January 31, 1901. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



283 



GRAFTING ROSES. 



About to graft some roses, a quostian 

 occurs to me: Why is it necessary to 

 have a tight box to enclose the newly 

 grafted stocks? It is a common, every- 

 day job, one performed by just ordinary 

 workmen in nurseries, and yet when the 

 subject of rose grafting is approached one 

 of the very first things asked is, have 

 you a case ? 



It strikes me that we may be following 

 in the footsteps of our preceptors with- 

 out thinking for ourselves; in other 

 words, keeping in a rut, perhaps, when 

 we might strike out a better route. 



Let us look at the reason of the process. 

 The object of grafting is only to make a 

 weaker scion unite with a stronger stock. 

 Of course, both scion and stock must be 

 in the same condition of growth; a dor- 

 mant scion can be, and frequently is, 

 used on a dormant stock, as in outdoor 

 work, the main necessity being to keep 

 air from where the union is to take place. 

 It is tiue the outdoor work is usually 

 done when sap is about to start, in the 

 spring, but there is no hard and fast 

 rule; the main precaution is to use 

 plenty of wax. 



Now, to apply the same practice to our 

 roses, may we not put dormant scions, 

 taken from outdoor plants, and look for 

 the same results? Provided, of course, 

 we secure like conditions, stocks being 

 potted a short time and making roots. 

 Would it be necessary to have a bell- 

 glass for them to unite? 



Now, take the case of budding in the 

 rose house; every one knows that nothing 

 is more simple; it seems sometimes as if 

 it is only necessary to bring the bud and 

 stock into juxtaposition, in any old way, 

 to have them unite. Why will not the 

 same rule apply to grafts, both scion and 

 stock beirrg in moderate growing condi- 

 tion? 



Why can we not graft without the 

 Wardian case? Can we not let Manetti 

 get a reasonable start on the ordinary 

 bench, then take our scions from grow- 

 ing plants, join them much as in ordi- 

 nary outdoor work, using plenty of wax, 

 and stand on the ordinary bench in an 

 ordinary house? 



I ask these questions because I want 

 to know, and not because I have any 

 curiosity. Perhaps someone has tried 

 this and knows that it will not work, 

 but for one I cannot see why. 



Benjamin Dobbance. 



Dorranceton, Pa. 



ROSE NOTES. 



The American Beauty. 

 While I do not pose as a past master 

 in Beauty growing I have always had a 

 fancy for this rose and have grown it 

 with good success for years. I do not 

 know whether my way of growing them 

 is generally practiced and I would like 

 to hear from growers who differ from 

 me as to their methods. We are never 

 too old to learn and a little pointer at 



ilie right liinc will iiltcn save a whole 

 house from ruin. 



In taking wood for cuttings avoid that 

 which appears spindly, weak or in any 

 way diseased, and use that of medium 

 strength and neither very soft nor very 

 hard. The best plants will be from cut- 

 tings that have retained their leaves. 

 It is a waste of time to pot a cutting 

 that is not properly rooted. As a rule 

 they will die off, and even should they 

 grow they will make inferior plants. It 

 is not advisable to buy Beauty cuttings. 

 The roots are so easily broken that no 

 matter how carefully packed, they are 

 always more or less injured and in con- 

 sequence a percentage will die after pot- 

 ting. If you have to buy it is best to 

 buy plants, and the best are none too 

 good. 



After the young plants once start to 

 grow they will grow very rapidly and 

 will soon need a shift into 3-inch pots. 

 Don't let red spider get a start on them 

 or go to extremes in watering. Don't 

 let the plants get checked by becoming 

 pot-bound. Pot into 4-ineh pots if the 

 house is not ready for planting by the 

 time they should be out of the 3-inch. 



I believe in early planting so that the 

 roots may have time to get a good hold 

 of the soil and the plant make a good 

 growth before fall or before flowers are 

 wanted. My experience is that early 

 planted Beauties do the best during win- 

 ter while those planted later will be 

 best in the spring. By early planting I 

 mean planting about the end of May, and 

 by late planting I mean planting about 

 the end of June. 



