AMERICAN CARNATIONS IN GERMANY 1 59 



without ever being covered by glass; even the humble 

 straw mat is a luxury. The only covering they ever get 

 is a little canvas, under which the cuttings are rooted during 

 November to January. Here, no doubt, the growers have 

 managed to get their francs, and live very easily indeed in 

 the past, and are still doing so; but the demand for quality 

 is increasing, and some of our friends in that part of the 

 world will have to change their methods before many years 

 are gone, or they will be left behind in the race. 



The Carnation men in the Fatherland, as might be 

 expected, had to test a few inventions of their own, and 

 they tried to improve a little on the best American methods, 

 at least as far as the building by-laws would permit them. 

 If one wants to build a greenhouse in Germany, it is neces- 

 sary to have the plans passed by a highly qualified architect, 

 who will certainly not pass the plans until he has duly 

 calculated that the roof of the house will stand the re- 

 quired pressure per square inch, that there is every protec- 

 tion in case of fire, and numerous other points. The result 

 of all this is sometimes a very queer looking construction, 

 and always a very expensively built house. 



A further German specialty is the so-called " raw 

 glass," with which quite half of the existing Carnation 

 houses are covered. This is a thick, unpolished plate glass, 

 as we see it frequently on roofs of railway stations and 

 similar buildings. It is used because it saves firing during 

 the Winter, and it saves also a lot of breakage; but how 

 about the light during the Winter months? This, the 

 most important point of ail, has evidently been overlooked 

 by the scientific grower; the Carnations have not over- 

 looked it though. 



Yet, in spite of it all, our German friends are doing 

 very comfortably out of Carnation growing, and are making 



