16 



The Florists^ Review 



June 5, 1913. 



FOB THE NEW YORK MARKET. 



1 wish to begin the growing of car- 

 nations. What varieties, not consider- 

 ing price, are the best for the New 

 York market? What kind of soil is 

 the best to use in a ground bed and 

 how deep should the soil be? What 

 kind of fertilizer should be used with 

 heavy soil, such as we have in northern 

 New Jersey? When should rooted cut- 

 tings be planted to begin flowering 

 about October 1, or should I use field 

 plants? How far apart should they be 

 planted? W. S. Z. 



Almost any good soil will grow carna- 

 tions, providing it is prepared with 

 one-fourth or one-sixth of well decom- 

 posed fertilizer. I presume, from what 

 you say, that you intend to grow your 

 carnations in solid beds. Five inches 

 of soil is plenty for a raised bed and I 

 do not think a ground bed needs any 

 more. Most growers in making solid 

 beds use six inches of ashes, to insure 

 good drainage in the bed. 



The plants at this time of the year 

 should be nice stock in the field, pre- 

 paring for their winter's work. Rooted 

 cuttings at this season of the year would 

 be entirely too late. I would suggest 

 that you procure field-grown plants in 

 July or the first part of August and 

 these will begin to flower fairly well 

 by October 1. The distance apart to 

 plant depends somewhat on the variety 

 grown and the size of the plants, but 

 8x10 inches is a fairly good average 

 to work on. Among the varieties largely 

 grown for the New York market are: 

 Beacon and Bonfire for scarlet; Rose- 

 pink Enchantress, Mrs. C. W. Ward and 

 Winsor for pink; White Enchantress 

 and White Perfection for white. 



Chas. H. Tottv. 



WELLS PASSES JUDGMENT. 



English Grower Talks on Novelties. 



At a meeting of a committee of the 

 English carnation growers, whose or- 

 ganization is called the Perpetual Flow- 

 ering Carnation Society, May 14, W. 

 Wells, who had just returned from a 

 trip to America, read some of his notes 

 on new carnations. Mr. Wells made 

 his trip specially to inspect the Amer- 

 ican carnation novelties with a view to 

 purchasing, and his judgment will be 

 of interest and probably of value to 

 many of those who would not have to go 

 so far as Mr. Wells did to see these 

 new candidates for themselves. Mr. 

 Wells indicated his approval by a string 

 of marks (X) after the variety. Here 

 are his observations: 



Mr. Wells Scores Claimants. 



"My first visit was to the Cottage 

 Gardens Co., Queens, N. Y., where Mr. 

 Brown courteously showed us the car- 

 nations. No. 223 (XXX) is a crimson 

 somewhat like the British Triumph, but 

 I prefer Triumph. Vivid (XXXX) was 



similar in color to Northport, and 

 should be a popular variety when on 

 the market. The great thing from 

 here is Matchless, a marvel for freedom 

 and good in every way; there was a 

 shade of blush in a few flowers until 

 half-opened, when they came pure white 

 (XXXX). My remarks on this variety 

 are, 'The growth is like Mrs. C. W. 

 Ward, and if it will come pure white 

 in England, XXXXX. ' 



"We then visited Dailledouze Bros., 

 Flatbush, where we saw Enchantress 

 Supreme in thousands. I walked around 

 bench after bench to find a split flower, 

 but without success. I suggested the 

 color was identical with Pink Delight, 

 but the boys wouldn't have that as a 

 true description. The calyx is a trifle 

 narrower and a bit longer than En-' 

 chantress as we know it, and although 

 the flowers on the plants were not at the 

 usual Dailledouze standard, I give the 

 variety XXXX. My next carnation 

 feast was at Wm. Nicholson's, of 

 Framiugham, Mass., near Boston. In 

 the lesser known varieties here I saw 

 fine flowers of Pocahontas (XXX), a 

 dead crimson, also a good batch of 

 Golden Ray, the color of which was 

 good, but the petals were inclined to 

 curl (XX). 



"Peter Fisher, Ellis, Mass., was the 

 next grower visited. Here Gorgeous was 

 a fine big flower, but as Mr. Stuart Low 

 was previously on the spot, and is in- 



terested in the variety, I will not com- 

 ment further .on it except to say that 

 the flowers 'are well worth XXXX. I 

 also saw a- 'nice batch of Benora here 

 (its birthplttce) and Mr. Fisher had a 

 batch of the variety with all the white 

 taken out, leaving a flne deep scarlet. 

 This batch is now at Merstham, but un- 

 fortunately the packer was not top- 

 notch. 



"At C. H, Totty's, Madison, and at 

 E. G. Hill's, at Richmond, I saw good 

 batches of Commodore (XXXX), a 

 crimson scarlet with a stiff, erect stem, 

 also Northport (XXXX), and a large 

 rose-pink seedling. 



* ' The carnation show was a feast in 

 every sense of the word. Plenty to see, 

 especially for one on the lookout for 

 novelties. Those that appealed most 

 were Princess Dagmar (XXX*^), a 4- 

 inch deep crimson flower, immensely 

 double, but not much scent; Mrs. B. P. 

 Cheney, a coarse-looking Benora, but 

 perhaps the largest flower in the show 

 (XXX); Mrs. C. W. Barron (XXXX), 

 a miniature Marmion, one of Messrs. 

 Dailledouze 's seedlings; Electra, a nice 

 scarlet, not so large as some we know, 

 but for its lovely scent I have given 

 it full marks. Wm. Eccles reminded me 

 as being like Scarlet Glow, but it looks 

 as if it was not grown to perfection 

 for the exhibition, so I will not point it. 

 Enchantress - Supreme and Salmon 

 Beauty are tSe same in color, and which 

 will stand cfonger of the two is a 

 query. PerlJBiially, Mrs. Coombes was 

 my favoriteV-a lovely shrimp pink. It 

 has a suspicion of Malmaison by the 

 look of the': foliage, but it is sweetly 

 scented. I am sorry to have missed 

 seeing this growing. Gorgeous in the 

 show is a real big thing, and will cer- 

 tainly be in the prize lists at home in 

 the near future. Majestic is a monster 

 white, but has faint shades of deep 

 pink (XXXX). 



W. Wells. 



