82 SUMMER WORK 



FINISHING UP IN THE FIELD 



A grower can easily tell whether the plants are going 

 to be what he wants them to be, or whether they are going 

 to be a failure. Plants which have for some reason or 

 another been stunted in their growth hardly ever make up 

 or amount to anything worth while, and we would far 

 rather buy every bit of the stock needed to fill the benches 

 than house a lot of doubtful plants, expecting them to make 

 up later on. A sickly or stunted plant after being housed 

 may come out all right in time, but what is gained by it 

 if you have to wait months before that happens ? Is it 

 not a better way to purchase healthy plants full of hfe, 

 such as will be flowering in a few weeks ? There is no use 

 planting any other, for they don't pay. While the plants 

 are in the field, intended for housing, do not let them 

 send up flower shoots. Keep them pinched back, and 

 keep on cultivating and weeding. Do not work under the 

 impression that because the plants are large enough to be 

 called fine for benching, they do not need to be taken care of. 

 The soil between them should be kept worked up at all 

 times, for if you do not do that, while you may not notice 

 any great change in the appearance of the plants, they 

 suffer just the same; the wood becomes hard, the lower 

 leaves turn yellow, and their growth will soon be arrested. 



GETTING READY FOR HOUSING 



Whether you place the plants under glass in the last 

 two weeks of July or the early part of August does not 

 matter nearly as much as with what little check you can 

 do it. While there are but few plants that can stand ship- 

 ping better than Carnations after being lifted from the 

 field, the man who has the plants on his own field has the 



