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20 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



February 2, 1911. 



to W. Wells & Co., his English corre- 

 spondents, it made an immediate hit 

 with the British growers, promising to 

 be one of the most popular American 

 varieties over there. 



Norwood. 



The Robert Craig Co., Philadelphia, 

 exhibited Carnation Norwood at the 

 Pittsburg convention of the American 

 Carnation Society, placing it in compe- 

 tition with all the leading whites, new 

 and old. The showing they regarded as 

 thoroughly satisfactory, but it is only 

 recently that they made up their minds 

 to distribute the variety this season, 

 their stock being somewhat more lim- 

 ited than they would like. They have 

 grown Norwood for cut flowers for four 

 years and say it has proved more profit- 

 able with them than any other carna- 

 tion, regardless of color. One of the 

 points in its favor is its fragrance. The 

 originators say it does not split and is a 

 free and continuous bloomer. 



Gloriosa. 



Gloriosa is another of the seedlings 

 raised by the late Fred Dorner. It is a 

 shade darker than Pink Delight and 

 without the salmon cast which distin- 

 guishes that variety. At the last meet- 

 ing of the American Carnation Society, 

 Gloriosa won first honors in classes in 

 which it was in competition with both 

 Pink Delight and Enchantress. The in- 

 troducers state that its habit of growth 

 is excellent and that they anticipate 

 that those growers who like Pink De- 

 light will come to like Gloriosa even 

 better. 



Pennsylvania. 



P. M. De Witt, Bridgewator, Pa., is 

 the originator of a variety named Penn- 

 sylvania, which he describes as the pink 

 Boston Market. He says it is a seed- 

 ling of Boston Market and Harlowarden 

 and that it has proved in every way a 

 good companion for Boston Market dur- 

 ing the five years he has been growing 

 the two sorts for the Philadelphia cut 

 flower market. The color of Pennsyl- 

 vania is a shade lighter than Lawson 

 and reminds one of the old stand-by, 

 Wm. Scott. In size the flower is a 

 little larger than Boston Market and 

 Mr. De Witt says it has been with him 

 a clean, free, easy grower. 



Pocahontas. 



Crimson caruatious are not often seen 

 in the market, but Baur & Smith, In- 

 dianapolis, say that a crimson of the 

 same quality as leading varieties of 

 other colors will sell as well as any. 

 In Pocahontas they believe they have 

 a crimson which will stand comparison 

 with the leading varieties in any color. 

 Their stock is somewhat limited, but 

 visitors to their place say it is in fine 

 condition. Eugene Dailledouze, Flat- 

 bush, N. Y., was an Indianapolis visitor 

 last week and it is reported he left his 

 order for 1,000 Pocahontas. 



Princess Charming. 



Princess Charming is a variety that 

 has not been exploited as strongly as 

 nowadays is necessary to attract any 

 wide measure of attention. It is a seed- 

 ling raised by Henry Eichholz, of 

 Waynesboro, Pa. It is almost the En- 

 chantress color, a big, full, round 

 flower, with a stem that stands like a 

 ramrod. C. H. Totty is assisting in its 

 distribution and says that those who 

 have trouble with * the stem of En- 



chantress will wplconie this as a solu- 

 tion of their difficulties. 



Last Season's Successes. 



Of last season's introductions, two 

 are claiming a large share of attention 

 this year. It is the sign that they have 

 made good. Mrs. C. W. Ward is a 

 fancy medium pink that is in request, 

 practically all the growers who bought 

 it last year having found it so much 

 to their liking that they will increase 

 their stock for next year. Dorothy 

 Gordon also has made many friends and 

 will be planted in much larger quantity 

 this year than in its first season. 



TOO LATE FOR BENCHING. 



Will you kindly tell me what causes 

 the rust on the carnation leaves en- 

 closed? The plants affected were field- 

 grown plants, but arrived in a bad con- 

 dition, owing, I presume, to the late- 

 ness of the date, November 10. Some 

 of the plants never did start and others 

 are badly affected with rust. I have 

 kept the temperature at 48 to .50 de- 

 grees at night and 60 to 65 degrees in 

 the daytime, with the soil rather on the 

 dry side. The worst affected are Law- 

 son and Beafeon. The plants are grow- 

 ing in benches four inches deep. I am 

 located in western Georgia. G. G. ,7. 



One need not look far for the answer 

 to your query. November 10 is en- 

 tirely too late to plant carnations, even 

 in your climate. While you. no doubt, 

 have some fair growing weather in No- 

 vember, and plants if handled right 

 might take hold fairly well, you must 

 also take into consicjeration where the 

 plants came from, and tho conditions 

 they were subjected to before they 

 were shipped. These leaves have every 

 appearance of having gone through sev- 

 eral frosts, which was most likely the 

 case if you procured them from some 

 northern grower. 



