446 



HORTICULTURE 



April 7, 1906 



able varieties to choose from, because 

 these varieties have been raised hav- 

 ing in view their suitabilty for forcing 

 purposes. 



These gentlemen deserve the thanks 

 of all growers, and among a host of 

 other workers our worthy president 

 and Mr. E. G. Hill, who have recently 

 given us two such valuable varieties 

 as Wellesley and Richmond, deserve 

 our especial thanks. Devoting very 

 little time to this branch of the busi- 

 ness, I am unable to give you any new 

 pointers, and if our hybridists have 

 learned anything new they are holding 

 it up for future use, or perhaps they 

 are only exercising that Scotch caution 

 recommended by the immortal Burns: 



"Aye free an! hand your story tell, 



When wi' a bosom crony 

 But still keep something to yoursel', 



Ye scarcely tell to ony." 



After having secured new varieties 

 of merit, the work of the ordinary 

 grower begins. In order to produce 

 stock in quantity and quality from 

 these new varieties is the condition 

 now confronting us, so that we may 

 be remunerated for our skill and labor. 



Profiting by the mistakes made in 

 bygone years, our disseminators do not 

 now force the life and constitution out 

 of the variety in order to secure large 

 quantities of young stock for market, 

 but, rather grow it on a year or two 

 longer, studying its character and 

 peculiarities and paying especial re- 

 gard to maintaining and improving its 

 constitution, so that now when a va- 

 riety is disseminated we have every 

 confidence that it will respond to or- 

 dinary cultural methods, when due re- 

 gard is taken of any peculiar habits 

 or traits it may possess. 



The time-honored method of perpet- 

 uating varieties by cuttings is still al- 

 most universally in practice, and when 

 soil is suitable, some varieties of stock 

 so propagated succeed well. This sub- 

 ject has called for a good deal of ex- 

 periment and discussion of late years, 

 and I think it is conceded by most 

 growers that where the soil is of a 

 loamy nature that most varieties at 

 present in cultivation under glass suc- 

 ceed well, if not better, than grafted 

 stock. Where the soil is of a poor 

 quality, requiring large supplies of 

 liquid or other food, it stands to reason 

 that plants grafted on Manetti or 

 other stocks possessing an abundance 

 of fine feeding roots can absorb and 

 use it to more advantage than own 

 root stock. 



Propagating by grafting being prac- 

 tically new in this country as applied 

 to stock under glass, there is a better 

 field for advance and improvement, 

 both as regards the variety and class 

 of stock to be used, the style of graft, 

 quality, size of scion and alter treat- 

 ment. 



Within the past few years, I have 

 seen many improvements in this meth- 

 od of propagation, because instead of 

 being only copyists we are doing our 

 own thinking, and when we have to 

 think for ourselves, we are just as cer- 

 tain to improve as that the sun will 

 rise in the east. 



Most of the establishments which 

 practice grafting in quantities are 

 equipped with neat and sensible cases 

 in which to care for the young stock 

 until they are fit to be placed on the 

 bench, and this I consider the most 

 essential element to success. That 

 grafted stock is being used more freely 

 year by year is certain and this very 

 fact proves that we are moving along 

 the right lines but before we entirely 

 drop our root stock, we should first 

 satisfy ourselves by experiment that 

 our soil and varieties are best adapted 

 to grafted stock, as indiscriminate 

 planting of grafted stock irrespective 

 of quality of soil and other conditions 

 may not always be a success. 



The most suitable kind of a bench 

 for rose culture has also been a much 

 discussed question and this discussion 

 has led to many real and economic 

 improvements. There is a wide differ- 

 ence between the old lumber bench of 

 twenty years ago, with the everlasting 

 repairs which kept it company, and the 

 neat and indestructible iron and tile 

 benches of the present day. Even in 

 the matter of solid benches for those 

 who still have a favor for them there 

 is a decided improvement. Bringing 

 as we do our experience of the past, 

 and our scientific knowledge regarding 

 aeration and drainage of soil into our 

 service, we are able to build benches 

 better suited to the requirements of 

 the stock. 



In respect to planting we cannot say 

 we have made any great advance in' 

 recent years, the same general princi- 

 ples applying as formerly. Some few 

 years ago we imagined we were on 

 the edge of discovering something new 

 regarding watering, and the theory of 

 sub-irrigation was given an impartial 

 trial by many of our expert growers, 

 only to be relegated after a time to 

 "the realms of innocuous desuetude." 

 Other schemes automatic and other- 

 wise have been advanced and tried but 

 so far as the rose is concerned we 

 have to depend on the accurate judg- 

 ment of the man with the quick eye 

 and the deft hand for our success. 



Our studies in plant and soil chemis- 

 try are every year bringing us nearer 

 perfection in cultural methods, particu- 

 larly as regards the quality of food 

 required by the plant in confinement 

 under our care where we have to attend 

 to their every want and supply it at 

 the proper time. It is encouraging and 

 a gratifying augury to find so many of 



our young brethren devoting them- 

 selves to the attainment of knowledge 

 on a scientific basis. They are sure of 

 their reward. 



In our battles with our insect and 

 parasitic enemies we have been ably 

 supported and advised by some of the 

 best entomologists and professors of 

 horticulture who have supplied us with 

 the life histories of nearly all insects 

 and parasites injurious to our crops 

 and the most effective means of exter- 

 minating them or keeping them in 

 check. Our thanks are especially due 

 to Prof. Byron D. Hatstead for the 

 much needed advice and information 

 he has given us on these subjects. 



During the past decade our most 

 radical advancement has been in hor- 

 ticultural construction and heating 

 systems as applied to the same. Not 

 so many years ago when we thought 

 of building we had ourselves to be 

 architect and builder, plan and lay 

 down our own heating system, and be 

 general utility man. We have now pro- 

 fessional architects vieing with each 

 other as to who will produce the most 

 economic, shadeless and handsome 

 buildings suited to our wants with 

 heating systems and ventilating ap- 

 paratus, which are simply perfection 

 when compared to our buildings and 

 appliances of twenty years ago. When 

 we compare the handsome, lofty, 

 almost shadeless and well ventilated 

 structures of the present with the low 

 walled, heavy raftered, hand venti- 

 lated building of twenty or twenty- 

 five years ago we must wonder how it 

 was possible for the growers of those 

 days to produce such excellent stock 

 as they did. We also have the advan- 

 tages of high class educational trade 

 papers, in the columns of which we 

 can in a friendly way discuss questions 

 pertaining to the profession, and which 

 I consider can with justice, lay claim 

 to the credit of aiding us very 

 materially in our progress. 



Last but not least we have this 

 society which through the energetic 

 efforts of its officers has done much to 

 make the rose popular, to gather and 

 disseminate knowledge as to cultural 

 methods, control of pests, etc., and to 

 fester that brotherly feeling amongst 

 the craft, where friendly discussions 

 of our many interests must of neces- 

 sity be of the greatest importance, and 

 lead to advancement. So that with 

 the advanced methods and our past 

 experience to guide us the knowledge 

 science has placed at our command 

 and the faculties we enjoy in 

 improved construction, perfect venti- 

 lating machinery, excellent heating 

 systems and our advanced scientific 

 knowledge, the outlook for the rose 

 grower is of a rosier hue than it has 

 ever been in the history of American 

 floriculture. 



