94 HOUSING THE PLANTS 



AFTER PLANTING 



When housing Carnations, always remember you are 

 disturbing a plant in full growth. You deprive it of about 

 two-thirds, if not more, of its roots and expect it to keep 

 on growing as if nothing had happened. In order to do 

 this the least you can do is to provide conditions that will 

 assist the plant as much as possible to overcome the shock 

 and re-estabhsh itself in the new quarters. Carnations 

 cannot stand shade, and the only time you should subject 

 them to it is at the period of planting and just after it, but 

 not a minute longer than is necessary. Have the white- 

 wash on the glass as thick as you please the first four or 

 five days after planting, but after that take off a little 

 each day so that at the end of the next five days it is prac- 

 tically all off. Spray the plants three or four times lightly 

 each day for the first few days, and then let up a little, Get 

 down to twice a day for several weeks, and later to once a 

 day except on very hot days. Closed doors and ventilators 

 produce a soft, sickly growth on Carnations, and hardy, 

 well-pinched stock does not need to be treated so. Avoid 

 anything that might have a tendency to weaken the stock. 

 Keep it healthy, strong, and full of blue-green foliage. A 

 Carnation is not a hothouse plant, and a palm house tem- 

 perature or atmosphere is the opposite from what it wants. 



If you want to be very good to the Carnations in their 

 new Winter quarters you will keep on cultivating the soil 

 between them just as faithfully as you did outdoors. If the 

 soil is in proper condition, this work can be done better by 

 hand than in any other way; when you use the fingers you 

 can tell by the touch just what you are doing. Frequently 

 when using an iron scratcher or small cultivator a partly 

 established plant is torn loose before it is noticed, so take 



