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The Florists' Review 



May 1, 1918. 



CARNATIONS IN ENGLAND. 



By a coincidence, April 10 and ll, 

 when American carnation growers were 

 assembled in New York,* their British 

 confreres of the Perpetual Flowering 

 Carnation Society were holding their 

 spring show at Leamington. In the 

 past all the shows of the society were 

 held in London. Now, however, with 

 additional power to its elbow and a 

 widening interest in carnations, the so- 

 ciety has decided to make the shows 

 migratory, and the first was held at 

 Leamington, in the land of Shakes- 

 peare, on the dates mentioned. The 

 first day was entirely satisfactory, but 

 the second day a snowstorm interfered 

 with the attendance of the public. 



The entries were quite up to the 

 average of former shows. On this oc- 

 casion the champion, W. E. Wallace, 

 was not a competitor, but acted as one 

 of the judges. 



In the group class for the American 

 cup there was a keen contest between 

 C. EngelmaniL of Saffron Walden, and 

 W. Wells & Cfo., Merstham, the former 

 securing the trophy, with a nicely bal- 

 anced exhibit, rich with brilliant colors 

 of some of his own varieties, such as 

 Sunstar, Elektra, Rosette, Lady North- 

 cliffe, British Triumph, etc. 



The cup for American novelties went 

 to W. H. Page, Hampton, for Wash- 

 ington, White Wonder and Gloriosa. 

 The Brunton cup for British novelties 

 was awarded to C. Engelmann for 

 British Triumph, Lady Northcliflfe and 

 My Eose. On this occasion the floral 

 committee had little work, and its only 

 award was an award of merit to C. 

 Engelmann for Sunstar. 



In the competitive classes for seven 

 vases of distinct varieties the premier 

 position was secured by C. Engelmann, 

 with Benora, Carola, My Bose, Lady 

 Northcliffe, Sunstar, Lady Meyer and 

 British Triumph; second, the Clury 

 Nurseries. For five vases of distinct 

 varieties W. H. Page triumphed with 

 Gloriosa, Salmon Britannia, Mrs. C. W. 

 Ward, White Wonder and Enchantress. 

 For three vases of distinct varieties the 

 chief honor went to H. T. Mason, who 

 put up Beacon, Gloriosa and White 

 Wonder. For one vase of fifty blooms 

 H. T. Mason won with Beacon; C. En- 



Selmann, second, with Carola; Clury 

 furseries, third, with Mikado. The 

 silver gilt medal for the best vase in 

 the show went to a magnificent lot of 

 flowers of Lady Meyer, shown by. E. 

 Guile. 



Large, non-competitive groups were 

 arranged by Stuart Low & Co., Bush 

 Hill Park; A. F. Dutton, Iyer, and C. 

 Engelmann, and each received a large 

 gold medal. Smaller groups were 

 staged by AUwood "TBros., Haywards 

 Heath, and Toung & Co., Cheltenham; 

 a gold medal was awarded to each. 



Table decorations, bouquets, baskets 

 and other work were a feature v,of the 

 show, ^USt leading 4P6aor8 in ^mi secr 

 tion going to PerkJi^ ^^^Sons, Coven- 



try; W. J. Garner, Hale, and W. Har- 

 per, Leamington. Bee. 



SEVEN YEARS— son. UNCHANGED. 



Several times comment has been made 

 in The Review with regard to the sys- 

 tem followed by N. Greivelding, of 

 Merrill, Wis., who grows his carnations 

 year after year in the same soil. Mr. 

 Greivelding writes: 



"I send you a box of carnations and 

 a photograph of the house they are 

 growing in. These carnations are seven 

 • years in the same soil. I have a part 

 of a house in new soil and they are not 

 so good as those in the old soil. I am 

 not going to throw the old soil out so 

 long as the carnations are as they are 

 now. They did not get any feeding 

 since last fall, but we are giving them 

 some now as soon as we can get at it." 



The photograph is reproduced here- 

 with. As to the cut blooms that accom- 

 panied it, they certainly were fine — 

 they stood on the editor's desk for 

 three days and nearly every visitor re- 

 marked on the excellence of the flow- 

 ers. But not many growers could be 

 made to believe that Mr. Greivelding 

 gets any better flowers than equally 

 good culture would give in fresh soil, 

 or that he cuts as many of them as he 

 would if he changed his soil as other 

 growers do. He uses ground beds. 



A BEGINNER IN ALABAMA. 



Please give a beginner, located in 

 central Alabama, a few points on the 

 growing of carnations. I am going to 

 grow Enchantress and White Enchant- 

 ress. I have one ground bench that is 

 4x46 feet, and two ground benches that 

 are each 5x46 feet. How many rows 

 can I put in each bench and how far 

 apart in the rows should the plants be 



setf Should the plants be sprayed 

 daily after they have been benched 

 and should there be some shadiiig on 

 the glass until the plants get started f 

 Would five inches of soil be enough! i 

 shall appreciate any information you 

 may give me as to the care of the 

 plants after they have been benched. 



H. A. C. 



Central Alabama is rather far south 

 for growing carnations, and unless you 

 have had experience in growing them, 

 I would advise you to go into it rather 

 slowly until you can feel sure of your 

 ground. I would set five plants in a 

 row across a 4-foot bed and space, the 

 rows ten inches apart. Set seven plants 

 in a row across a 5-foot bed and .space 

 the rows twelve inches apart. 



When the carnations are first planted 

 in from the field (I presume you are 

 intending to bench field-grown plants), 

 you will have to keep them sprayed 

 to prevent wilting until they have taken 

 hold in their new quarters. Just how 

 much spraying will be required will be 

 governed by prevailing conditions. 

 We spray as little as possible at all 

 times, and discontinue altogether as 

 soon as the plants are able to stand 

 up without it. We add only a little 

 shade to what is put on for any other 

 growing plant. We find that in this 

 latitude, central Indiana, a little shude 

 is beneficial to most plants during the 

 hottest part of the summer. Four 

 inches of soil is plenty; any more is 

 superfluous. A. F. J. B. 



TO EXTERMINATE SPIDER. 



I have been using the sugar and 

 arsenic mixture for spider, but have 

 trouble to keep the arsenic in suspen- 

 sion. Can you tell me whether arsen- 

 ate of lead could be used instead of 

 arsenic? In what manner does the 

 mixture affect the spider f I have just 

 tried some arsenate of lead and molas- 

 ses, in the hope that these will do the 

 work. I find them much easier to pre- 

 pare and I am inclined to think that 

 the molasses will not have a tendency 

 to crystallize like sugar. 



Perhaps the readers of The Review 

 may be interested in knowing that con- 



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