578 



TheWeekly Florists' Review. 



March 20, 1902. 



uelphus grandi flora, Philadelphus coro- 

 iiaria, Ehodotypus Kerrioides, Eosa seti- 

 o-era, Rosa iiitida, Rosa multiflora, Ligus- 

 ?runi persicum. Viburnum lentago, "Vi- 

 Ijurnum inollc, Viburnum opulus, Vibur- 

 luim tomeutosa, Viburnum dentatum, Vi- 

 burnum lantaua, Viburnum prunifoHum. 



Herbaceous plants— Aster nova-anglia, 

 Aster nova-anglia rosea, Boltonia aster- 

 oides, Boltonia latisquamse, Cassia mary- 

 landiea, Coreopsis grandiflora, Doroni- 

 eum plantigineum excelsura, Eulalia jap- 

 onica, Funkia grandiriora, Funkia lance- 

 olata, Helenium autumnale, Hebanthus 

 laetitlorus, Helianthus mollis, Helianthus 

 orgyalis, Heliopsis laevis, Hemerocallis 

 aur'antiacum major. Iris gennanica, Ins 

 Ka»mpferii, Liatris scariosa, Liatris py- 

 ftiiostaihya, Pa-onia herbacia in variety, 

 Plilox decussata in variety, Pyrethrum 

 uliginosum, Solidago canadensis, Soli- 

 dago rigida. 



Shrubs may be planted three or tour 

 feet apart, according to size, and thinned 

 out as growth progresses, for transplant- 

 ing elsewhere. In a few years, most of 

 the above enumerated shrubs, with proper 

 care, will each have covered a space of 

 seven feet in diameter. 



The herbaceous plants may be planted 

 two feet apart. It is important, however, 

 that crowding should be avoided; and 

 it should be borne in mind that herbace- 

 ous plants are the better for being Ufted 

 every two or three years and separated, 

 replanting after thorough digging and 

 1i-rtiliziug of the border. 



Ampelopsis Veitchii does not need pro- 

 tection in Massachusetts. 



Boston. J. A. Pkttigrkw. 



ROSES FOR CUT FLOWERS. 



ll^ P. .1. Fn.l.MoHt:. 



'Read before tlie St. Louis Florists' Club, 

 March 18.1 



Mr. President and Fellow-Mem- 

 bers: As 1 have been called upon to 

 read an essav upon the growing of roses 

 for cut flowers, I liave i)repared this one 

 to the best of my ability, as i am not a 

 born essayist. As most of you are 

 aware, I read one last year, and must 

 therefore retrace my steps, but one lives 

 and learns in this, our profession of 

 growing plants and flowers. 



To proceed: First comes propaga- 

 tion. Having previously prepared the 

 propagating bed by seeing that boards 

 are good and scnuid and applying a 

 heavy coat of hot whitewash and putting 

 on about four inches of clean, coarse 

 river sand, which after being well 

 pressed down wi.i be about three inches 

 deep, we are ready for the cuttings. To 

 digress for a few moments — it seems to 

 me that the fungus of the propagating 

 bed seems to be a bugbear to some, be- 

 cause why? Cleanliness and fresh air is 

 not attended to. I always have the sand 

 washed and this sand serves for the en- 

 tire season, as no foreign innterial is al- 

 lowed on it. Every dead leaf or cutting 

 is removed after each crop and the sand 

 is allowed to sweeten by lying loose for 

 u few days. Now, of course, this «and 

 washing would be a large item of ex- 

 pense to a firm doing a large business, 

 but when I read of some of them throw- 

 ing out sand after every crop I do not 

 think it would make so much difference, 

 especially if some genius in this age of 

 labor-saving devices would invent a sand 

 washing machine. We never have fun- 

 gus. 



Cuttings are made of the- 'best wood 

 obtainable. "While I have never tried it, I 



do not believe in using the weak, blind 

 wood; if it is good and strong it 

 will do, but I prefer wood that 

 is about to bloom, or sometimes that 

 which is already in bud. I gen- 

 erallv leave the short stems on fot 

 that purpose when I know about what 

 time I shall be ready for the cutting, 

 which is made from one to two eyes and 

 inserted in the sand in rows, about one 

 inch between the cuttings and one inch 

 deep, the rows being about two and one- 

 half inches apart. The sand is well 

 soaked before putting in the cuttings 

 and they are thoroughly watered after 

 they are put in, sprinkled most every 

 day, and well watered every two or three 

 days. My idea of the temperature is 

 6^ degrees bottom heat and 55 degrees 

 top, though I have rooted them success- 

 fully at a much lower temperature. Air 

 is given to the house almost every day. 

 1 rooted them this season at one end of 

 a carnation house where I have a coil 

 under the bench. Newspapers are put 

 over the cuttings part of tlie day. This 

 keeps the direct air from striking them. 

 They had no sunshine, as tins corner is 

 shaded by the dwelling house. 



