THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



April, Il>l4 



Snapdragons and their 

 Culture. 



Few ainonjr the many beautiful 

 hardy plants are capable of giving 

 such <;ood and lasting displays as 

 tiie uewcr and more delicate shades 

 of Snapdragon. Strictly speaking, 

 these j^laiits are perennials ; but as 

 they may be so easily raised from 

 seeds, most cultivators do not 

 trouble to retain old plants unless 

 extra large specimens are required, 

 the modem practice being to treat 

 them as amnuals. 



A good soil mixture for sowing 

 the seeds in is composed of loam 

 (one part), sharp sand (one part) 

 and leaf-soil or well-decayed man- 

 ure (one part), the whole being 

 passed through a small-meshed 

 sieve, so as to render it fine and 

 suitable for receiving the rather 

 small seeds. Some of the rough- 

 er portion m.ust be retained for 

 placing over the drainage material 

 in the bottom of the pans or boxes, 

 as this will prevent the finer par- 

 ticles being washed down into the 

 drainage, w-hich, if allowed, would 

 prevent a free escape of superfluous 

 moisture. 



When the rough and fine soil has 

 been placed in position and made 

 moderately firm it should be with- 

 in half an inch of the rims of the 

 receptacles, and the surface must 

 be made quite level, when it will 

 be ready for the seeds. As men. 

 tioned above, these are rather 

 small, hence care will be needed to 

 scatter thein evenly and thinly 

 over the soil. A light sprinkling of 

 very fine sandy soil is all the cov- 

 ering needed, and this may be 

 pressed down gently with the bot- 

 tom of a clean pot. 



As soon as the young j^lants are 

 large enough to handle, pricking 

 ofi must be resorted to, and boxes 

 about 4 inches deep are the best 

 for this purpose. Good drainage is 

 essential, and the soil mixture ad- 

 vised for seed-sowing will answer 

 very well, but it may with advan- 

 tage be used in a rougher state. 

 Three inches apart each way is 

 none too much for the seedlings, 

 and It is imperative that the soil 

 be made firm around the roots ol 

 each as the work proceeds, a firm 

 (not hard) rooting medium induc- 

 ing that sturdy growth which is so 

 desirable. 



Soil of a rather poor nature 

 tends to free-flowering and good 

 colours lietter than that of a very 

 rich character. Old mortar or 

 lime added to the soil will be much 



appreciated. If the tall and inter- 

 mediate varieties are planted i foot) 

 apart each way and the Tom 

 Thumb sorts 9 inches, thev will 

 quickly fill up and form a beauti- 

 ful mass of colour. It is really 

 wonderful how much these charm- 

 ing, old-fashioned plants have been 

 improved during recent years, a 

 fact that has led to their being 

 more extensively cultivated in all 

 gardens where beautiful colours and 

 quaint forms are appreciated. 







Hybridising Carnations. 



Probably hybridising or hand- 

 fertilising is the most interest- 

 ing study in carnation cultivation. 

 Hand-fertilising is necessary for the 

 production of new varieties, but to 

 bring this work to a successful 

 issue great care has to be takeu in 

 selecting suitable parent stocks. 

 Those that have strong constitu- 

 tions and are, as far as possible, 

 free from aU defects, such as too 

 crowded with petals, or short, 

 stumpy calyx, or inclined to be 

 twisted or serrated in the petal. 

 It is just as necessgry for the 

 flowers from which the pollen is 

 procured to be free of similar de- 

 fects. Do not disbud, but let 

 every bud flower, as the large dis- 

 budded plants seldom seed. The 

 female flower should be of nice 

 compact habit, and not too full 

 with petals, and have a non-burst- 

 ing calyx. Having chosen a per- 

 fect flower to cross upon, on exam- 

 ination you will find that from the 

 point of the seed pod (the ovary) 

 two or three cord-lLl<e filaments 

 grow. In light-colored flowers 

 these are generally white, and pur- 

 ple in the darker ones. These are 

 termed pistils, and each one has 

 one side covered with short hairs, 

 from which exudes a glutinous 

 substance, to which the pollen ad- 

 heres. 



The stamens, or male organs, 

 of the plants should be removed as 

 as early as possible from the fe- 

 male flowers ; before they burst. 

 The stamens are composed of little 

 stems carrying a tiny cup at the 

 extremity of each This cup is 

 called the anther, and contains the 

 pollen or dust. like power which is 

 the active fertilising agent. The 

 pollen should be perfectly dry and 

 loose and transferred from the an- 

 ther to the pistil, during a nice 

 bright day, with a pair of small 

 pliers or a camel hair brush. If the 

 impregnation takes nlace the pe- 

 tals show signs of orooping in a 

 day or two, generally in about 24 



hours. After a few days pull the 

 dead ])etals out and tear the calyx 

 down. This prevents rotting of 

 the pod to a great extent. Care- 

 fully watch for the ripening of the 

 seed, wliich will take about six or 

 seven weeks from' time of fertilis- 

 ing, and can be removed from the 

 plant in that time, having fully 

 matured. Some seed may be 

 white or piebald, but mil be found 

 to be just as good as the black. 

 It is a noticeable fact that white 

 seed will germinate much quicker 

 than black, as the shell or cover- 

 ing is softer. Seed sown immedi- 

 atelv it is gathered will spring up 

 in five or six days. 



When you ha.ve crossed a flower, 

 always tie a little label on it with 

 the name of the flower by wliich 

 it has been fertilised, and the date 

 on which it was done. The off- 

 spring takes more of the charac- 

 teristics of the female plant than 

 of the male.. 







Carnation Figures. 



Commercial flower growing is, 

 comparatively speaking, unknown 

 in Australia, but in America, in 

 England, and in Europe generally, 

 it is a huge and well organizied in- 

 dust;:5^ Hundreds of acres of 

 glass are required to supply the 

 demands of New York, for instance 

 for forced carnations, roses, liUes 

 of the valley, sweet peas, orchids, 

 etc., and many hundreds of acres 

 of open air gardens in England, 

 Ireland, France, and further afield 

 to grow the daffdils, violets, lilies 

 and roses which London uses 

 every year. 



Flower growing under glass is 

 more especially an American de-' 

 velopnient and with the competi- 

 tion which exists, the men who in- 

 vest big money in these flower 

 farms under glass have to know 

 pretty exactly what their working 

 costs are likely to be. In this 

 connection the following extracts 

 from a paper read by a grower at 

 the annual meeting and exhibition 

 of the American Carnation Society 

 in January last, and reported in 

 " Horticulture," are of interest : — 



It is just as essential to success 

 for the carnation grower to keep 

 tab on his varieties and discard 

 the drone as it is for the successful 

 dairy man to rid himself of the qovH 

 which fails to produce the required 

 number of pounds of milk per year, 

 or the up-to-date poultry man to 

 chop off the head of the hen which 

 fails to " come across " with her 

 allotted number of eggs. 



