376 



GARDENING. 



Sept. /, 



Roses. 



TUB ROSE BOUSE IN SEPTEMBER. 



Every lover of the Queen of Flowers is 

 very anxious to know how to secure the 

 best blooms for the coming winter, and 

 as the treatment now will greatly in- 

 fluence the quantity and quality of flowers 

 for the future let me g^ve you a few sug- 

 gestions bearing on this point. 



Presuming that the roses were planted 

 out on the benches in Jime or July and 

 have now gotten fairly well started into 

 growth, they should be kept growing on 

 steadily, but as the days grow shorter 

 the proportion of water given them 

 should be somewhat reduced; the object 

 being to produceagood firm wood rather 

 than a soft pithy growth. Continue to 

 give all the ventilation possible during 

 the day, on bright mornings especially; 

 the ventilators should be opened a few 

 inches as soon as the sun strikes the 

 glass or the temperature inside has risen 

 3° or 4"; do not wait till it has risen S°or 

 10°, or more, and then put on a lot of air 

 at once, as this is the surest way pos- 

 sible to produce mildew; on the contrary 

 a gradual rise of temperature and an in- 

 crease of ventilation as fast as required 

 till all the air possible is circulating freely 

 through the house is the best prevent- 

 ive of mildew, and with reasonable, 

 careful watering will produce the firm 

 solid wood necessary for the coming 

 winter's work. In reducing the air in 

 the afternoon the same rule should be 

 followed, i. e., reduce it gradually as the 

 temperajure inside drops. 



Where the plants have become well 

 established, a very thin mulching of well 

 decomposed manure will help them, if 

 spread evenly over the surface of the soil. 

 This has the advantage of helping the 

 plants to build up a strong, vigorous con- 

 stitution and preventing them drying out 

 at the roots quite so rapidly, thereby 

 lessening the use of so much water, thus 

 producing a dryer and healthier atmos- 

 phere at night, which is very important, 

 particularly as the nights get longer and 

 somewhat colder. Immediately they get 

 cool enough to produce a dew on the 

 foliage of the plants, which frequently 

 occurs even in early September, it is much 

 safer to have a very little fire heat, even if 

 it is necessary to have some ventilation 

 on all night in conjunction with the arti- 

 ficial heat, as these heavy dews if repeated 

 for two or three nights in succession are 

 almost sure to do irreparable damage. 



Often in spring and fall your roses may 

 drop their young leaves, and then the 

 stems turn brown and their crop of 

 flowers be ruined. The sole cause of this 

 is allowing these heavy dews to settle on 

 them for two or three nights in succession. 

 Keep a careful watch for green fly and 

 other insects, and give them sharp notice 

 to quit as soon as they are seen or they 

 will soon take possession. All dead leaves, 

 weeds, etc., should be removed as soon as 

 seen. This is one of the best prevent- 

 ives of insect and fungus pests at all 

 times. JOH.N N. May. 



Summit, N.J. 



flSHES AND SOOT ON ROSES. 



Some time ago I saw in GardeniiNc, a 

 lecommendation to try wood ashes for 

 mildew on roses. I mulched mine as 

 described, but did more. I pulverized 

 some soot from a soft coal fire very fitie, 

 and sprinkled it over the foliage when the 

 dew was on the leaves. It has completely 

 cleaned my roses. Xo doubt the ashes 



are good, but soot seems better. They 

 were a pretty bad case too. caused by the 

 muggy hot weather of July and lack of 

 proper attention, for I was away myself. 

 This may be no new thing, but it may 

 help some who are troubled as I was. 

 A. B. O. 

 IngersoU, Ont., August 20, 1896. 



Chrysanthemums. 



CflRYSftNTflEMUMS. 



Specimen plants should not be pinched 

 after the first week in September but there 

 are many weak growths and lateral 

 shoots to remove before the regular 

 disbudding season commences. Any 

 plants th t have not already received 

 the retjuired amount of stakes should 

 be seen to at once and the shoots 

 tied up so that they don't split by 

 pulling too much one way; this can also 

 be prevented by tying with a string to the 

 opposite stake. Use as few stakes as 

 possible and leave your stakes long now, 

 it will be time enough to cut them short 

 when the flowers show color. This is 

 also a good time to topdress the plants, 

 and the giving of manure water may be 

 commenced when they are through feed- 

 ing on the topdressing. 



The best manure for amateurs is sheep, 

 cow or chicken, manure, soot and a 

 sprinkling of bone dust, but be careful 

 about the chicken, manure, a little of it 

 goes a long waj-. Mix either with a lit- 

 tle soil or mix all together with soil and 

 stir the surface of the soil in pots and 

 apply the mixture as a light dressing. 



