April 20, 1907 



H O K T 1 C U L T U R £ 



523 



Roses Under Glass 



IV, 



At this season, when tlie work of potting is in full 

 swing, and the young stock demands so much attention, 

 the old plants so long as they appear to Ise in good 

 health are frequently neglected, and in a measure left 

 to take care of themselves, the necessary cutting and 

 watering being, perhaps, the only attention they receive. 



Proper attention to training, so that each flower stem 

 may be kept in an upright position, and as fully exposed 

 to the light and air as is possible, will result in a larger 

 cut of high-grade blooms. Neglect in this respect is 

 conducive to the production of weak, spindling wood, 

 which, if it does not come blind, will produce weak 

 necks, and in these days of improved cultural methods, 

 this class of roses is becoming less marketable. To 

 secure a stem with as few defects as possible and bear- 

 ing a well-developed bud, will necessitate the removal 

 of lateral shoots while they are young and soft. If 

 allowed to remain on the stem until they have become 

 hard and woody, the laterals have by that time used a 

 considerable amount of the nourishment which should 

 properly have gone to develop the bud. The stem also 

 will be crooked, which spoils its appearance and detracts 

 from its value. 



Cleanliness and pure air are essential to the health 

 of the plants, and in order to effect as nearly as possible 

 these desirable conditions, the ground under the benches 

 and the walks must ho kept as free of weeds and decom- 

 composing matter as the soil on the benches. Weeds 

 form an ideal shelter for thrips, red spider, etc., and if 

 we expect to keep these pests in subjection, weeds must 

 be rigidly excluded. 



As the season advances and the increase in the dura- 

 tion of sunshine from day to day becomes more percep- 

 tible, the plants will require a greater supply of water. 

 The soil on the ends of the benches and along the sides 

 iisually dries out quicker than the rest of the bench. 

 'J'hese places should be gone over carefully as soon as 

 they show signs of drying, as, when once allowed to 

 bake and crack open it is very difficult, one might say 

 impossible, to get the soil wet again. 



Liquid manure may now be applied to healthy stock, 

 more frequently, adding to its strength as necessity 

 requires. Before treatment, however, all the dry places 

 on the bench should be watered with clean water, other- 

 wise the plants situated in the dry soil will take up 

 more of the liquid manure tlian they can use. As a 

 result they will sicken and perhaps not recover suf- 

 ticiently to be of further value during the rest of the 

 season. Ventilation can also Ije given more freely and 

 advantage should be taken of every bright day to admit 

 plenty of fresh air. While this is being practiced it is 

 well to observe and guard against sudden and extreme 

 fluctuations of temperature as this is a fertile source of 

 mildew. Abrupt changes also are very injurious to the 

 young tender growth, causing checks which often result 

 in malformed buds (especially does this apply to Beauty 

 crops) and when once started, it is extremely difficult to 

 bring them back to normal condition. The houses 

 should be fumigated at least once a week, as. at this 

 season green-fly multiplies with astonishing rapidity, 

 and ])rocrastination will result in the appearance of 

 hosts of tliis pest, which will add greatly to our troubles, 

 and call for strenuous efforts to again get them under 

 subjection. Mildew also is a source of worry to the 

 grower and frequent painting of the heating pipes with 



a paste composed of sulphur two parts and lime one 

 part, reduced to the consistency of paint, will be neces- 

 .-:ary to keep this in clieck. When the weather becomes 

 too warm for this method to be longer practicable, the 

 aliove mixture in powdered form may be applied to the 

 |)lants by means of a powder blower, allowing it to 

 remain twenty-four hours before syringing again. 



Pruning the Vineyard 



The method of pruning will depend a good deal upon 

 the ideas of the grower and on the manner of growth of 

 the vines, whether vigorous or weakly. Many weak 

 kinds are grown to stumps and pruned back to these 

 every year. Others require support, and with these a 

 certain amount of training is necessary. 



With the former kind little is required other than to 

 cut back the more vigorous growths to four or five biids 

 and to thin out the weaker shoots. 



Grapes are carried on the new wood of the present 

 year's growth, the first five or six buds each giving rise 

 to a fruit cluster. This means that if the vine is cut 

 to twenty buds it will give sufficient chance for seventy- 

 five or more clusters. Hence one can easily see how 

 necessary is vigorous pruning to avoid overtaxing the 

 vine. This is a point too often overlooked in pruning 

 small home vineyards, and as a result the vines are over- 

 worked, becoming practically barren in a couple of 

 years. How many buds can be left depends on the 

 strength of the soil, the style of training, the climate, 

 age of the vine, and its present condition, whether 

 neglected or cared for in previous years. 



With vines grown on trellises or other supports a 

 number of methods of pruning have been evolved. The 

 two most important are the renewal and the spur. The 

 first, the renewal system, consists in providing a fresh 

 supply of wood each year to bear the next crop. This 

 is done by growing two sets of canes, one set being 

 .sacrificed each year and replaced the succeeding season. 

 If the vine is grown to four canes, two are kept to bear 

 fruit and two are cut back during the winter pruning. 

 Wlien growth starts the fruit is borne on the shoots 

 coming from buds on the canes of the previous season's 

 growth, while two new shoots are grown from the stubs 

 of the severed ones. In this way there are always vig- 

 orous one-year-old canes for fruit and the basis for the 

 next year's bearing wood. 



The second system, the spur, consists in growing each 

 vine to two or four arms and training these horizontally 

 along a support. From the arms laterals are devel- 

 oped at frequent intervals and the fruit is grown on 

 these. When winter-pruned, the laterals are cut back 

 to three or four buds and one new cane grown from 

 each of these to replace the old one. This cane is again 

 cut back the second season, and the operation repeated 

 annually. As the old arms become knotted and show 

 signs of giving out the two canes nearest the centre are 

 allowed to remain and at the subsequent pruning qre 

 trained to take tlie place of the old arms, removed. 



In the majority of cases vigorous pruning and a gen- 

 erous fertilizing will work wonders, unless the vineyard 

 is so old that replanting is the only recourse. 



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