56 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 415. 



of the plants demands its removal from all these. Cleaning 

 Carnations takes considerable time, but it can be done when 

 other work is not pressing-, and its benefits will be seen as the 

 flowering season progresses. Where rust has obtained afoot- 

 hold too much vigilance cannot be exercised. Every affected 

 leaf should be picked off and the plants dusted with lime. 

 Some growers think its spread is checked, but we are still 

 awaiting a cure for it here. I think that keeping the plants 

 picked clean, having proper atmospheric conditions, and pay- 

 ing attention to temperature and ventilation does as much to 

 check the disease as any remedy I have seen tried. A number 

 of prominent Carnation growers advertise their stock as being 

 absolutely free from rust, and I believe there are men in the 

 trade who do their utmost to send out perfectly clean plants, 

 yet for the last year or two novelties have been sent out at 

 high prices after being well boomed, which have turned out 

 to be rusted beyond redemption. It is both an injury to the 

 sender out and the buyer to place such stock on the market. 

 Introducers of new varieties should state explicitly whether or 

 not their introductions have taken disease or not, and no kind 

 should be sent out, however good, if not clean. The Ameri- 

 can Carnation Society, at its forthcoming exhibition in New 

 York, which promises to eclipse anything of the kind ever 

 held, requires that plants must be shown as well as cut flow- 

 ers of all novelties entered for certificates. This is a move in 

 the right direction, and the inspection of the stock once or 

 twice during the season by a committee of competent judges 

 is better still. This will have the effect to lessen the number 

 of novelties put on the market yearly and to improve their 

 quality. 



At this time of the year burst calyces and slender flower- 

 stems, consequent on sunless weather, are very common, and 

 clear, bright weather and freer ventilation are needed to check 

 these defects. The benches now require rather more frequent 

 waterings, and slightly stronger stimulants are given. With 

 heavy firing red spider is apt to get a foothold on the plants 

 which the heat from the hot- water pipes strikes most strongly. 

 Syringing with a good pressure on bright mornings is the best 

 preventive. We give our plants a night temperature as near 

 fifty degrees as possible, with a drop to forty-five degrees on 

 very cold nights. The top ventilators are opened a little each 

 day when the temperature has risen over sixty degrees. Dis- 

 budding is now practiced by most florists and gardeners, and 

 the larger blooms and stouter stems are proofs of its merits. 



The interest of prominent Carnation growers is at present 

 centred on the New York show and convention, and a number 

 of promising novelties which will be staged there. It will be 

 interesting to note how last year's seedlings — a numberof which 

 were certificated — appear this year. Among whites Storm 

 King was one of the most admired last year at Boston. In this 

 locality it does not appear to be much of a success and com- 

 pares unfavorably with Alaska, which is good almost every- 

 where and proves itself to be the finest novelty of last season's 

 introduction. It has a better stem than Lizzie McGowan and 

 a better formed flower, and is likely to lead the latter popular 

 variety by another season. Brideof Erlescourt has been thrown 

 out nearly everywhere, being badly diseased. Bridesmaid, 

 which some growers claim is a serious rival to William Scott, 

 will never, I think, attain half the popularity of the last-named 

 sort. It has not averaged more than one flower to the plant up 

 to this time, and other growers near-by report the same thing. 

 Rose Queen blooms more freely than Bridesmaid, but is of a 

 less pleasing color; it has a agood stem, but the calyx bursts 

 badly and the plants take rust. Peachblow is too flimsy for a 

 market flower. Delia Fox, similar in color to the well-known 

 Daybreak, will be largely grown about Boston another year. 

 Those qualified to speak predict well for Myers & Santman's 

 seedling. Maud Dean, one of Mr. John N. May's varieties, is 

 also likely to be in considerable demand next spring. Day- 

 break has a sprawling habit of growth, and a novelty as free 

 blooming, identical in color, and like William Scott in habit, 

 would, no doubt, supersede it. Among dark pink shades Tidal 

 Wave is still hard to beat when well grown. Lena Saling, a 

 little paler in color, to be sent out this spring, and another of 

 Mr. May's certificated kinds, is a promising sort. Meteor, 

 sent out by Mr. C. W. Ward, although it has not proved nearly 

 so floriferous as F. Mangold, is now yielding us a few very 

 handsome flowers of a rich crimson-scarlet color. The plant 

 is a clean and vigorous grower. There is a good opening for 

 a new scarlet Carnation, as no kind now grown is altogether 

 satisfactory. Hector is still the best we have here. With a 

 stem like Mr. Hill's Jubilee, it would bean ideal scarlet. Portia, 

 Emily Pierson and E. G. Hill all lack size. The Stuart is not 

 useful in this locality ; it has a grand stem, but the flower 

 comes streaky, and it is only semi-double. Eldorado, yellow, 



raised by Mr. Shelmire, looks very well with Mr. Nicholson, of 

 Framingham, Massachusetts. It has a large, well-formed 

 flower, but rather weak stem. Among variegated sorts the 

 contest seems to lie between Helen Keller and Minnie Cook. 