Soil that will grow good Brides and 

 Maids will also grow good Beauties. I 

 prefer a rich loamy sod mixed with 

 about one-fifth of cow manure and I 

 allow one sack of bone m'eal to a house 

 23x150. If the bone is not mixed with 

 the soil it can be spread on the bed and 

 then worked in with a hoe or spade. I 

 like to have the soil five inches deep 

 and well firmed before planting. 



For planting use only clean and thrifty 

 stock. Poor and sickly plants may ap- 

 parently do very well for awhile and 

 "grow out of it" as we say, but the de- 

 fects will show when we are cutting the 

 flowers. I plant four rows on a 5-foot 

 bench, the plants 16 inches apart in 

 the rows. The day before planting on 

 the bench the plants should be watered 

 well so there will be no dry onts among 

 them. Always have a bucket of water 

 handy when planting and if an occa- 

 sional plant is dry let the ball soak 

 awhile before planting it. 



1 take care not to set the plants too 

 deep and a basin is left around teach. 

 They are then given a thorough water- 

 ing. I widen the basins as the roots 

 spread and discard them only when the 

 roots are pretty well all through the 

 bed. The B'eauty likes plenty of water 

 when growing, but let the bed get fairly 

 on the dry side before giving water, and 

 then water so as to have a uniform mois- 

 ture all through the bed. I like to be 



able to press my finger through the soil 

 tu the bottom. 



A great many failures result from im- 

 proper watering. If you give only a 

 light watering every day or so you ^arc 

 apt to have the soil on top too moist 

 :U. all times and in this way encourage 

 black spot to get a start, or you vnll 

 have the lower half of the soil too dry 

 and thus check the growth of the plant, 

 which will increase the amount of blin(i 

 wood. During hot summer weather I 

 find one good watering will last two 

 days, and later on when the bed is wat- 

 ered all over it can stand for three days. 

 In winter time one watering a week will 

 often do and in spring again it must 

 be done more frequently. There can of 

 course be no set rule established. We 

 have to be governed by the condition pf 

 the soil, the weather, our benches and 

 heating arrangements. Always try to 

 select a sunny day for watering and then 

 do it before noon. 



The young plants can be syringed twice 

 a day during the summer months. This 

 should be done not later than II o'clock 

 in the morning and 3 o'clock in the after- 

 noon. This syringing at noon is not so 

 much to dampen the foliage as to get 

 more moisture into the atmosphere. For 

 this reason I like to wet the walks or 

 under the benches occasionally. Even in 

 the winter months when firing hard I 

 wet the walks or under the beneh'es rath- 

 er than to do so much syringing of the 

 plants. 



As fall approaches our aim must be 

 to keep the atmosphere of the house as 

 dry as possible and syringing must be 

 done with more care. It is of the great- 

 est importance to have the foliage dry 

 before night as otherwise black spot will 

 soon get a start. Syringing must be 

 done to keep down red spider, but this 

 does not necessitate doing it on every 

 favorable day during fall and winter. 

 One syringing with a nozzle and with 

 CO to 80 pounds pressure will do more 

 good than a half dozen lighter ones. 

 One to three syringings during the week 

 according to the weather ought to be 

 enough to keep red spider down. In the 

 spring when more ventilation can be 

 given syringing can be done more freely 

 but always avoid having a surplus of 

 moisture in the air for any I'ength of 



The treatment of the plants for the 

 first two or three months after being 

 benched is of the utmost importanee as 

 regards future success, for during this 

 period we build up our plants and get 

 them to store up energy and strength 

 for future work. They are in training 

 for a contest that will tax their powers 

 to the utmost and should receive every 

 advantage that may help to put them 

 in the best possible condition for it. It 

 is also the time when we lay the foim- 

 dation for blind wood. 



There are various ways of inducing 

 the plants to break from the bottom. 

 The poorest of all is to cut them back, 

 and this is ^especially injudicious when 

 the wood is quite soft. 'This has a ten- 

 dency to induce the starting of a lot of 

 thin and slender shoots that may run up 

 six to eight feet and generally come 

 blind, or if they bring flowers they are 

 poor ones. In g'eneral Beauties have 

 only one branch when planted. If left to 

 themselves they will naturally break out 

 from the bottom and send "up one or 

 two good shoots, but it sometimes takes 

 too long and we have to assist them. 



The forming of a bud when the shoot 



