The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-12-21
CARNATIONS DAY PASSING.
DISEASE HAS ATTACKED IT AND
 PRICES ARE RISING.

No Remedy for the AiIment Found
 The Trouble Due in Part to overfor-
 eing-Great Popularity of the Flow CT, to Which President Mckinley
 Contributed.
 The passing of the carnation. florists Isay, is only question of time. and short time at that. Already it has be- come improbable as a speciality, and the specialists are dropping it and go- l ing into other branches of flower rais- ing.
 Among all the flowers that grow the earnation enjoyed for time the great est popularity. perhaps. Florists will tell you that for every one order re leeived for roses, violets or sweet peas ten were received for carnations. It is a half hardy flower, it is beautiful in i form and color. possesses rare, spicy fragrance and is moderate in price-all of which qualities place it at the head of the list of popular blooms.
 The late President Mckinley shared ! the general liking for the carnation and declared it his favorite flower. During his occupation of the White House the vases in the family apartments were filled daily with carnations, and the President invariably wore one of the flowers in his coat lapel.
 Red was his preferred color, and one of the most beautiful red carnations ever hybridized was named the Presi- dent. in his honor. Each morning he presented to Mrs. Mckinley a bouquet i of these blooms. His love for the car nation is still remembered, and out in Canton, where his remains lie buried, \ there is always fresh offering of the ] flowers on his grave.
 Who first discovered the possibilities of the pink and started the develop ment of the carnation is not known to the laity, and probably not to many \ professional florists, for an inquiry among twenty-three of them brought forth no light on the subject. The pink has been known as carnation for at I leest forty years, say growers
 Many a grower has made fortune out of the carnation, but it's long l lane that has no turning, and the flor { ists say that the turning in the carna { tion lane is in sight. For a disease has ] stricken the carnation, and unless cure can speedily be found the time is near when the flower will be rare. It has already progressed so far that ! the demand exceeds the supply, and 1 the price has consequently risen. Last { year was an especially bad season for caSnations. and the growers lost heav- lily As a consequence many who for merly male cafnations speciality have abandoned them for a more profitable product. This season is backward and an estimate of the crop cannot be giv- en.
 This disease Is a recent thing, said large carnation grower on Long Is- land Eight years ago 1t was un- known We grew thousands of carna- tions in the open field and they. pro- duced abundantly.
 We sold them at wholesale at fifty cents hundred. Now we sell them at from one to four dollars q hundred, and the carnations no better. We have l abandoned outdoor cultivation, and 1 keep them in the benches. We former 1 " grew carnations almostS exclusively, ] but have now practically given them up.
 l This disease is running the business. Nobody has So far found cure and we are all experimenting with remedies. I It attacks the stem of the plant anr follows it upward, destroying it cell by cello
 He opened the door of g greenhouse. The benches were filled with carnations. in full bud, anl every plant was strick en with the blight. From the earth linf up each plant was withered. Some were still green and healthy at the tops, but all were afflicted. The house next to it, also filled with carna- tions, was still untouched by disease.
 Carnations continued the florist, "were once easy to grow, but they have. been forced anl cultivated to death. They are subject to three pests and three dieases. The pests are red spider, green fly and the thrip, all insects and easily destroyed. The diseases are bac-# teria, which attack the plsnts in spots and are ctrable; dry rot and stem rot. l It is the last two which are fatal.
 Every grower has a theory of his own and is working on 1t In time some of us may discover cure ana save the flower. It does not appear to be in the earth, for in all cases of the 1 disease which I have seen the roots of the afflicted plants are in perfectly healthy condition.
 "As a precautions carnation raisers are sterilizing the soil they grow iri.A Some are also trying sub-irrigation, which is an arrangement of piped earth with strata of sand above the pipes intended to produce an artificial dew, This is where the plants are grown in doors. It is too recent an experiment. to show results.
 grhe strength of the carnation is less of late years, too. Nowadays the life of the average variety is from three to four years. Then its vitality is .ex hausted.
 For instance, the Daybreak carna-