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January 13, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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HOW VE GROW CARNATIONS. 



A Visit to the Lorch Establishment. 



The "carnation belt" of Pittsburg 

 runs between Sharpsburgh and Bakers- 

 town. At least, carnations do splendidly 

 out there and every florist in that section 

 is making a specialty and a success of 

 them. Oh, yes! Good carnations are also 

 grown in other parts contiguous to the 

 Smoky City, which you will see when, you 

 €ome here to the carnation convention 

 this month. 



One of the largest and most successful 

 growers out there is Albert Lorch. The 

 firm is A, T. Lorch & Co., of De Haven. 

 His crop is in splendid form just now, 

 and he is anxious that distant growers 

 shall visit him convention week. Albert 's 

 father was a popular German minister in 

 Pittsburg, but from his childhood the 

 boy had a pronounced fondness for flow- 

 ers and gardening, and in his early teens 

 he set actively and practically to work in 

 the business. He worked for me for sev- 

 eral years, and right proud I am of him 

 today, his application to the business, and 

 the succefes he has made of it. 



Among his neighbors are John ^. Wy- 

 land, or ' * Uncle John, " as we fondly 

 know him; S. J. Hatch, another of my 

 old workmen, and F. H. "Westhoff. They 

 all make a specialty of Carnations and a 

 success of them. As the soil and situa- 

 tions of all of them are much the same 

 and the varieties they grow and methods 

 of cultivation are about alike, I have 

 asked Mr. Lorch to tell you how he han- 

 dles his crop, and this will practically 

 answer for all. He says: 



"We have twenty-one acres of land at 

 Allison Park, on the B. & O. railroad, ten 

 miles from Pittsburg and fifteen min- 

 utes' walk from the depot. Or you can 

 reach it by the Butler short line trolley 

 cars from Pittsburg, stopping at Sample 

 Station. We have seven greenhouses, and 

 all are devoted to carnations. One house 

 is 40x300, two are 22x300, one is 30x130, 

 one 16x120, one 12x100/ and a lean-to 

 10x40. Our heating plant consists of one 

 125 horse-power and one eighty horse- 

 power boiler, and two return tilting 

 steam traps. As fuel we use slack and 

 coal, also natural gas. 



' * We grow about 30,000 plants, mostly 

 Ijawson, Winsor, Beacon, Perfection, En- 

 chantress, White Enchantress and Some 

 Afterglow. The Lawsons do fine with us. 

 We have dropped Sarah Hill and Lloyd. 

 We also buy and try about 100 each of 

 ^hat appear to us the most promising 

 new sorts each year. 



"We begin propagating early in De- 



cember, using an ordinary bench for this 

 purpose. First, we clean the bench and. 

 scald it with hot lime, then place one 

 inch of rough cinders on it, then one inch 

 of fine cinders on top of this, then three 

 inches of clean^ sharp river or bank sand 

 on top of all, tamping it firmly. I find 

 the best cuttings are those from the 

 flower stems, and the best time to take 

 them when the flower buds are showing 

 color. These we insert in the sand in 

 rows two and one-half inches apart and 

 one-half inch asunder in the rows. Don't 

 let warm sunshine reach them. Tempera- 



With full report of the Pittsburg Conven- 

 tion and Exhibition. An extra, good issue for 

 advertisers. Send copy early. 



FLORISTS' PUBLISHING CO. 

 334 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 



ture about 50 degrees. When rooted we 

 pot them into 2^4 -inch pots, and, later, 

 shift from these into 3-inch pots. We pre- 

 fer this method to planting at once into 

 flats or benches. 



' ' As soon after April 1 as weather con- 

 ditions permit we plant out the young 

 stock from the pots to the field; if prop- 

 erly hardened off before being set out, a 

 slight frost won't hurt them in the least. 

 We plant in rows twenty-eight inches 

 apart and eleven inches asunder • in the 

 rows. This gives plenty of room for using 

 a horse cultivator between the rows, a | 



boy leading the ^orse, and we cultivate 

 in this way once a week, and hoe between 

 the plants once in two weeks. 



"We prepare the soil in the field by 

 giving it a heavy dressing of cow manure 

 in the fall, plowing it in and letting it 

 lie in the rough until spring, then replow, 

 harrow, smoothen and line off for plant- 

 ing. For greenhouse use we prepare the 

 soil in the same way in the fall, and re- 

 peat the manuring, plowing in spring, and 

 bring indoors in June. 



"We begin planting in the green- 

 houses July 5 and stay at it with all our 

 strength until it is finished. We ventilate 

 freely, for carnations like lots of fresh 

 air. And as near as practicable our 

 temperatures run from 50 to 56 degrees. 



"In fumigating, for some years we 

 have been using hydrocyanic acid gas ex- 

 clusively, and find the C. P. grades are 

 the only ones to use. We have used the 

 commercial grade, but got poor results. 

 For a house 22x300 we use one-half gal- 

 lon earthen glazed crocks, which we space 

 every twenty-five feet in both center 

 walks. In these we place one and one- 

 half inches of water and one and one-half 

 ounces sulphuric acid C. P. The cyan- 

 ide comes in crystal form, which we 

 first pulverize, then place two ounces 

 in a tissue paper poke, one for each 

 crock, which two men take to the far end 

 of the house. Then they Ptart to return, 

 each in his respective walk containing 

 the crocks, and drop one in each crock 

 as they pass it. In this way they get 

 none of the deadly fumes, and can get 

 out quickly. Of course it is understood 

 that the house is tightly closed. The 

 best time to do this work is in the even- 

 ing of a calm day. Great care must be 

 taken with the following varieties, which 

 will burn readily if the fumes used are 

 too strong; Beacon, Perfection and Aft- 

 erglow." Wm. Falconer. 



WITHERED LEAVES AND BLOOMS 



I am mailing you a box containing 

 specimens of carnation blossoms and foli- 

 age. Kindly inform me what the trou- 

 ble is. 



A great many of the blossoms wither 

 in the bud or open only the outside 

 petals. The trouble first showed itself 

 by the ends of the leaves on the new 

 shoots taking on a dried, dead appear- 

 ance, like the enclosed samples. When 

 the bud appeared it looked all right until 

 the petals began to show; then they 

 would begin to wither. The trouble was 

 first noticed on the Red Lawson, but 

 spread to all varieties, including White 

 Perfection, Enchantress^ etc. The plants 



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