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Skftbubeb 16, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Erecting Truu House for Livingston Seed Co., Columbus, Ohio. 



may have been caused by the sting or bite 

 of some insect when the leaf was young 

 and tender. As it grew to maturity there 

 remained a kind of core, which shows as 

 a light spot in the leaf. Otherwise the 

 leaf seems quite healthy and of good 

 color. A. F. J. B. 



CARNATIONS IN THE FIELD. 



Please state what kind of soil is the 

 best to use in planting carnations in the 

 field, in order to secure good, strong 

 plants for greenhouse purposes. Would 

 sandy soil be the best for the purpose, or 

 soil well mixed with cow manure? Also 

 state whether daily watering is helpful in 

 securing good, healthy plants. 



O. A. C. 



The best soil for growing carnations in 

 the field is a sandy loam of moderate fer- 

 tility. You will find that a sandy soil 

 will always lift well. While you may not 

 always be able to save a large ball of soil 

 on the roots, you can always get all the 

 small, fibrous roots intact. They are 

 more essential than a ball of soil, and we 

 never mind much if all the soil comes off 

 the roots, providing it crumbles without 

 tearing the roots. A stiff, clayey soil 

 will perhaps lift well enough after a rain, 

 as long as it is moist, but as soon as it 

 gets somewhat dry it comes up in lumps, 

 and, to reduce the ball, one is obliged to 

 tear the roots in spite of the utmost 

 care. Consequently, . recovery from the 

 transplanting is slow and many plants 

 are lost altogether. 



It is best to have the soil in the field 

 only mo«lerately rich. It should not be 

 as rich as that put into the benches. It 

 is not at all desirable to produce a large, 

 rank growth in the field, but, on the con- 

 trary, you want just a good, moderate 

 growth. You want the growth to be 

 what we call hard at planting time, so 

 that it will not wilt during the period of 

 reestablishnient. ' A plant which has 

 grown on a soil of moderate fertility and 

 sandy texture, in a season of moderate 

 rain, will come up with practically all its 

 roots, and when it is set into soil a little 

 richer than that in the field, the fibrous 

 roots will take holil quickly. Before the 

 well-matured plant has had a chance to 

 wjlt, the roots are supplying it again 

 with moisture and nourishment. Size of 

 plant is not at all essential to success, 

 although good, reasonable size is desir- 



able, providing it is not secured at the 

 expense of the above-mentioned qualities. 

 Better secure size by starting your cut- 

 tings fairly early, and planting out good, 

 strong plants early in the field. 



The reasons given above also hold good 

 against watering carnation plants in the 

 field. If you merely wanted size of 

 plant, then watering would be advisable, 

 in the absence of rain during the outside 

 growing season, the cultivator will do 

 more good than all the watering you can 

 do. The drier it gets, the oftener should 

 the cultivator be run over the patch, to 

 keep the soil from crusting. 



A. F. J. B. 



A QUARTER MILLION BLOOMS. 



Two hundred twenty-eight thousand 

 six hundred fifty-two carnation blooms 

 from one house in one season is a pretty 

 fair cut, and the growers in charge of 

 the greenhouses of the Livingston Seed 

 Co., Columbus, O., are proud- of this 

 record, made last season. 



The accompanying illustrations show 

 the house in process of construction and 

 again just after being planted. It is a 



trussed-roof house, built with a solid con- 

 crete north wall and a glass partition 

 separating it from the adjoining house. 

 The structure is 50x200, twenty feet to 

 the ridge and seven feet to the gutter. 

 It contains seven benches 5x195 feet. 

 The construction was begun with grading 

 April 13, 1908. The truss roof was up 

 June 15 and the house was glazed July 

 10. It was planted between July 27 and 

 July 30 and contained 9,480 plants. 

 These had been set in the field April 20 

 from 2 14 -inch and 3-inch pots. About 

 half the plants, to bo exact 4,680, were 

 Enchantress, with sixteen other varieties 

 in small numbers, as follows: 



Pink Imperial 100 



Mrs. LawHon '. inn 



Aristocrat ....!!..*!! 100 



Variegated Imperial '."" lou 



Dorothy Whitney loo 



Mrs. I'atteo ., 0X0 



BoHton Alarm 100 



Sarah Hill !!.!!!!'.!'.'.', 100 



White Kiicbantress 400 



White Perfection boo 



Purity I800 



Defiance *'?oft 



Victory ..:.■:::::::"* So 



Harry Fenn i/ja 



Wlnsor !!'.;!'.'.!*.** 200 



KncUantress .'.'.'.'.'!!!.' '4 680 



Uose-pink Enchantress .!!!!!!!!!! '250 



Total 5;^ 



The house was run at a temperature of 

 50 degrees to 52 degrees at night. No 

 record was kept of the number of blooms 

 cut from each variety, but count was 

 kept of the total number cut in the 

 house. The first flowers. were sent to the 

 city retail store September 14, and the 

 last July 19. During the intervening 

 period the blooms cut were as follows: 



- ^f iod. Blooms Cut. 



September 14 to 30 8 741 



October i7;(j2i 



November 24 072 



December 2ii,'316 



January 12.376 



February 13 171 



\iBTch ;; ; isIms 



AP- <1 17.702 



-)lay 25,524 



J line 4m 7g0 



July 1 to 10 "".' 2li745 



Total cut for season 228,652 



This makes an average of a fraction 

 over twenty-four blooms per plant. 



Onaroa, III. — B. Miller, who until re- 

 cently was foreman for the Mosbsek 

 Greenhouse Co., has now decided to re- 

 move to Pontiac, where he will go into 

 the florists' trade with his father. They 

 will build a large greenhouse and handle 

 a general line of stock. 



Carnations of Ltvins^ston Seed Co., Columbus, Ohio. 



