DEVELOPMENT OF THE CARNATION 



35 



acres of land in 1889, and in 1905 purchased a further 

 twenty-four acres, each of these being on Indiana Ave., 

 where he built foui greenhouses. In 191 1, at the time of 

 his death, the firm had over 

 100,000 sq. ft. of glass, together 

 with a retail establishment in 

 La Fayette. 



It was in 1888 that he fce- 

 came interested in experiments in 

 the breeding of Carnations, and 

 the first varieties he utihzed 

 were Silver Spray, Grace Wilder, 

 E. G. Hill, Century, Buttercup, 

 Heintz's White, Mangold, Mrs. 

 Cleveland, Wm. Swayne, Sur- 

 prise, Robert Craig, and a variety 

 called Purdue. In the following 

 three years he added the varieties 

 Starlight, Portia, Garfield, Tidal 

 Wave, Andalusia, Golden Gate, 

 and Daybreak, which were all 

 used in his work and show today in many of the later seed- 

 lings. His work continued uninterruptedly for twenty-one 

 years and during this time he grew over 150,000 seedling 

 Carnations. Of this 150,000 not more than 75 ever 

 reached the market. The larger number of them went to 

 the dump-heap, but we cannot say that their existence was 

 in vain, for many of them were the ancestors of some of 

 his best varieties of today. 



Mr. Dorner always insisted upon a thorough test of 

 each of his novelties, and would not disseminate one until 

 he was thoroughly convinced that it was better than 

 something already on the market, or that it might fill a 



Frederick Dorner 



Born Baden, Germany, 1837; 

 died La Fayette, Ind,, 1911. Has 

 been called the "Father of the 

 American Carnation." A most 

 painstaking raiser of new im- 

 proved varieties. 



