24 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



December 7, 1911. 



PROPAGATING. 



Curtaining the Bench. 



Having selected your bench for prop- 

 agating carnations, you will next begin 

 getting it ready to receive the cuttings. 

 Before doing this, however, there is one 

 thing you must provide. You will need 

 some curtains, to keep off not only the 

 strong sunlight, but also strong air 

 currents. A strong current of air blow- 

 ing over the cuttings, on a bright, warm 

 day, will destroy them as quickly as 

 strong sunlight. 



So, if your propagating bed is a 

 side bench in a wide house, you will 

 need two curtains, one just under- the 

 glass, to keep off the sun, and the 

 other one to hang down in front of the 

 bench, to ward off air currents. These 

 are so much more satisfactory than the 

 old method of laying on newspapers, 

 that, in installing a propagating bench, 

 they should be considered as essential 

 as the bottom boards. 



Selecting the Sand. 



Now you are ready for the sand, and 

 good propagating sand is a necessity. 

 We have used both river and bank 

 sand, and while some growers prefer 

 the one or the other, we have no pref- 

 erence for either one. Bank sand is 

 more apt to vary in coarseness, but, if 

 you can select your sand, no trouble 

 should be experienced along that line. 

 Use a good, sharp sand, that will allow 

 the water to drain off readily, but it 

 should not be too coarse, either. There 

 is really more danger of getting poor 

 sand from the river beds than from the 

 pits. Not only is river sand apt to run 

 too fine, but it is also apt to come from 

 near the mouth of sewers, etc. In such 

 instances it is, of course, unfit to use 

 for propagating. So be careful where 

 your sand comes from. 



Leveling the Sand. 



When putting sand in your propagat- 

 ing bench, make it about three and one- 

 half to four inches deep before ' it is 

 watered and packed down. Three inches 

 is deep enough after it has been firmed. 

 See that it is leveled off nicely, so that 

 the water will soak in uniformly when 

 you water the cuttings. Speaking of 

 firming sand reminds one of the many 

 crude methods for doing this work that 

 one sees in going around. A handy 

 packing tool is made out of a piece of 

 cypress plate, 2 x 6 x 10. On the middle 

 of this is nailed a V-shaped handle, 

 with the two ends against the large 

 piece. This is sawed out of a 2 x 4 ( 



scantling and is made just large enough 

 to fit the hand nicely. 



We have used two inches of clean 

 cinders and three inches of sand, in- 

 stead of all sand, with excellent re- 

 sults, and when the sand is rather fine 

 this is a good plan, as it helps the 

 drainage. A. F. J. Baur. 



WATERING CARNATIONS. 



We should like to get some informa- 

 tion in regard to watering our carna- 

 tions during the cold weather. Our 

 plants are in good condition now. They 

 have not been watered at any time as 

 heavily as some growers water, but we 

 feel that we need advice in regard to 

 watering during the cold weather. We 

 are also planting a house with winter- 



Tbe Editor is pleased 

 when a Reader 

 presents Ills ideas 

 on any subject treated in 



tVe^ 



As experience is the best 

 teacher, so do we 

 learn fastest by an 

 excbanse of experiences. 

 Many valuable points 

 are brouBbt out 

 by discussion. 



Good i>enmanghip, spelling and 

 grammar, though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Write as you would talk 

 when doing your l^st. 



WS SELAIX. BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR TROM TOU 



blooming daisies and snapdragons. 

 What would be the right temperature 

 for these and the distance apart in the 

 benches? L. B. 



Without knowing anything about the 

 texture of your soil, it would hardly 

 be policy for me to try to tell you how 

 to water it. There is a vast difference 

 between the water required by a heavy, 

 clay ^il and a light, sandy soil. In 

 fact, it is not safe to try to lay down 



hard and fast rules for watering any 

 kind of soil. You must be governed by 

 the condition of your plants and the 

 weather. 



As a general thing, however, if your 

 plants are in good growing condition 

 and your soil drains readily, there is 

 not much danger of overwatering the 

 plants. We aim to keep our soil in a 

 fairly moist condition all the time. We 

 never allow it to become really dry, 

 as we think this causes more splitting 

 t^an anything else, with the possible 

 exception of extreme variations in tem- 

 perature. Neither should the soil be 

 Tcept in a soggy condition for any length 

 of time. After each watering we allow 

 it to get just a little on the dry side, 

 when another good watering is given. 

 Our soil is a medium loam and drains 

 well. As already stated, a heavy soil 

 will not bear watering as we water 

 ours. Some soils need close watching. 

 To flood them at any time will cause 

 them to run together, and if allowed 

 to dry put they will cake into a hard 

 mass, in which no carnations will 

 thrive. The only way to water such 

 soil is to administer the water in small 

 doses and in such a way as to avoid 

 both extremes at all times. 



Plant your snapdragons about fifteen 

 inches each way and your daisies will 

 stand about two feet each way. They 

 will thrive in a carnation temperature. 



A. F. J, B. 



USE OF /CHICKEN MANURE, 



I can get any quantity of chicken 

 manure. Will you kindly tell me how 

 best to use it for carnations? How much 

 should be put in fifty gallons of water 

 to make liquid manure? How much 

 should be used as a mulch? My beds 

 are 5 x 135 feet, with six inches of soil 

 in them, D, E, P, 



Chicken manure is not considered 

 a good fertilizer to give your carna- 

 tions as a steady diet. It is all right 

 to give SlS'sl change two or three times 

 in a season, as a dressing - on the 

 benches, but can be given oftener as 

 a liquid. In using it as a top-dressing, 

 it should be pulverized and mixed with 

 soil in the proportion of about one part 

 to three parts soil. Put two good hand- 

 fuls between each row, halfway across 

 a 5-foot bench. 



To make a liquid, put a peck of the 

 manure in a burlap bag and hang it 

 in a 50-gallon barrel of water. In 

 about three days you can use the water 

 on your benches. The first lot should 



.;^.«^-. *t.. 



