking 

 place on many places, we have left but 

 few varieties wMch will not thrive in an 

 average temperature of 50 to 52 degrees. 

 Where Lawson is still grown it daould, 

 of course, be given the warm end, or a 

 separate house. 



In planting the modern carnation 

 house but little thought need be given 

 to the height of a variety, providing a 

 whole bed is planted of one variety. Such 

 varieties as Enchantress, Victory and 

 White Perfection should have not less 

 than three feet of space between the bed 

 and the roof, while Lawson will do with 

 a foot less, if need be. We are great 

 believers in high and airy houses, aa 

 being far superior to the low roofed and 

 narrow structures of old. They turn out 

 a better product, and results are what 

 count. A. F. J. B. 



OTTO WITTBOLiyS BENCH. 



The Wittbold family, at Chicago, is 

 prolific in new ideas, particularly in 

 the line of greenhouse construction. Most 

 of the members of the family have taken 

 their turn at the origination of some- 

 thing new in the equipment of retail or 

 growing establishments. One brother 

 built a boiler, one invented a plant stand 

 for decorating, another a watering de- 

 vice and a concrete bench, and now the 

 youngest brother. Otto Wittbold, who has 

 charge of the plant at Edgebrook, has 

 taken a turn and devised a • concrete 

 bench. He says that if anyone can find 

 fault with his brother's bench, because 

 of its one-piece construction, he will 

 find all the points covered by coming 

 to Edgebrook, for the second brother 

 built his benches in sections. There is 

 nothing like keeping things in the family. 



The way Otto Wittbold builds his 

 benches is shown in the accompanying 

 illustrations, which are from pen and 

 ink drawings showing the several pieces. 

 No. 1 is the side angle piece. The height 

 of the upper leg is eight inches and 

 its thickness is one and a half inches. 

 The width of the lower leg is four and 

 a half inches and its thickness is one 

 inch. The length of the piece may be 

 anything from four to six feet. It is 



