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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



December 31, 1908. 



CAHNATION NOTES.- WEST. 



Making the Cuttings. 



After having completed preparations 

 for vour propagating bench, you are 

 ready to select cuttings and prepare them 

 for the sand. It now is generally agreed 

 among the leading carnation growers 

 that the best cuttings come from near the 

 base of the flowering stem. They are 

 the young shoots or breaks which would 

 run up to flower in the next crop, after 

 the crop which was cut when the flower 

 stem on which they grew was cui. These 

 shoots will sometimes grow large enough 

 to make splendid cuttings before the 

 flower is cut, which is a desirable char- 

 acteristic in a variety. Some varieties, 

 however, are shy in making such breaks 

 and will produce cuttings only after the 

 flowers are cut. Varieties which behave 

 as first described can be propagated much 

 more cheaply than the latter, because you 

 can usually take at least one fine cut- 

 ting from each flower stem above the 

 point where it will be severed from the 

 plant later on, and no shoots will need 

 to be taken which would later make up 

 a part of the crop of blooms. With the 

 other class, however, you are obliged to 

 wait after cutting the bloom until the 

 stub grows new breaks, and of these 

 breaks select a part for cuttings instead 

 of allowing them all to run up to flower 

 in the next crop. In other words, you 

 must sacrifice part of the next crop of 

 blooms for propagating purposes. Varie- 

 ties of this latter kind should always 

 command a higher price than the others, 

 providing the demand for them is the 

 same. 



When taking cuttings from flower 

 stems before the blooms are cut, do not 

 make the mistake of taking them too 

 high up. Last spring, among the new 

 varieties we bought, were one or two 

 lots which showed plainly that the cut- 

 tings were taken all the way up the stem, 

 just so they did not run into bud. This 

 is a sure way of weakening a variety, 

 as these small weaklings will invariably 

 show up as weaklings in the bench the 

 next season. Take strong breaks of a 

 uniform size and you will be likely to 

 have good, strong plants the next season. 



Try to take off early in the morning, 

 while the growth is crisp, enough cut- 

 tings to run you through the day. No 

 cuttings should be taken from plants 

 when they are the least bit flagged, 

 either from the sun or from being too 

 dry. It is well known that blooms cut 

 under those conditions will not keep, 

 and it is equally true that cuttings taken 

 under those same conditions will not root 

 as readily and will give much more 

 trouble than those taken from plants 

 which are in a fresh, vigorous state. 



Sever them from the stem by pulling 

 them upward and sideways at the same 

 time. Place them in a fairly tight re- 

 ceptacle and keep well sprinkled until 

 they are inserted in the sand, and keep 

 them in a cool place. In fact, your main 



endeavor should be to keep them in a 

 crisp condition. A carnation cutting 

 which is once badly wilted might just 

 as well be thrown on the dump at once. 

 If the cuttings run fairly even in size, 

 not much cutting is required except to 

 see that the lower end is cut clean and 

 a few of the longer outward hanging 

 leaves are trimmed back. This latter 

 will greatly facilitate the work of insert 

 ing them in the. sand. If some of them 

 run small in size, get that kind together 

 at one end of the row, as if you mix 

 them between the large ones they will 

 be smothered and ruined. 

 « After inserting a batch be sure you 

 water thoroughly, so the sand will settle 

 well around the base of the cuttings. No 

 more watering will be needed for a few 

 days, but in bright weather a light 

 spraying overhead once or twice each 

 day will help to keep them fresh. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



lyiERRITT'S CARNATION CROPS. 



I have read with interest the article, 

 ' ' Merritt 's Success, ' ' in the Keview of 

 December 10, page 29, in which it is 

 stated that Mr. Merritt, of Irondequoit, 

 N. Y., cut 30,000 carnation blooms from 

 4,650 square feet of ground surface in 

 the month of October. This of course 

 is, as stated, an exceptional instance, but 

 it makes us feel that we do not know 

 how to grow carnations, and there are a 

 whole lot of others in the same boat 

 with us. The article would be more in- 

 teresting if more circumstances regard- 

 ing the conditions, etc., were given. For 

 instance, when were the plants benched? 

 How many blooms were cut during the 

 thirty days previous to October 1, how 

 many blooms were cut following October 



31, and what does Mr. Merritt expect to 

 average per plant during the year? 



It is interesting to compare one's own 

 cut with that of other growers, and we 

 would like to have Mr, Merritt 's opinion 

 as to what the cut should be from, say, 

 20,000 carnation plants, a large propor- 

 tion of them being Pink and White En- 

 chantress and Pink and White Lawson. 

 The writer would like to have a reply to 

 this question, either from Mr, Merritt or 

 from any other well-known grower, 

 through the columns of the Eeview. I 

 think anyone reading the article on Mr, 

 Merritt 's crop would be interested in 

 further details, and I personally would 

 like to know what should be cut during 

 the year from 20,000 plants. 



W. H, E. 



Since the article appeared in the Re- 

 view in regard to my picking 30,000 

 blooms from my carnations during Octo- 

 ber, I have received many inquiries like 

 the foregoing. There have been com- 

 munications from all parts of the coun- 

 try, containing every question imag- 

 inable. I have been asked when I housed 

 the plants, whether I grew them outside 

 or inside, when I propagated them, what 

 I consider a fair average crop, and, what 

 my plants yielded before and after Octo- 

 ber. The beat way to save time in 

 answering all these questions is to an- 

 swer them through the Eeview, and 1 

 shall make all my answers as nearly cor- 

 rect as possible. 



My plants were housed about the mid- 

 dle of August. I picked 8,425 blooms 

 during September, 10,705 in November 

 and 5,900 from December 1 to Decem- 

 ber 21, which, including the 30,000 in 

 October, makes a total of 55,030 blooms. 

 I do not know the exact number of 

 plants, but there were a little over 6,000, 

 which would probably make the cut about 

 nine blooms per plant up to December 21, 



Every grower in this part of the coun- 

 try knows that carnations have averaged 

 more blooms this season than in any pre- 

 vious year, as the weather has been al- 

 most too favorable. I have never before 

 heard so much complaint about bargain 

 lots. I heard of one grower whose re- 



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Showing How the English Stage Carnations at Exiiibitions. 



