Jdne 24, 1009. 



/The Weekly Floristis' Review* 



u 



CAHNATION NOTES.- EAST. 



Preparations for Housing. 



The press of spring business being 

 over, the benches which are to hold next 

 season's blooming plants should receive 

 attention. Every grower must be his own 

 judge as to which varieties are to be 

 thrown out first, but when the decision 

 is made and the plants no longer yield 

 profitable returns, they should be re- 

 moved at once. 



Under no circumstances must old stock 

 be allowed to wither and dry in the 

 house, as this only encourages increase 

 of insect pests and fungous disease. If 

 there is a desire to lighten labor in re- 

 moving the soil, this can be left a few 

 days to dry out. 



As soon as empty, the benches should 

 be thoroughly cleaned with broom and 

 hose, applying water under strong pres- 

 sure, after which a fumigation by burn- 

 ing sulphur will accomplish much in de- 

 stroying insects and disease germs. 



When well dried out, apply a generous 

 coat of lime-sulphur wash, preferably 

 hot. There need be no exact rule as to 

 the proportions of sulphur employed. 

 We use about a 6-inch potful to one-half 

 barrel of the wash, but it should be 

 added before the slaking lime has ceased 

 to boil. 



Any needed repairs should, of course, 

 be made previous to whitewashing. 



Fillinz ^ith Soil. 



Opinions, or at least methods, differ in 

 the matter of placing an inch or so of 

 manure in the bench before filling with 

 soil. Our preference is for its use, but 

 we do not consider it positively neces- 

 sary, especially if the soil be of good 

 strength. It is not imperative that the 

 manure used for this purpose be well 

 rotted. We have used the fresh article, 

 with excellent results. 



As fast as brought in, the soil should 

 be leveled in the bench. Dumping in 

 heaps to be spread at will, or running 

 the harrow over fresh soil, will not re- 

 sult in even density of the mass. 



If it is desired to obtain bloom early 

 in the season, benches which are to hold 

 stock for this purpose may with advan- 

 tage receive a light sprinkling of bone 

 meal, well raked in, but as a rule it is 

 preferable to withhold it until the plants 

 are well under way. This matter will be 

 taken up at length in later notes. 



It is advisable to fill at least a week 

 previous to planting, thus allowing the 

 soil to become settled and also permit- 

 ting the harvesting of a crop of weeds, 

 which, by the way, should be encouraged 



by occasional light watering and allowed 

 to attain the height of two inches before 

 pulling. This practice improves the soil's 

 texture. Geo. S. Osbobn. 



A BEGINNER IN CARNATIONS. 



Would you please give me some light 

 on tarnation growing? I have two 

 houses, one 24x108 and the other 14x90, 

 both very light houses. I have been grow- 

 ing lettuce in the winter in both these 

 houses, and in the spring geraniums and 

 vegetable plants. A friend of mine has 

 encouraged me to grow carnations in 

 these two houses, claiming I can realize 

 more money than from what I am grow- 

 ing, and I have prepared to put them in 

 carnations. I have planted my young 

 stock out in the field — Rose-pink En- 

 chantress, Enchantress, White Lawson, 

 Pink Lawson, Perfection and Lawson- 

 Enchantress. I have about 3,000 plants 

 in the field that are nice, but planted a 

 little late. My beds are on the ground, 

 except that in the 108-foot house the 

 two side benches are up on boards near 

 the glass. I have seven inches of soil 

 in my beds, underlaid with seven inches 

 of ashes for drainage. I have the bouses 

 piped to maintain a temperature of 50 

 to 55 degrees in severe weather. 



On the soil I have in these houses I 

 have grown two crops of lettuce and one 

 crop of radishes, besides some tomato 

 plants in the spring. It was a clay 

 loam, in good condition when I put it 

 in the houses. I have manured the ground 

 for each crop and the soil is now very 

 loose and rich. On account of my late 

 start, I cannot remove all this soil, but 

 I thought I would take part of it out, 

 haul some clay loam in and mix it with 

 the soil I have in the house. Is this 

 all right for carnations? I want first- 

 class flowers. About how many blooms 

 will a plant produce in a season, putting 

 them in the houses in August, planting 

 them ten inches apart and twelve inches 

 in the rows, tying them up and disbud- 

 ding them? Would they be profitable 

 at $2 per hundred? C. F. B. 



There is no reason why your two 

 houses should not grow first-class carna- 

 tions if you give them proper culture. 

 If you have a good market for the 

 blooms you should be able to reap fair 

 returns, but whether they will return you 

 more money than your lettuce did, will 

 depend on your success in growing, and 

 on your market. If your vegetable mar- 

 ket was an average one, you can hardly 

 expect to make as much money at grow- 

 ing a crop with which you are not fa- 

 miliar as you did from a crop which 



you know all about. After a few sea- 

 sons' experience, however, you may be 

 able to do quite well. 



With good, average culture, the vari- 

 eties you name should produce about 

 twenty blooms to the plant. Some grow- 

 ers cut more, others cut less. Much de- 

 pends on the size of the plants when 

 housed and how long the season will run 

 with you. 



You cannot afford to sell your blooms 

 for $2 per hundred throughout the sea- 

 son, unless you can get that figure for 

 your whole cut, and from October 1 

 until July 1. From November until 

 May they are worth 3 cents and 4 cents 

 each, if they are of good quality, and 

 at Christmas and Easter they are worth 

 at least 5 cents and 6 cents. So you can 

 figure for yourself where you would land 

 if you sold on a flat rate of 2 cents each. 

 I may add that those flat-rate contracts 

 seldom prove satisfactory. Either the 

 grower has a kick to make, or else the 

 retailer finds reason to complain. Sell 

 your product at a fair price, according 

 to the state of the cut flower -market. 

 Then, if you happen to have a good cut 

 when flowers are scarce, you will reap 

 good profits and no one can gainsay you 

 your good fortune. And later, when 

 flowers are plentiful, you can afford to 

 sell at a lower figure and no one can 

 complain about having to pay you more 

 than the flowers could be bought for 

 elsewhere, or that he was obliged to 

 take more blooms from you than he 

 could use. 



If your friend will take your entire 

 cut through the winter, and you reserve 

 all your blooms for him during the sea- 

 son of shortage and charge him moder- 

 ately for them at that time, you will 

 naturally expect him to give you the 

 preference in the spring, when flowers 

 are to be had in plenty and at very low 

 prices at times. If you do not run the 

 price up to the top notch at holiday time, 

 he should not try to force it down to 

 the lowest notch in times of plenty. In 

 fact, you must both be fair toward each 

 other, and be guided by the general mar- 

 ket conditions. You must always bear 

 in mind that your customer must be able 

 to buy flowers so that he can sell them 

 at a fair profit, and he must not forget 

 that unless he pays you enough for your 

 blooms so there is a profit to you in 

 your crop, you cannot afford to grow the 

 blooms for him. 



I would advise you to take out all the 

 soil from your beds. There is more soil 

 than you need in them, to begin with, 

 and most likely it is now unfit to grow 

 first-class carnations. Put in about four 



