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March 19, 1914. 



The Rofists' Review 



26 



View of the Plant of tlie Attica FloralCo., Winfield S. Kifcficr, Pfoprictor, Attica, Ind, 



cheap during April and May is all the 

 more reason why you should get all 

 the quality you can during that time. 

 When carnations are being offered at 

 low prices on all sides, it is the man 

 with the extl-a quality who gets rid 

 of his cut. 



Keeping Up the Quality. 



While you are disbudding, do not 

 forget to see that the plants are be- 

 ing kept growing upright. The spring 

 growth will get away from you quickly 

 unless you keep putting the shoots into 

 their proper places. It is difficult to 

 do this after they reach any length, 

 as they are brittle and easily broken. 

 This is one of the cases where "a 

 stitch in time saves nine." 



In a recent article of this series I 

 spoke of the need of light shading to 

 keep up the quality during hot weather. 

 The last few days have been exceed- 

 ingly hard on the pink varieties, 

 bleaching the rose-pinks badly. One 

 is almost tempted to apply a light 

 shade to save the color, but it would 

 be unwise to apply a shade this early, 

 as it would have much the same effect 

 on the plants as the dark weather of 

 the wjnter. If the bright weather con- 

 tinues, the pink shades will gradually 

 adapt themselves to the stronger light 

 and the bleaching will not be so se- 

 rious. There is perhaps no prettier 

 shade of pink than the hue that Bose- 

 pink Enchantress taKes on during June. 

 Pick your blooms a little more closely 

 for a time, and you will avoid much 

 of the bleaching. A. F. J. Baur. 



IN "FAIELT CLOUDY" CLIMATE. 



What varieties of carnations would 

 you consider the best to grow, for qual- 

 ity and size, in a fairly cloudy part of 

 Montana! I am growing the flowers 

 for the retail trade and am shipping 

 them only a short distance. My stock 

 at present consists of Winsor, Lawson, 

 Enchantress and Beacon. A. B. S. 



If your climate is so cloudy as to 

 affect the carnations to a considerable 

 extent, then I fear you cannot improve 

 greatly on your present list of varie- 

 ties. You will find it necessary to stick 

 to varieties which are naturally stiff- 

 stemmed, else you will be troubled with 

 weak stems. The varieties you have 

 are all of that nature except Enchant- 

 ress. If that variety is not satisfac- 

 tory with you on account of weak 

 stems, then I would suggest that you 

 grow Melody, which is a flesh-pink 

 sport from Mrs. Lawson. 



If Enchantress gives good satisfac- 

 tion, then you can plant almost any of 

 the standard sorts with good results. 



Plant White Wonder and White En- 

 chantress for white, Enchantress ancV 

 Pink Delight for flesh-pink, Dorothy 

 Gordon and Rose-pink Enchantress for 

 medium pink, Mrs. C. W. Ward and 

 Washington for deep pink. Beacon, St. 

 Nicholas and The Herald for scarlet, 

 Pocahontas for crimson and Benora for 

 white variegated. This list does not 

 include any of this season's introduc- 

 tions, but only varieties which are 

 making good commercially. 



A. F. J. B. 



KIBCHER'S GREENHOUSE PLANT. 



Since Winfield S. Kircher purchased 

 the Attica Floral Co., at Attica, Ind., 

 three years ago, the plant has been 

 steadily growing. Each of the last two 

 summers has seen one large house 

 added to the range, last year's house 

 replacing a small one which was torn 

 down. A year ago the old heating system 

 was replaced by a complete Moninger 

 hot water heating system, with a re- 

 serve boiler always ready for an emer- 

 gency. The whole range, which is 

 shown in one of the illustrations, con- 

 sists of about 8,500 feet of glass and 

 is still growing. 



The plant produces first-class stock; 

 a general line of cut flowers and plants 

 is grown. A view of the interior of 

 the carnation house is given in one of 

 the illustrations. The business consists 

 mostly of retail trade in the town of 

 Attica and surrounding territory, regu- 

 lar shipments going as far as forty 

 miles out to small towns in the vicinity. 

 Some stock, also, is sent to the whole- 

 sale market at St. Loui3. 



LETTEHINa ON LAWN. 



I am going to make a long bed on a 

 lawn, and will plant the name of the 

 place with Alternanthera aurea nana 

 and A. brilliantissima. The word I 

 want to plant consists of eleven letters. 

 How big should the bed be to show up 

 well, and how many of each of the 

 alternantheras will be needed? I 

 thought of having the letters and border 

 yellow, filling up the space with red 

 alternantheras. F. B. 



The size of the bed would depend 

 upon how far away you wish it to be 

 read. I would suggest making it twen- 

 ty feet long and five feet wide, making 

 the letters three feet long. Use a dou- 

 ble, zigzagged row of plants for the let- 

 ters, letting them be fairly thick, so as 

 to produce an effect as soon as possible. 

 You could use a border of the same 

 color as the letters, to produce a pleas- 

 ing result. To plant a bed of the size 

 indicated and get an early effect, the 

 plants should be placed fairly close to- 

 gether. Allow an average of thirty-six 

 plants per letter, and 500 plants will 

 suffice for the letters and bordering. 

 You will need an equal number of the 

 other color for filling. I would suggest 

 using A. aurea nana for the letters and 

 edging, and brilliantissima for filling. 

 C. W. 



Brookllne, Mass. — James Quinn has 

 good sales for the old favorite, Pteris 

 tremula, which forms handsome speci- 

 mens and is quite hardy. A companion 

 is Cyrtomium Rochfordianum. His 

 place will be one of interest this sum- 

 mer. 



Carnation House of tlie Attica Floral Co., Attica, Ind. 



