April 5, 1913 



HOETICULTUEE 



511 



OUTDOOR ROSES 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE NEW YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ON MARCH 15 BY EDWIN JENKINS. 



(Continued /rom page 4^j ) 



Planting. 

 I shall assume that you make your 

 own choice of varieties, consulting 

 some good nurseryman's catalogue or 

 some of the later standard works upon 

 roses, getting the number of plants to 

 suit your garden and the colors to 

 suit your taste. But I should like to 

 make an appeal on behalf of a few of 

 the old-time favorites such as the 

 beautiful moss rose, the cabbage or 

 Provence rose, the Damask rose, and 

 the old Persian Yellow, the yellowest 

 of yellow roses. These are but a few 

 of the roses of another day which are 

 well worthy of a place in every rose 

 garden both for the fond remem- 

 brances they bring back to most of us 

 and for their intrinsic beauty. Nor 

 ■would the garden be complete without 

 some of the fine Rugosa hybrids of 

 which Conrad Ferdinand Meyer is the 

 prince, and then there is the newer 

 Irish single roses of Dickson's of 

 which Irish Elegance is perhaps the 

 best, but I promised to leave the se- 

 lection of varieties to the grower and 

 will do so. When stock is procurable 

 ■ in autumn, roses planted at that time 

 will thrive better the following sum- 

 mer than spring-planted stock will, so 

 if possible plant in the autumn. But 

 whether planting in spring or autumn 

 the ground should be moderately dry 

 and the day to be ideal should be cool, 

 cloudy and still. If the plants are on 

 their own roots there will be no trou- 

 ble from suckers and shallow planting 

 will be all right, but it is advisable to 

 plant budded or grafted stock so that 

 the union is two to three inches below 

 ground for by so doing we lessen the 

 trouble from suckers and keep the 

 graft in better condition. The dis- 

 tance apart to plant will depend upon 

 the variety, whether it is a strong or 

 a weak grower, and upon this the 

 planter should inform himself before 

 planting. About three feet would be 

 the extreme distance for the strong- 

 est growers and eighteen inches to 

 two feet for the weaker ones. Prune 

 back the tops to three or four good 

 buds and likewise trim out any 

 bruised or broken roots, and if there 

 are any large, coarse roots, these 

 should be shortened, as it will help 

 to the formation of smaller fibrous 

 roots. Make the hole for each plant 

 large enough to lay out the roots all 

 . around and in replacing the soil do not 

 be afraid to tramp it till it is firm; 

 that is, providing it is in the proper 



condition for planting, not too wet. 

 Amateurs are very apt to fail in this 

 particular matter of thoroughly firm- 

 ing the soil. 



Pruning. 

 To the unprofessional rosarian 

 pruning seems the most perplexing 

 problem, but if the object and princi- 

 ples of pruning are once thoroughly 

 grasped, then ordinary common sense 

 will make its application to suit the 

 varying conditions a more or less sim- 

 ple matter. The object of pruning 

 roses is, first, a rejuvenation of the 

 plant, getting new wood; next, the 

 removal of weak or superfluous 

 branches so as to throw all the plants' 

