60 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
plants daily to guard against insects and possible disease. 
The little Carnation lean-to should, if possible, have a 
sheltered southern exposure in order to save fuel, while the 
more desirable little 9x12 greenhouse performs wonders in 
a sunny hollow, and, in any case, should have its gable ends 
to the north and south, with its north end walled up. When 
a grower advances to a house 18x100 feet, holding upwards 
of two thousand plants, he feels that the ideal size of house 
for Carnation culture has been 
secured. Ignorance in the plac- 
ing of a greenhouse can occasion 
larger fuel bills, poor blooms, 
loss and trouble, but ignorance in 
the selection of material is apt 
to spell disaster. Greenhouse 
glass should be double thick, free 
from “burning” pieces that 
scorch plants, and well puttied in 
an absolutely rigid wooden 
frame to prevent breakage, 
which sometimes occurs through 
the contraction and expansion of 
metal frames. An iron-frame 
house, however, lasts longer, ad- 
mits more light, does not warp, 
and costs more than one of 
wood. A complete house, 9x12 
feet, of the best quality and fitted 
with benches and ventilators, can be had 
for $80 to $115, in sections, ready to 
bolt together. The price is regulated 
by the amount of metal in the frame. 
All materials used in greenhouse con- 
struction should be of the best, to ob- 
viate warping, leaks, draughts, and ne- 
cessity for repairs, and all the parts 
should be perfectly fitted together. In- 
cluding heating installation, a house 20 
feet long may be erected for $250. 
Beginners who want to experiment at 
little cost, like the lean-to which forms 
part of the dwelling and may be heated 
by extension pipes from the residence; 
and if they purchase ready-made ma- 
terials they invest in glazed and painted 
sash, 3x6 feet in size, and, if they object 
to keeping up heat in the house at night, 
they will insure equable heat in the lean- 
to by placing a separate boiler in the 
cellar of the residence, with hot-water 
pipes extending through the  green- 
house. Steam heat does not pay except 
in large ranges of greenhouses, and is very troublesome. 
An oil heater, for inside water circulation, is excellent for 
small houses when all the products of combustion are car- 
ried off by means of a flue, but neither coal nor gas stoves 
can be used in a greenhouse. Little extra fuel is required 
to warm the lean-to greenhouse at night, and one may heat 
a 100-foot greenhouse for a month with one and a half to 
two tons of coal. Galvanized iron pipes, in eighteen-foot 
lengths, costing five to ten cents a foot, are generally used 
for cold water in a greenhouse; and cast iron,, in nine-foot 
lengths, or lead for hot. Lead pipes cost twenty to forty 
cents a foot, and iron ones are preferred because more easily 
fitted together. Greenhouse necessities that a beginner must 
provide are prepared earth and fertilizer in bins, shallow 
propagating boxes, four-inch deep boxes for grown plants, 
one, two, three and four-inch pots, trowel, fork, rose-spray, 
watering pot, vessel in which to wash pots, tobacco leaves 
for fumigating, lime and sulphur for disinfecting, Bordeaux 
A little greenhouse of the Ieatie to type aoe for Carnation 
growing 
Tables for Carnations that can be adapted 
for small greenhouses 
February, 1912 
mixture to kill insects, broken flower pots, brick or clinkers 
for box drainage, tray for carrying plants and flowers, wire 
and string for supports; boxes, paper, string, knife and 
scissors for packing. Ordinary boxes may be converted into 
beds and tables, until the grower feels able to obtain durable 
iron and slate or all-cypress frames and tables, and beds 
with bottoms of extra-porous tile resting upon frames of 
galvanized iron. 
An ideal bed contains five inches of soil 
upon a perfectly drained bottom. 
A Carnation grower does not 
want to learn through experience 
that it does not pay to buy in- 
ferior pots. Prices for these 
vary with the pottery concern 
from which they are purchased. 
the best two-inch pots cost from 
$6 to $9 a thousand, and the best 
large ones from $15 to $20 a 
tnousand. 
If one cannot afford good 
greenhouse materials it is better 
to start with hotbeds and cold- 
frames, as hundreds of people 
do, and let the product of these 
pay for the greenhouse that fol- 
lows, and to which the hotbeds 
form necessary adjuncts. When 
establishing coldframes, mats 
and shutters with which to cover them 
on cold nights and snowy days must not — 
be forgotten. 
Cleanliness, fumigation and care are 
all that are needed to keep the enemies 
of Carnations outside of greenhouse 
doors. ‘To bar insects from potted 
plants, some florists let soot settle in 
water until the latter is clear, when they 
syringe the plants with this solution after 
sundown. Others dust with tobacco 
dust, syringe with tobacco tea, and fumi- 
gate with tobacco smoke. 
In the field, Carnations must be set 
out in soil that has been freed by fire or 
lime from wireworms, and occasionally, 
if birds and small beasts are plentiful, 
the plants are sprayed with tobacco 
water, so as to spoil their flavor for 
marauders. Indoors, the enemies that 
may be kept out by tobacco fumigation, 
dust or solution are blue aphis, green 
fly, thrip, red spider and cuckoo spit, all 
of which are minute and attack different 
parts of the plant. It is easy to learn how to recognize and 
destroy these, and also how to watch for the wireworm, 
which requires drastic treatment; the earwig, Carnation 
twitter, “Spot,” and gout, which must be burned with the 
affected plant; and the euchoris mite, that is exorcised by 
petroleum solution. All pests are not common to any one 
locality, and none need secure entrance to a well-cared-for 
Carnation house. oo often a novice attributes the death of 
a plant to one of its enemies, when the trouble has been 
caused by manure placed so close to the stem as to burn it. 
Fumigation is a simple and inexpensive process, since half a 
pound of damp tobacco leaves laid upon a small handful of 
burning wood-shavings on the floor will fumigate 500 square 
feet of glass. On general principles, growers usually fumi- 
gate a Carnation house once a week, and some do this twice. 
Carnation growing is so easy and so profitable that a novice 
is apt to lose sight of the fact that ceaseless, even though 
not arduous care is required in order to achieve success. 
SE eee 