There is nothing you can do now, ex- 

 cept either to throw them out or to 

 nurse them along until the spring 

 growth starts. They might give you a 

 fair spring crop of ordinary quality. 

 Next season arrange to get your plants 

 at least while they are in good condi- 

 tion when shipped. In your latitude I 

 would judge that the middle of Sep- 

 tember would be a good time to house 

 carnations. .\. F. ,T. B. 



THE USE OF OLD SOIL. 



We should like to ask you something 

 about carnation soil. We' manured ours 

 heavily about Christmas with cow 

 manure and are thinking of not chang- 

 ing it, but simply heaping it up in 

 ridges in the middle of the beds, which 

 are solid. We would lime the soil 

 thoroughly as we work it up; also the 

 sides of the beds. J. V. L. 



As a general proposition, we do not 

 favor running soil over one season, but 

 under certain conditions it might do as 

 well as new soil. You do not give 

 enough data to make it possible to 

 form an opinion in your case. We have 

 tried it in a limited way, but could 

 never get as good results as from new 

 soil. We know of other growers, how- 

 ever, who claim to have run soil several 

 years with good results. 

 ♦ If your soil appears to be in good 

 mechanical condition, the use of ma- 

 nure and lime might put it into good 



shape for next year. If, however, it 

 has that exhausted appearance charac- 

 teristic of old greenhouse soil, you can- 

 not get it into good condition without 

 exposing it to the elements for several 

 years. There can be no doubt that new 

 soil is the safest proposition. If you 

 had any stem-rot at all, do not risk the 

 old soil, as it will be sure to give 

 trouble next season. A. F. J. B. 



A VISIT TO PETEB, FISHEB. 



Carnation Gorgeous, which is one of 

 Peter Fisher's latest creations, is now 

 to be seen in fine shape at Ellis. This 

 variety has long, strong stems, looming 

 up over all other varieties. "The color 

 is a lively one, being bright cerise. 

 The calyx is strong and no burst flowers 

 were seen. This variety caused quite a 

 sensation when exhibited at a recent 

 Boston club meeting and the demand for 

 it is far in excess of the supply. Mr. 

 Fisher says that, being a big, fancy 

 flower, it should bring a higher price 

 than the average carnation in order to 

 be profitable. It will no doubt be seen 

 in fine shape at the coming National 

 Show in Boston. Benora, another seed- 

 ling, is grown in quantity. It is a white 

 variegated "xnd is wonderfully prolific. 

 Mr. Fisher :s propagating it heavily 

 and will plant a large quantity of both 

 this and Gorgeous next season. If these 

 two varieties keep up their present 

 reputation, they may be disseminated 

 in 1913, but their raiser, it appears, 

 would rather destroy the whole lot than 

 send them out without feeling assured 

 that they wt're O. K. 



In the seedling house were many 

 good things in about every shade of 

 color, some of which will no doubt be 

 heard from later. Among standard va- 

 rieties, Beacon continues to fill the bill 

 as a scarlet, but there are some other 

 seedlings of great merit. Pink Delight 

 and May Day are each producing finely, 

 but Pink Delight so far has given 

 rather the most flowers. In whites, 

 White Perfection and White Enchant- 

 ress are grown. More of the latter and 

 less of the former will be grown next 

 season. Winsor is as good as ever and 

 will be more largely i)lanted another 

 year. Winona is doing well, but the 

 number will be reduced at the next 

 planting. Enchantress is still grown 

 and, as seen here, is hard to beat. A 

 few flowers were open on Carola, one 

 of the new English crimsons, large and 

 brilliant, but its real value could not 

 be told from small plants, the cuttings 

 coming to hand late. 



The value of early planting was no- 

 ticeable, especially in the case of White 

 Perfection and Winsor. Mr. Fisher 

 plants his young stock out in cold- 

 frames and removes them to the houses 

 as fast as benches are ready for them. 

 The .June planted stock showed a 

 marked iniprovement over that put in a 

 month later. A night temperature of 

 48 to 50 degrees during the short days 

 is preferred, as it tends to keep the 

 plants strong and stocky. 



W. N. Craig. 



MUSA ENSETE FROM SEED. 



In The Review of .January 26, page 

 11, I saw an inquiry in regard to start- 

 ing Musa Ensete seeds. I usually try 

 my luck with fifty, in a small house 

 heated by a stove. The central bench 

 is over the pipes. There is sand on the 

 bench, on which I set the pots and seed 

 boxes. In this sand I put the seeds 