 energy into the remaining growths, 

 and to let in a maximum of air and 

 light. Personally, I believe that there 

 is something in mutilation that tends 

 to produce floriferousness, but this is 

 merely a hypothesis, and is given for 

 what it is worth. There are certain 

 rules, however, which may be laid 

 down in regard to pruning of outdoor 

 roses; not hard and fast rules, but 

 rules susceptible of modification. One 

 of these rules is that the weaker grow- 

 ers should be pruned back harder 

 than the stronger growing ones. A 

 few good buds of last season's growth 

 left annually may be taken as a guide 

 for pruning the weak growers, but if 

 the very strong ones, such as Mar- 

 garet Dickson, for Instance, were 

 treated this way we should get but 

 few flowers and exceedingly thick, 

 strong wood. The way to treat these 

 is to shorten back the longest growths 

 by a foot or two and then tie or peg 

 them down, hence the reason for al- 

 lowing lots of room for these when 

 planting. Should too many buds on 

 these long stems start into groyth so 

 that they look like crowding one an- 

 other, just practice a little judicious 

 thinning. Of course, there are inter- 

 mediate growers between the very 

 strongest and the very weakest, these 

 must be treated accordingly. The 

 climbing and rambling type of roses 

 require very little pruning, except for 

 the removal of dead or decaying wood, 

 and after flowering in summer the old 

 flower growths may be removed ad- 

 vantageously; in fact, much may be 

 done with roses as well as fruit trees 

 by a little careful summer pruning, es- 

 pecially in removing old flowering 

 wood. In pruning, try to cut back to 

 a bud on the outside of the shoot so 

 that the coming growth will be out- 

 ward and not inward, and always try 

 to make a nice clean cut close to the 

 bud, so that there will be no ugly spur 

 sticking up. which can not heal over, 

 and which will surely die back to the 

 injury of the plant. 



Propagation. 

 The propagation of roses is fortu- 

 nately a very easy matter. Budding, 

 grafting, layering, seeds and cuttings 

 are the several means employed. Most 



of the hardy roses which come from 

 Europe are budded or grafted on the 

 dog rose stock or else the Manetti, 

 while in America a great many are 

 grown from cuttings, on their own 

 roots. I shall not attempt any de- 

 tailed account of the methods of bud- 

 ding and grafting roses as those who 

 would learn this, had better consult 

 some of the standard works on roses 

 where very plain Illustrations will be 

 found, which will be far more helpful 

 than any words from me would be. 

 Cuttings from growing wood may be 

 put in sand through the summer in a 

 cold frame with a northern exposure, 

 and if kept shaded and well watered 

 will root freely enough. The best 

 shading is a piece of cheese-cloth 

 tacked to a frame of wood to fit 

 where the sash ordinarily flts. Cut- 

 tings should be about four or five 

 inches long and have one or two 

 leaves on; it is well to make a nice 

 clean cut near a bud at the bottom. 

 Cuttings of dormant wood put in flats 

 of sand and set in a cool greenhouse 

 will root through the winter and grow 

 away when spring comes. Layering 

 consists in taking a shoot and making 

 a slit in it, cutting it part way through, 

 then bending it to the ground and 

 burying it two to three inches deep 

 at the point where the cut is made. 

 After a while roots will be emitted at 

 the cut and when these roots have 

 made some growth the layer might be 

 entirely cut from the parent plant and 

 transplanted. Propagation by seed is 

 only resorted to for the purposes of 

 raising new varieties or for raising the 

 various wild stocks for grafting and 

 budding. 



Insect Enemies. 



The competitive spirit has been pre- 

 viously referred to as one of the prom- 

 inent characteristics of human nature, 

 and the rose grower is engaged dur- 

 ing the growing season in another 

 kind of competition — a competition to 

 see whether the various beetles, cater- 

 pillars, aphis and mites shall have the 

 lion's share of the roses, or not. How- 

 ever, it has been said that difficulties 

 are made to be overcome and the en- 

 thusiastic rosarian will engage these 

 enemies as they appear, and with vigi- 

 lance and care will emerge victorious. 

 Aphis, or greenfly or green louse is so 

 well known that a description is un- 

 necessary. As soon as any of these 

 are seen on the plant, and they are 

 generally found on the growing tips, 

 measures should immediately be taken 

 for their eradication as they 

 are extremely prolific. One author- 

 ity tells us that one aphis may 

 become in five generations the pro- 

 genitor of nearly six thousand millions 

 of descendants. I confess that I have 

 not verified this statement by actual 

 count, but my observation of their pos- 

 sibilities of increase have shown me 

 that it is wise to lose no time in set- 

 ting about their destruction. Fumiga- 

 tion being impracticable outside, our 

 remedy must be a spray of some soap 

 and tobacco compound of which there 



