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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



April 15, 1909. 



Thirty-fifth street. The plants and the 

 flowers were either directly or indirectly 

 connected with the soil, but the assessors 

 argued that they were to be sold as per- 

 sonal property, and should be taxed as 

 personal property. A valuation of $18,360 

 was placed on the greenhouses as real 

 estate. 



The tax on the plants as personal prop- 

 erty has not been paid and a penalty of 

 ten per cent has accrued. No objection 



has been raised to the tax on the prop- 

 erty as real estate, but it is probable that 

 the question of whether or not the plants 

 in the greenhouse can be taxed as per- 

 sonal property will be taken to the dis- 

 trict court. — Minneapolis Journal. 



[The Review will be pleased to hear 

 from any grower who has successfully 

 contested an assessment on the growing 

 stock in his greenhouses after such an as- 

 sessment once had been made.] 



-SOME MORE FIGURES. 



We have been quite interested in your 

 publication of the figures on crops of 

 carnations that have been cut by the dif- 

 ferent growers. We have noted some in- 

 quiry as to how Beacon would compare 

 with Enchantress in quantity of blooms 

 per plant, and we would submit the fol- 

 lowing, if you think it would be of in- 

 terest to your subscribers. 



We will not attempt to give cuts of 

 all varieties grown, but will give our cut 

 of Winsor, Beacon arid Enchantress 

 from September 1 to March 1. The 

 figures include nothing but salable flow- 

 ers, but including splits, but do not 

 take into consideration any cuttings 

 taken from plants from which we prop- 

 agated quite heavily, especially of Bea- 

 con. The following are our cuts: 



Variety. No. of plants. Blooms cut. 



Winsor 3,952 40,398 



enchantress 3,400 43.481 



Beacon 975 11,635 



From the above it appears that in less 

 than six months we averaged 10% blooms 

 per plant from Winsor, 12% blooms per 

 plant from Enchantress, and practically 

 twelve blooms per plant from Beacon. 

 There was this further difference, that 

 the Winsor and Enchantress were plants 

 propagated in January and February, 

 while the plants of Beacon were from 

 late struck cuttings, taken the latter part 

 of March and early part of April. 



According to these figures, we believe 

 Beacon is well able to hold its own as a 

 producer. White Bros. 



CARNATION SHASTA. 



The accompanying illustration is pre- 

 pared from a photograph of a few 

 blooms of Carnation Shasta, which has 

 \)een favorably commented upon a num- 

 ber of times in these columns since the 

 annual exhibition of the American Car- 

 nation Society at Indianapolis, in Janu- 

 ary, when it was shown for the first 

 time and attracted an unusually large 

 amount of attention. 



Shasta originated with Baur & Smith, 

 of Indianapolis, and is the result of a 

 cross between Enchantress and a pink 

 «eed!ing. It is glistening white and is 

 said never to show a trace of color. The 

 blooms are of moderate size, being be- 

 tween three and three and one-half inches 

 in diameter, but the form is its most 

 noticeable characteristic of flower. It is 

 almost perfectly round, full and high 

 "built in the center, with a regularity 

 •exceptional among later day carnations. 

 The growers state that it gives a stem 



of good length, strong enough to hold 

 up the flower, and that the calyx never 

 splits; that it comes into bloom early 

 and is both free and continuous. 



Ba,ur & Smith have a stock of some 

 12,000 plants of Shasta and are planning 

 its distribution in the trade. An ar- 

 rangement has been made with Patten 

 & Co., Tewksbury, Mass., to grow part 

 of the stock and look after the distribu- 

 tion in eAVtern territory. 



TOPING THE YOUNG PLANTS. 



My carnations are well established in 

 2-inch pots and stand about six inches 

 high. When and where shall I give them 

 the first pinching? D. S. 



A pretty safe rule to be governed by, 

 in topping young carnation plants, is to 

 wait until they begin to lengthen out be- 

 tween the joints. When you can see 

 plainly the stem between the leaves, then 

 is the proper time to top them. To allow 



them to run up until the bud appears 

 would be wasting just that much time, 

 which might as well be given the plant 

 to make new breaks. And besides that, 

 some few varieties, if allowed to go too 

 long, will harden the stem so that the 

 breaks do not come freely, and poor, 

 straggly plants are the result. 



As to how high to cut, that is another 

 question, which will have much to do with 

 the kind of plants you will have finally. 

 Varieties vary ^o much in habit of 

 growth that one can hardly lay down a 

 hard and fast rule to govern this part of 

 the operation. On any variety which 

 naturally makes a bushy, well formed 

 plant, such as Enchantress, Beacon, May, 

 Bountiful, Winona, Victory, Winsor, etc., 

 we top above the highest joint which will 

 not throw a bud. Usually this will give 

 us from five to seven joints, according 

 to the variety. If conditions in the field 

 aire favorable later, nearly every eye 

 above ground will break, and fine, bushy 

 plants will result. 



Such varieties as White Perfection and 

 Aristocrat you must be very careful with. 

 They need to be topped when the wood 

 is in good condition to break ; that is, not 

 too hard. As soon as you can see the 

 stem, as I said before, then take off the 

 top, leaving about five joints on the plant. 

 We like to have these two varieties with 

 the first break just started at planting- 

 out time, as in tha|; Condition the plants 

 are not so apt to narden on account of 

 the change from inside to outside. Better 

 breaks will follow subsequent toppings, 

 and bushy plants will result. 



If the young plants have been allowed 

 to become potbound and hard, it is better 

 to top them low, say three or four joints 

 above the soil. The reason for that is 

 this : When plants are cut back it is nat- 

 ural for them to break from the eye or 

 eyes nearest the cut. When a young car- 

 nation plant is in such condition that it 

 will break from only two or possibly 

 three eyes, it is better to have these not 



Carnation Shasta. 



