42 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Mabch 28, 1912. 



wet, or the houses too warm or cold, 

 they would fall into the other extreme. 

 I once had a neighbor who had four 

 small greenhouses and always kept 

 them too warm. He never had any suc- 

 cess with carnations; yet he said that 

 if he had the money he would keep 

 the houses at 90 to 100 degrees for car- 

 nations, and I now think he has only 

 one greenhouse instead of four. 



Propagating a^ Transplanting. 



As in any other plant culture, in car- 

 nation culture propagation is the foun- 

 dation upon which to build up the struc- 

 ture necessary to success. Therefore 

 the greatest care should be given to the 

 eelection of the stock and the produc- 

 tion of healthy and well rooted cuttings. 



Many cuttings are spoiled by putting 

 them too deep in the sand, shading 

 too much, keeping too wet or too warm, 

 and also by waiting too long before pot- 

 ting them up. They should be potted 

 as soon as all cuttings which are placed 

 in the sand at the same time are rooted. 

 Some will have a little longer roots than 

 others, but this cannot be helped. 



I use 2V^-inch pots and a good, live 

 soil, without any addition of manure 

 or fertilizer. As soon as the pots are 

 full of roots, but before the plants get 

 potbound, and while it is too early to 

 plant in the field, we knock out the 

 plants and plant them in a bench, or 

 sometimes in a coldframe, according to 

 season and weather, using about the 

 same kind of soil as in potting. 



As soon as lateral shoots start to 

 show on the bottom, we pinch out the 

 main shoot. The young plants should 

 be kept in a light house, with plenty 

 of ventilation, and the temperature kept 

 cool. It is of much importance to have 

 the crown of the roots never covered 

 more than one-half inch, as this pre- 

 vents stem-rot and insures a healthy 

 growth. As I only practice field culture, 

 I shall not touch upon pot culture. 



Planting in the Field. 



It is of much importance what kind 

 of soil and location is available. The 

 soil should not be too heavy or too 

 light, but almost any kind can be used 

 if properly treated. I prefer a field 

 almost level or with a slight slope, so 

 as to give water no chance of stand- 

 ing after rain, but not steep enough to 

 make washing out possible. 



The field should be well manured in 

 August or September of the previous 

 year, and plowed and harrowed several 

 times. A late plowing should be done 

 in November and the surface left in a 

 rough condition. No field should be se- 

 lected that lacks good drainage. 



In the same manner we prepare our 

 bench soil, only we manure it more 

 heavily and keep on plowing and har- 

 rowing until we bring the soil inside. 



The field to receive the young plants 

 is plowed again in spring as soon as 

 the soil is dry enough, and the surface 

 is smoothed off with the harrow. As 

 soon as steady weather can be expected, 

 all hands join in planting out, planting 

 in rows fifteen to eighteen inches apart. 

 Again I see to it that the plants are 

 not planted too deep — just a little bit 

 deeper than they stood in the pots. 



^learning What Not to Do. 



This reminds me of my first experi- 

 ence with carnations in this country, 

 seventeen years ago. It was my first 

 job in a plant-growing establishment of 

 sixteen or eighteen rather small houses. 

 Three of the houses were devoted to 



[The letter below is a spontaneous expression of the advertisers' 



satisfaction— unsolicited.] 



CABLI AOMItU 



^VANDAL* rMIIAOtlMtlA 



A-S.C COOK U*C» 



A:Co. 



iiii^sttPW!riiiiii» 



Uarch 16, 1913.^^ 



The Florists' Ravlew, 

 Cazton Building, 

 508 8. Dearborn 8t., 

 Chicago, 111. 



Gentleman: 



We wish to oompliment you on the bualneas getting ability 

 of your paper. 



It la with much plaaaura that we write that the RESULT8 of 

 our Eaater specialty ada in the recent iaauaa of the Floriata' Review 

 have been very LARGE and EXCEEDED OUR EXPECTATIONS, helping to make 

 thia Eaater aeaaon the moat aucceaaful in our hiatory. 



Ordera coming from all parte of the country ahow that The 

 Review ia read EVERYWHERE. 



They invariably mentioned having read the ad in The Review. 



Thanking you for your cooperation and reaulta obtained. 



Very trttlr youra, 



we are. 



Diet. E.G.B. 

 Steno M W 



carnations, but I started in March and 

 the houses looked more like geranium 

 houses, as most of the carnations had 

 died and geraniums in 4-inch pots took 

 their place. We also had probably 10,- 



000 young carnation stock in a sash 

 house, some in pots, the others in flats 

 with about two inches of soil, and 

 all looking as yellow as a lemon. When 

 planting time came we brought them 

 out to the field, pots, flats and all. 

 From the flats we had to cut them out 

 in squares and then the boss told us 

 to plant as deep as possible, showing 

 me, as a greenhorn, how deep, which 

 was about two inches soil about the 

 roots. The soil being very sandy — in 

 fact, all sand — I did not wonder much 

 about deep planting, but I found out 

 later, when many plants rotted off just 

 above the ground after some heavy 

 rains. 



In the latter part of August they 

 were to be benched. The boss, with 

 his brother, did the planting and I had 

 the pleasure of bringing in the plants. 

 This, of course, gave me a chance to 

 see how they did it. They dug a big 

 hole in the soil, nearly to the bottom, 

 stuck the plants away down, and the 

 ends of the roots, which were long and 

 few, stuck up. Then the hole was filled 

 up and the ends of the roots frequently 

 stuck out of the soil. I could not help 

 asking, "Do you expect these plants 

 to grow?" The answer was, "They 

 don't need to grow; they must only 

 flower. The growing was done in the 

 field." I was thoroughly speechless, 

 but thought this must certainly be a 

 great country if they could make carna- 

 tions flower without growing. But one 

 day a friend asked me how I liked 

 the job and I said, "First-rate; I think 

 it's a good place to learn how things 

 should not be done," and he laughed. 



1 did not stay much longer, but had a 

 chance to carry out a good percentage 

 of those plants to the dump heap, and 



the next spring I had a look at the 

 houses, but most of the plants were 

 gone, the geraniums taking their place 

 again. 



Preparing for Benching. 



But to come back to the field. We 

 start cultivating with the wheel hoe as 

 soon as planting is over, going through 

 once a week. As soon as the plants 

 have made some growth, topping com- 

 mences, to form the plant and also to 

 prevent flowering, which would only 

 stop the growth to some extent. 



By July 1 the plants should be large 

 enough to be benched, and as the old 

 plants are usually thrown out there is 

 no reason why preparation ought not to 

 be made. After the old plants and soil 

 are carted out, the benches ought to 

 receive a thorough cleaning and white- 

 washing, and also all the necessary 

 painting should be done before the 

 benches are filled again. As soon as 

 the soil is on the benches, all hands 

 have to get busy and get the benching 

 done in short order, one or more planting 

 and the others digging and bringing in. 

 Care should be taken to leave some soil 

 on the roots, as the plants will grow 

 on much more quickly. As soon as a 

 number are planted, they should be wa- 

 tered. But I would not soak the bench 

 all through at once, but would rather 

 go over the same place three or four 

 times until the soil is all moist, but not 

 too wet, as root action will be slower 

 in an extremely wet soil. The house 

 should always be well ventilated and 

 the atmosphere kept as cool as possible. 



Treatment in the House. 



I put no shade on after benching, but 

 a light shading in spring, which gradu- 

 ally wears off. Watering for the first 

 few weeks should be done carefully. 

 ■ [Concluded on page 70.] 