 Those who are growing both seem to prefer Mr. Chitty's 

 variety. Helen Keller is fine when grown as Mr. Edwin Lons- 

 dale grows it. A few plants we have are doing well this year, 

 but most of the florists say a large proportion of flowers fade 

 before opening, and there are few perfect ones. 



Taunton. Mass. W. N. Craig. 



Correspondence. 



California Oranges and the Frost. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The exaggerated and conflicting reports which have 

 gone east in reference to the freeze of December 29-30 in 

 southern California are partly explained by the fact that only 

 recently has the full extent of the damage done become 

 apparent. Growers, dealers and newspaper correspondents 

 are naturally unwilling to make definite statements until suffi- 

 cient time has elapsed for the full effects of the frost to show 

 both upon the trees and the fruit. 



It is now apparent that the Riverside crop is practically 

 ruined. Riverside is the oldest orange-growing section in 

 southern California, and the largest producer. Her crop this 

 year was estimated at 3,400 carloads, out of a total of 10,000 

 for the state. The estimates of the loss have been placed at 

 from 50 to 90 per cent. It is unquestionably much nearer the 

 latter figure than the former, and the frost was so general that 

 probably not fifty carloads of absolutely uninjured fruit could 

 be picked from that now remaining on the trees. Much 

 of it has fallen to the ground as a result of rain. Some of 

 the young orchards are apparently dead, and the leaves are 

 falling from the trees in many of the older ones. The propor- 

 tion of trees actually killed will be very small, but in many 

 orchards the trees have been so badly injured that the yield 

 for a year or two will be greatly decreased. 



Next to Riverside, Ontario and Pomona suffered most. In 

 these districts the young trees are somewhat injured, and frost 

 which would produce such a visible effect upon the trees must 

 have frozen many of the oranges. But probably not more 

 than fifteen per cent, of the oranges in these localities have 

 been injured, and this would amount to only a few score car- 

 loads. None of the trees have been killed, and the damage 

 will not materially affect their production another year. 



Allowing for the fruit shipped east before the frost, which 

 was something over 400 carloads, and the highest reasonable 

 estimate of the frozen fruit, there are still left in southern 

 California from 5,000 to 6.000 carloads of oranges which are 

 uninjured, and which include a large proportion of the very 

 finest fruit. It may be difficult for the eastern man to under- 

 stand how orchards within a few miles of those frozen escaped 

 entirely, and I will state some facts about topography and 

 climatic conditions which may help to explain it. 



The orange-growing sections of southern California lie prin- 

 cipally in a series of valleys extending from Los Angeles 

 seventy miles eastward to Redlands. These valleys vary in 

 width from two miles to twenty. They are bounded on the 

 north, south and east by mountain ranges. They are traversed 

 on the north by the Santa ¥€ Railroad, and on the south by 

 the Southern Pacific. It is up-grade all the way from Los 

 Angeles to Redlands, the most easterly town, 1,300 feet above the 

 sea. The only other orange-growing sections are Orange County, 

 immediately south of Los Angeles, and portions of San Diego 

 County, a hundred and fifty miles still farther south. The 

 relative importance of these sections may be seen from the 

 following estimate of their respective crops for this year: Los 

 Angeles County, 3.750 carloads ; Riverside, 3,400 ; San Ber- 

 nardino, 1,700; Orange, 800; San Diego, 180. 



Frost in southern California always depends upon purely 

 local conditions ; it is never the edge of a cold wave from the 

 north, as was the case in Florida a year ago. The mountains 

 and deserts to the north and east prevent this. It occurs 

 usually during the longest nights of the year, and is a result of 

 the rapid cooling of the earth after sundown and rapid radiation 

 of the earth's heat through a rarified atmosphere. This cool- 

 ing process begins soon after nightfall and continues until 

 sunrise, the cold growing greater as the night advances, and 

 being greatest just before sunrise. There is greater liability 

 to frost in dry seasons than in wet, because radiation is more 

 rapid through a dry atmosphere than through one which is 

 charged with moisture. Low-lying lands suffer most, because 

 the coldest currents of air settle closest to the ground, while 



