t4 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



March 11, 1900. 



CARNATION CUT. 



D. J. Eyan, grower for Edgar Bourue, 

 Methuen, Mass., from 3,700 plants of 

 Lawson picked 14,000 flowers from Oc- 

 tober 8 to December 31, .1908. From 

 5,500 Enchantress in the same period an 

 average of five and ono-half flowers per 

 plant was picked. C. 



INDOOR OR OUTDOOR CULTURE? 



])o you think A'ictory and Estelle car- 

 nations would do better if put directly in 

 benches? Would they not come on better 

 for Christmas if they did not have the 

 check of moving from ground to bench 

 in August ? I am located in California. 



A. L. H. 



The two varieties you mention have 

 never been conspicuous for the size of 

 the plants they produce in the field. 

 Unless the cuttings are started early and 

 pusiied along steadily until planting time, 

 only rather undersized plants will be 

 available for benching. Estelle has been 

 practically dropped in this part of the 

 country, on account of its lack of vigor. 

 Victory, however, is one of the leading 

 and most profitable varieties in that 

 color. Except for its disinclination to 

 make good plants, it is very satisfactory 

 to both grower and retailer. 



We have never had any trouble in 

 getting Victory reestablished on the 

 benches, and we find that when benched 

 between July 15 and August 15 it will 

 begin giving fine blooms on good atems 

 by early November. Estelle has never 

 transplanted satisfactorily with us, and 

 was always late in giving a good cut. 



Tf your facilities for growing the 

 plants in.side are good, the Estelle will 

 likely do better when grown that way. 

 Victory, however, will do better if 

 grown in the field during the summer 

 months. You will get better plants and 

 far more blooms. Any variety which is 

 inclined to grow straggly will give better 

 results when planted in the field. The 

 plants get more body to them, because 

 the joints come shorter and the breaks 

 seem to come freer. 



In your California climate, conditions 

 may be quite different from those in 

 these parts. If your climate is mild 

 throughout the year, I can see no reason 

 why carnations should not do splendidly 

 under the indoor method. It is the heat 

 here during the summer which hurts the 

 carnations most. You ought to have no 

 trouble, either, in reestablishing your 

 plants quickly after benching, in your 

 mild climate. 



I would advise you to try Beacon, 

 which not only makes fine, large jdniits 



under either method of culture, but is 

 also easily transplanted. It is nuicli 

 (^asier to handle than either Victory or 

 Kstelle. A. F. J. B. 



LUCK IN SEEDLING RAISING. 



[A paper read by Peter Fisher, Ellis, Mass., 

 Iiefore the class In floriculture at Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass., February 

 24, 1909.] 



The type of greenhouse plays an ini- 

 l>ortant part in the improvement of the 

 carnation. My preference is for a span- 

 loofed structure, with continuous ventila- 

 tion on each side of the ridge and on 

 sides, with raised benches, thus insuring 

 a free circulation of air. The house may 

 be built running north and south, or east 

 and west, as location and other circum- 

 stances permit. The east and west as- 

 pect has the advantage for about six 



Tbe Kdltor is pleased 

 when a Reader 

 presents bis Ideas 

 on any subject treated In 



t\lf^ 



As experience is ttae be«t 

 teaober, so do 'we 

 learn fastest by tui 

 excbanEO of experiences. 

 Many valuable points 

 are broucbt out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, spelling and gram- 

 mar, though desirable, are not neces- 

 sary. Write as you would talk when 

 dolntr your best. 



WE SHALX. BK GLAD 

 TO HCAR FROM TOU. 



weeks in midwinter ; the north and south 

 about equal during early spring and fall, 

 with a decided advantage iluring hot 

 weather. 



Only the healthiest and most vigorous 

 stock procurable should be used and such 

 varieties as endirace a wide range of self- 

 colors are most desirable. 



To obtain the best results, the colors 

 should be classified, keeping the different 

 shades of light pink, dark pink, whites, 

 crimson, reds, etc.. together. By follow- 



ing up this method a much larger per- 

 centage will come true to color in cross- 

 ing than where this is done promiscuously 

 or haphazard. 



A High Standard of Culture Essential. 



If the plants at the period of cross 

 fertilizing are in robust health, producing 

 strong, vigorous shoots, which usually 

 mean correspondingly large blooms, the 

 seeds will invariably be large, of much 

 greater vitality, producing strong and 

 vigorous seedlings, from which one may 

 naturally expect something phenomenal. 



On the other hand, if the parent plants 

 are poorly grown, weak, spindling, and 

 lacking in stamina, their seedling prog- 

 eny is sure to be of like quality. The 

 most decided results, and greatest ad- 

 vances in my experience, have always 

 been obtained from parent plants exhib- 

 iting unusual strength and vigor. 



There is not, so far as I know, any 

 means of ascertaining beforehand just 

 what the result of a cross will be. If 

 crosses are made between colors of a like 

 shade and their progeny year after year, 

 by continuing this method the seedling 

 will, to a large extent, be a reproduction of 

 the parents as to color. Habit of plant 

 will often resemble either parent, or be 

 exactly intermediate, but there is no cer- 

 tainty in the matter, as the most un- 

 lookedfor colors appear at times, such as 

 a pure white from the crossing of two 

 reds, or vice versa. We can only hope 

 and work towards the desired end, and if 

 we stick to it long enough success will 

 ultimately crown our efforts. 



One can invariably attain to anything 

 he makes up his mind for, providing he 

 has the staying qualities which defeat 

 only spurs on to greater efforts, and here 

 let me tell you is the explanation for the 

 "good luck" of many. It comes simply 

 by sticktoitiveness. 



By some I have been termed lucky in 

 the production of some desirable varie- 

 ties. I leave this to your own judgment. 

 For instance, I worked six years without 

 satisfactory results to procure a worthy 

 successor to Daybreak. 



Origin of Enchantress. 



During those years I raised hundreds 

 of a similar color, but, as the song says, 

 "There was always something wrong": 

 Flowers too small, or too large and split, 

 or stems too weak, plants lacking in con- 

 stitution — something out of balance. In 

 these efforts I had been using the pollen 

 of Daybreak on other varieties. It oc 

 curred to me that I might be working 

 along the wrong lines, so I reversed my 

 tactics. By using the pollen of the Law- 



[ Continued on page 31.1 



