DGCEMBElt 31, 1008. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



J3 



turns during November just about paid 

 his coal bill for that month. 



In reply to the grower who wants to 

 know how many blooms he ought to get 

 from 20,000 plants, mostly Pink and 

 White Enchantress and Pink and White 

 Lawson, I would say that it is a hard 

 question to answer. Much depends on 

 when the plants were housed and what 

 shape they were in when housed, whether 

 they were goodj strong plants or not, 

 and how they were cared for after being 

 housed. I never grew White Lawson. 

 Pink Lawson is not of much account 

 here now; it is one of the "has been" 

 good ones. I never grew White Enchant- 

 ress, as one bench of Queen with me 

 will yield at least as much as two 

 benches of Enchantress. The first season 

 that Enchantress plants were on the mar- 

 ket I benched about 500 of them. I 

 took off enough of the flowering wood to 

 make 9,000 cuttings, and averaged, be- 

 sides, about twenty-two blooms per plant, 

 which did not give them any opportu- 

 nity to show what they could do. 



It is difficult to say how many blooms 

 a grower ought to pick. At the time 

 of the old Daybreak I had 1,000 good 

 plants, planted in a good, light, airy 

 house, which produced 48,000 blooms, or 

 an average of forty-eight per plant, but 

 they were good, large plants. 



One grower wants to know if it makes 

 any difference when he propagates. With 

 me it does not, provided that I can get 

 the plants a good size by housing time. 

 I always take all good, healthy cuttings 

 as fast as they are ready, but early cut- 

 tings should be shifted at least once, to 

 keep them in good growing condition; 

 otherwise they will become woody and 

 more subject to stem-rot and all other 

 diseases. As early as the weather will 

 permit, I plant them outside. I gener- 

 ally cultivate them about once or twice 

 a week, according to the weather. I 

 never neglect pinching back, but go over 

 the plants every few days. 



Just before housing time I clean the 

 house out, paint or whitewash all wood- 

 work, bring in new soil and shade the 

 glass a little. Then, if we get suitable 

 weather, we start planting. As soon aa 

 the planting is done, I begin to get shade 

 off so as to harden them as soon as pos- 

 sible, and go straight ahead to tie them 

 up. I use wire the shape of a hairpin to 

 tie them with, and this allows me to 

 work around each plant. Later in the 

 season, when the plants become quite 

 high, I draw a wire the full length of 

 the bench on each side and place strings 

 across to help hold the plants and flowers 

 in shape. H. Mebsitt. 



CARNATION SHOV IN LONDON. 



The increasing popularity of Ameri- 

 can carnations in England was fully 

 demonstrated December 9, on the occa- 

 sion of the winter show of the Perpetual 

 Flowering Carnation Society. The num- 

 ber of entries was greater than on any 

 previous occasion, and high quality was 

 manifest in the majority of the classes. 

 The show was held in the Koyal Horti- 

 cultural hall, Loudon, and in all respects 

 it was a moat successful affair, reflect- 

 ing the highest credit upon the man- 

 agement. 



In the leading elates for the best col- 

 lection of cut carna'tions there was quite 

 a spirited competition. W. E. Wallace, 

 Eaton Bay, secured the gold medal and 

 first prize; C. F. Waters, Balcombe, Sus- 

 sex, second prize, and W. H. Page, one 



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Low's American Gtfnations at the London Exhibition. 



of the largest and most successful grow- 

 ers at Hampton, Middlesex, came in an 

 excellent third. 



In the color classes the principal awards 

 were: Thirty -six white, W. E. Wallace, 

 with White Perfection; thirty-six blush, 

 Newport Carnation Nurseries, with En- 

 chantress; thirty-six light pink or sal- 

 mon, W. H. Lancashire, Guernsey, with 

 Mrs. H, Burnett; thirty-six deep pink or 

 rose, W. H. Lancashire, with Lawson; 

 thirty-six crimson, W. H. Lancashire, with 

 President; thirty-six scarlet, W. H. Lan- 

 cashire, with Bobert Craig; thirty-six 

 any other color or fancy, C. Engellmann, 

 Saffron Walden. 



Other successful exhibitors in the color 

 classes for thirty-sixes and eighteens in- 

 cluded G. Lange, Hampton; Bell & Shel- 

 don, Guernsey; H. Burnett, Guernsey; 

 W. H. Page, Hampton; A. F. Button, 

 Ivor, etc. The society's gold medal for 

 the best vase in the show was awarded 

 to White Perfection, exhibited by W. E. 

 Wallace, the second prize going to Vic- 

 tory, exhibited by A. F. Dutton. 



Special prizes were offered by E. G. 

 Hill, Richmond, Ind., for the best vase 

 or Afterglow; by Fred Dorner, La 

 Fayette, Ind., for the best vase of Wi- 

 nona, and by the F. R. Pierson Co., Tar- 

 rytown, for the best vase of Winsor. 

 Bell & Sheldon, Guernsey, were successful 

 in winning all three prizes. 



The prize for the best vase *of any va- 

 riety not in commerce was won by C. 

 Engellmann, with Carola, one of his own 

 raising; second, H. Burnett; third, W. 



H. Lancashire, with varieties of their 

 own raising also. Several new varieties 

 engaged the attention of the floral com- 

 mittee, but only one stood the test of 

 pointing, namely. Rose Dor6e, a salmon- 

 rose colored, very full flower, which 

 gained a certificate of merit, with ninety- 

 seven points out of a possible 100. It 

 was exhibited by W. H. Lancashire. 



Dinner table decorations with carna- 

 tions were a pleasing feature of the 

 show, and classes devoted to amateurs 

 and gardeners for cut carnations, groups 

 of carnation plants, etc., were well filled. 



In addition to the competitive classes, 

 fine trade displays were made bv Hugh 

 Low & Co., Bush Hill Park, gold' medal; 

 Bell & Sheldon, gold medal; H. Burnett, 

 large silver medal; H. J. Cutbush, Lon- 

 don, large silver medal; C. Engell- 

 mann, large silver medal ; G. Lange, large 

 silver medal. Also silver medals to J. 

 Green, March; J. Peed & Son, London; 

 W. H. Lancashire, and the American 

 Carnation Nursery Co., Sawbridgeworth. 

 The leading varieties in the collections 

 were Enchantress, Afterglow, Victory, 

 Britannia, Fair Maid, Mrs. T. W. Law- 

 son, Winsor, White Perfection, Beacon, 

 Harlowarden, Robert Craig, Aristocrat 

 and Lady Bountiful. 



The announcement made by the hon- 

 orary secretary, Hayward Mathies, that 

 he had received a communication from 

 the secretary of the American Carnation 

 Society, offering on its behalf a $25 

 challenge cup for competition at future 

 shows, was received with enthusiasm. 



