474 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 
THE 
GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 
OF AMERICA. 
Published by 
THE CHRONICLE PRESS, Inc. 
Office of Publication 
286 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK 
MARTIN C. EBEL, Editor 
EDITORIAL OFFICES— MADISON, N. J. 
Subscription Price, 12 Months, $1.50 
Foreign, $2.00 
Entered as second class matter Nov. 3, 1914, at the Post Office at New 
York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
Published on the 15th of each month. 
Advertising forms close on the 1st preceding publication. 
For advertising rates apply to 286 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. All edi- 
torial matter should be addressed to M. C. Ebel, Editor, Madison, N. J. 
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF 
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GARDENERS 
President, Vice-President, Treasurer. 
VV. N. CRAIG, THEO. WIRTH. JAMES STUART. 
Brookline, Mass. Minneapolis, Minn. Mamaroneck. N. Y. 
Secretary, MARTIN C. EBEL, Madison, N. J. 
TRUSTEES FOR 1916. 
Peter Duff, Orange N. J.; William H. Ouckham, Madison, N. J.; William 
Turner, Bernardsville, N. J.; William Kleinheinz, Ogontz, Pa.; John F. 
Huss, Hartford, Conn. 
DIRECTORS. 
To serve until 1917 — Wm. Hertrick, San Gabriel, Cal. ; Robert Angus, 
Tarrytown, N. Y. ; Robert Bottomley, New Canaan, Conn.; Alex. Fraser, 
Newport, R. I.; Arthur Smith, Reading, Pa.; Thomas W. Head, Lake 
Forest, 111.; L. P. Jensen St. Louis, Mo. 
To serve until 1918 — William H. Waite, Rumson, N. J.; William T. 
Kennedy, Chestnut Hill, Mass.; Edward Kirk, Bar Harbor, Me.; John W. 
Johnston, Glen Cove, N. Y. ; Carl N. Fohn, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Peter 
Johnson, Dallas t Tex.; Thomas Proctor, Lenox, Mass. 
To serve until 1919— John W. Everitt, Glen Cove, N. Y.: Thomas W. 
Logan, Jenkintown, Pa., Robert Cameron, Cambridge, Mass.; John Canning, 
Ardsley, N. Y. ; A. Bauer, Deal Beach, N. J.; David Fraser, Pittsburgh, Pa.; 
George W. Hess, Washington, D. C. 
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PARK SUPERINTENDENTS 
President, 
JOHN F. WALSH, 
New York, N. Y. 
HENRY W. BUSCH, 
Detroit, Mich. 
HERMAN W. MERKEL, 
New York. N. Y. 
I 'ice-Presidents, 
ERNST STREHLE, 
St. Louis, Mo. 
ALEX. STU \RT. 
i Ittawa, Canada. 
Sd > ctarv-Treasurer, 
ROLAND W. COTTERILL, 
Seattle, Wash. 
CLARENCE L. BROCK, 
Houston, Texas. 
CHARLES W. DAVIS, 
Memphis, Tenn. 
Vol. XX. 
November, 1916. 
No. 11 
CARNATION CULTURE. 
By W. R. Fowkes, New York. 
PROPAGATION of carnations may be commenced in 
January, and if good cuttings can be had, even in 
December. It is an advantage, because the plants 
have not by this date been highly fed. Select cuttings 
with great care, as future success depends on the start 
in the first stage. The best and earliest blooms can be 
had from cuttings taken from the Mower stems and the 
nearer the bud the cutting is taken, the earlier it will 
flower. 
The usual house will do for propagating, that is. the 
north side of a rose or other house, as they are usually 
built, and there is no necessity for a special structure, for 
if a position of a bench in the carnation house is utilized, 
provided the cuttings are watered daily for the first week 
and shaded with a strip of cheese cloth from the sun for 
two davs, they will be all right. 
As soon as rooted, pot in 2 l /+ inch pots, using a com- 
post screened through an l /$ inch sieve of loam, sand and 
leaf soil and no manure. 
As they advance, pot again into threes, using a com- 
post with a little old cow manure in, and keep near the 
glass to induce a sturdy growth. They can again be pot- 
ted into four-inch pots and placed in a cold frame in 
March, being careful to protect from frost or cutting 
winds. Now in order to obtain early blooms, and most 
of us are expected and like to exhibit in the fall, a start 
should be made in May with the house for the reception 
of plants for their summer quarters. I am not mention- 
ing field culture for early crops, because that part is best 
suited to the commercial grower who cannot afford to 
grow his plants inside all summer. 
The soil can be cut the first week in April, and the best 
fiberous sod to be obtained is not too good but is more 
in order than any artificial feeding afterwards. One- 
fourth cow manure mixed with the soil and carried on 
to the benches, which should receive previously a coat 
of lime wash and sulphur. 
Turn the soil over once daily, and when it is in proper 
condition level off with a rake and spread a fine coating 
of wood ashes on top, which can be forked in and after- 
wards the bench can be pressed fairly hard, but not like 
a mushroom bed. 
Planting can be commenced any date after May 15, 
and the space required is according to the strength of the 
varieties being grown. When planted, give a good water- 
ing, and it should not be necessary to shade at all when 
turned out of pots in the manner described. All that is 
required during the next three and a half months is 
careful watering and light cultivation of the surface soil. 
Watering, we are all agreed on, must be done, but 
syringing is with many a different matter. Scientists 
claim that as the carnation comes from Dianthus, which 
was formerly a rock weed growing on a high altitude 
where the air was rather dry, does not require water on 
its foliage ; also that it is noticed in dull weather that the 
bloom on the plant's growth is more pronounced than in 
bright weather, which seems to be an indicator of pro- 
tection from damp. 
Now the idea as applied to the primitive carnation is 
all right, but to apply the same dry treatment in our long 
hot, dry summers when evaporation is rapid would only 
court disaster and the plants would become infested with 
red spider. A few sprayings lightly applied with a hose 
with a man who knows how is not only important, but 
necessary ; also damp the floors well if of cement or dry 
boards. 
The plants require several pinchings to induce a bushy 
growth, but eight weeks must be given generally for the 
last stop for a certain flower to be cut. When the stems 
commence to push up, the plants require a light feed, 
and dried bone manure rubbed through an inch screen 
is a grand food to commence with in addition to a fair 
sprinkling of bone flour. Potash is a necessity and can 
be applied in wood ashes, sulphate of potash or Scotch 
soot, which also has a number of high fertilizing proper- 
ties. 
The temperature during summer cannot be regulated, 
only cooled off by the spraying and damping, but when 
fall commences and the beauty looked for begins to show, 
then the best temperature is fifty degrees nights, rising to 
seventy degrees during the day of course. All the air 
must lie given cautiously and with all sense, the small 
things, namely watering and ventilating carefully being 
the most necessary and important ones. Never over- 
water, and in cold weather syringing must be dispensed 
with. 