I think New Year's is about the best 

 time to start, in about three to four 

 weeks they will have formed roots, and I 

 then put' them into 2-inch pots, roots 

 averaging one inch long. It is much bet- 

 ter to pot them before they get any 

 longer, as the roots are not so easily 

 broken and it is a quicker job. The soil 

 is three-quarters good loam and one- 

 quarter well rotted hotbed manure, with 

 about one-sixth sand added, run through 

 a, one-half inch sieve, potting gently but 

 firmly. Bo sure the soil is not cold or 

 lhey"will be checked. The young plants 

 are" then set on a good, light, sunny 

 bench, thoroughly watered twice and 

 treated precisely in the same manner as 

 the cuttings uiitil they begin to draw 

 root, when they are fully exposed to the 

 sun, and are never shaded from this 

 time on. About the middle of March 

 the strongest arc repotted into 3-inch 

 pots in the same kind of soil, run through 

 a one-half inch screen ; no sand is added 

 after this. About the first of May, or 

 sooner if ready, the strongest are re- 

 potted into 4-inch, as I am not able to 

 plant until about .June 10. I have never 

 used any drainage in pots for roses. 



After throwing out the old stock we 

 now prepare the benches, wheeling out 

 the old soil, then sweeping off all that 

 remains on the neneh and face boards, 

 then we turn the boards over, which are 

 always 6-inch, repairing where needed. 

 This side of the board is also swept off 

 and then a good hot coat of whitewash 

 is applied. We piit about a 3-inch pot 

 of salt to each bucketful. All walls are 

 also served the same way, and every par- 

 ticle of loose dirt or rubbish is removed 

 from under the benches. This is done 

 once in a while during the season. We 

 scatter air-slacked lime under all parts 

 of the benches, while we are painting, 

 which is done every second year. Pre- 

 paring soil, etc., the benches get a good 

 airing and sun bath. 



The soil is three-quarters good, stiff 

 loam with one-quarter well-rotted hot- 

 bed manure added. We get as much sod 

 as possible, but it is getting to be a very 

 scarce article in our locality. The com- 

 post is then well mixed, chopping the sod 

 up fine, a good sprinkling of air-slacked 

 lime being added as the soil is mixed. 

 Wo- space the boards to one-half or 



three-quarters inch apart. Sod cut as 

 thin as possible is then laid over the 

 spaces, or straw will do if sod is not 

 procurable. The soil is then wheeled 

 right into the benches and spread almost - 

 up to the top of the face boards, which 

 are about five and one-half inches above 

 the bench boards. After being pressed 

 down there will be about four inches of 

 soil. 



We are now ready for planting. 

 Plants are well watered previous to this, 

 and in case of a few being dry when 

 turning them out 1 have a bucket of 

 water beside me and dip them in it. I 

 plant them about twelve inches apart 

 each way; after planting a number ac- 

 cording to the weather, 1 press or ]iound 

 the soil firmly around the plant with ;i 

 round piece of hard wood made to suit 

 the hand, and leaving a little hollow 

 around the plant.. Do not level the soil J 

 at this stage. The plants are then wa- f 

 tered two or three times until soil is 

 damp all through. The surrounding soil 

 is not watered at this stage. 1 syringe 

 usually three times a day in very hot 

 weather, watering when needed. In 

 about two weeks the weeds are 

 pulled out. Sometimes we loosen 

 them with a small hoe. This kills 

 a great many of them and makes it 

 easier to weed. The soil is then leveled 

 and thoroughly watered and kept so 

 after this. I believe in keeping it moist, 

 not wet, during the long days, and a 

 little on the dry side, not dry, during the 

 short days. 



A mulch of one-half inch of well-rot- 

 ted manure is now applied. This serves 

 as a protection from the fierce rays of 

 the sun and gives a more even moisture. 

 About the first of October a mulch is 

 applied again, this time of about two- 

 thirds rotten manure and one-third soil. 

 I'lour of bone may be added to this if 

 you wish, sprinkling on the surface or 

 mixing with the mulch. We put on 

 about the same depth as before. During 

 the winter a generous sprinkling of linu; 

 is applied once or twice. If you should 

 observe yellow foliage on the plants 

 from clu'broot or other causes, by doing 

 this it will benefit them greatly, as I 

 found out this winter on account of the 

 fire that we had the roses got chilled by 

 having the door open so long, thereby 

 causing them to lose their leaves and 

 many turning yellow. I believe in aji- 

 plying the lime this way rather than 

 watering with lime-water as is generally 

 recommended, as when in this condition 

 they had better be kept on the dry side, 

 and by syringing the lime is gradually 

 absorbed into the soil. I think, from ob- 

 servation and some experience, that club- 

 root has beeu in my stock for the last 

 couple of years, which I blame to poor 

 soil, but by getting a good, vigorous 

 growth on the plants and using lime lib- 

 erally it can be kept in check. Later 

 on in the season manure water is ap- 

 plied with the Kinney pump, which is 

 invaluable to the small grower, weak at 

 first and not very often, but as the days 

 get longer we make it stronger and ap- 

 ply about every two weeks. We also 

 muli'h once more with manure. 



Stake as soon as plants need it and 

 keep them tied up through the season. 

 Disbudding is strictly attended to by cut- 

 ting shoots about half-way back and 

 taking off all laterals throughout the sea- 

 son, A few short stems are left for the 

 boys that want button holes and for de- 

 sign work. I also trim out blind wood 

 occasionallv. During the hot months the 