In giving manure waterchange it every 

 week, say first use cow manure, then 

 sheep, etc., and be sure you understand 

 the strength of the different materials 

 used, err on the safe side, that is on the 

 weak stimulants. If you should like to 

 try other fertilizers such as nitrate of 

 soda and sulphate of ammonia a 3-inch 

 potful to 50 gallons of water is a safe 

 measure. If your pots are troubled with 

 worms a little lime water will remove 

 them. For plants grown to single stems 

 (which should now be in 6-inch pots) do 

 not begin to feed them before the pots are 

 well filled with roots. To keep down 

 aphis keep plenty of tobacco stems around 

 or syringe with tobacco water, if your 

 plants are indoors fumigate them and keep 

 turning them to make them perfect speci- 

 mens, otherwise they will grow one- 

 sided. Don't neglect them once in water- 

 ing. Syringe them twice a day in bright 

 weather, and keep plenty of moisture 

 around them at all time when they are 

 growing. 



Plants on benches should now require 

 lopdressing, a mixture the same as used 

 for pot plants will answer first-rate for 

 them. Every shoot will require support 

 of some kind. A good plan is to run a 

 wire over each row, then place a stake to 

 each plant and tie the stake to the wire 

 and tie the plant. You can run two or 

 more straight shoots to a plant but 

 when tying, do not bunch them together; 

 tie each shoot separately and so that 

 when you cut your first flower you don't 

 interfere with "the others that are coming 

 on thesameplant. Galvanized wirestakes 

 are the best; they make a fine, clean, firm 

 job. But as a good many of us who grow 

 chrysanthemums for a living can't aflTord 

 this we run a wire top and bottom of 

 each row, making them as secure as pos- 

 sible and then run cheap string to each 

 shoot, tying to same. As soon as the 

 tying is finished you must keep going 



removing all lateral growths, some varie- 

 ties are worse than others and have to 

 be watched more closely; the worst of 

 those are Mrs. WhiUdin, G. W. Childs, 

 Marion Henderson and Viviand-Morel. 



About this time some kinds will be 

 showing their crown buds, but I do not 

 recommend this bud to beginners, but 

 should advise where two or more shoots 

 are grown to a plant try here and there 

 a crown bud, and take note of same for 

 future reference. Most varieties require 

 plenty of water, but when they are wet 

 enough at the roots to last a day or so 

 (according to the weather) alight syring- 

 ing will never do any harm and syringe 

 at least once a day in warm bright 

 weather. 



I may mention two varieties that do 

 best on the dry side at the roots, but they 

 will take lots of syringing, they are 

 Golden Wedding and J. H. Troy. You 

 will have no blight if you handled them 

 on the dry side at the roots. In ventilat- 

 ing give all the air you can until ths 

 first of October, never reduce the ventila- 

 tors more than enough to keep the rain 

 out; if you keep a free circulation of air at 

 all times you will find less mildew will 

 result than from shutting up tight. 



Jersey City. A. D. Rose. 



The Greenhouse. 



SUMMER INDOOR PLANTS. 



IxORAS. — For summer blooming we 

 have no more beautiful plants for indoors 

 than ixoras; when they are well grown 

 into good specimens they are truly gor- 

 geous. 



Allamandas. — The species and varieties 

 of allamanda can be grown into fine 

 plants indoors, where they bloom pro- 

 fusely. Nearly all do ecjually well bedded 

 out during summer in a warm sunny po- 

 sition, where they will grow and bloom 

 freely. 



Bougainville a Glabra SANDERiA>fA is 

 a very distinct plant of fiee blooming 

 nature and it makes a handsome indoor 

 plant. 



Dipladenias. — Lovely indoor plants, 

 but it requires care and knowledge of 

 plant growth to do them well, their great 

 beauty well repays all labor and atten- 

 tion bestowed on them. 



Gloxinias— Are exceedingly beautiful, 

 the flowers of late have been much im- 

 proved, both in size and color, and as 

 they are easily grown they are among the 

 most useful indoor summer blooming 

 plants we have. 



Anthuriums —Andreanum, carneum, 

 Ferrierense, with many hybrid sorts are 

 distinct and striking both in flower and 

 foliage, while those grown more particu- 

 larly for their foliage as crystalliiwm, 

 Veitcbii, IVarocqueanum, etc., makegrand 

 and noble specimens. 



Caladiums. — Where delicate and beau- 

 tifully marked foliage is desired we have 

 no plants to excel the fine new Brazilian 

 caladiums. They should be grown dur- 

 ing summer in a warm moist house. 



Alocasias. — In these we have a class of 

 plants of a truly tropical character, with 

 large, massive and striking foliage. 



Pandanus or Screw Pine — Ba/iiistii, 

 Javanica, variegata, Veitcbii, etc.. are all 

 beautiful decorative plants for indoors 

 during summer or winter. 



Drac.bnas. — GoW/eana I consider one of 

 the best, it is most distinct; Lindeni and 

 Massangeana are also fine, as well as the 

 varieties with colored foliage, and they 

 all are fine decorative plants, 

 winter. 



