178 How TO Grow Cut Flowers. 



to remove them root and branch at once, and burn 

 them. No plants should ever be removed from the 

 field to a flowering bench that show the least traces of 

 this disease, and if it appears, as it sometimes will, on 

 seemingly healthy plants after removal to the house, 

 drastic measures should at once be adopted. 



The first impression produced by a careful examina- 

 tion of the illustrated papers previously referred to, on 

 these various diseases, is, that with such an array of 

 forces opposed to success, the fight is an unequal one, 

 and the odds greatly against us. Be that as it may, it 

 is a plain case of conquering or of being conquered, 

 and while it is well to use every means at our command 

 for overcoming and eradicating disease when present, 

 ought we not to look for preventive, rather than 

 curative, agencies? Have w^e not been violating some 

 of nature's laws, and thus weakened the resisting power 

 of our plants. 



I am firmly convinced that a radical change must 

 take place in the cultivation of the carnation if we 

 would preserve its flowering properties. In true Amer- 

 ican style we have rushed this plant, as we do every 

 thing else we think we see any money in, and in so 

 doing have nearly doubled the time nature designed it 

 to be in active working condition. 



We claim that exhausted vitality must be restored 

 through the medium of healthy seedlings. After we 

 have obtained these, what do we do? Plant a bench or 



