August 7, 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



173 



ROSES AND THEIR CULTURE FOR 

 COMMERCIAL PURPOSES. 



Paper Read Before the Morris Co. Garden- 

 ers' and Florists' Society, April 14, 

 1909, by Wm. G. Badgley. 



As you all know, there are a few 

 well defined principles and rules regu- 

 lating planting, watering, cutting, ty- 

 ing, ventilating, etc., and, as these 

 rules have been thoroughly threshed 

 out before you time and again and, 

 furthermore, as they have been prac- 

 tically accepted and adopted by all, 

 we will not at this time go over them. 

 Selecting a Site. 



The first thing to consider, and 1 

 now speak to those who have not as 

 yet started in the rose growing busi- 

 ness or those who contemplate ex- 

 panding, is where to locate and what 

 style of house to build. As to loca- 

 tion I would say that this question 

 should be well thought out before 

 starting. Here are a few points in 

 this matter to consider! A location 

 near a railroad station should be se- 

 cured, not too far from the point 

 where your goods are to be disposed 

 of, as selling cut flowers, be it through 

 a commission house or otherwise, 

 should be watched as closely as the 

 fires In your boilers, I assure you. 

 Then, again, being located closely to 

 a shipping point will save you con- 

 siderable in the way of teaming, cart- 

 ing supplies, shipping goods, carfares, 

 etc., which expense will be perpetual. 

 You should also select a location on 

 property that is not too expensive, for 

 the more you pay for your property 

 the greater is your investment, and, 

 therefore your place would have to 

 pay just that much more on the capi- 

 tal invested to show the same percent- 

 age of gain as it would do on less ex- 

 pensive ground. This would also be a 

 perpetual expense. 



In securing property to erect your 

 houses on, you should consider how 

 the ground lays, what kind of a bot- 

 tom you will have, whether or not 

 your cellars would be dry, what kind 

 of soil you are getting to grow your 

 plants in, whether you are getting 

 enough ground to expand on, and 

 whether the property is in a place 

 likely to Increase in value. Property 

 that is as nearly level as can be se- 

 cured, with some place to run your 

 cellar drains into. Is the best. You 

 should not build where you cannot 

 drain, unless your bottom is gravel, as 

 water In your cellar and standing 

 around your houses is very detri- 

 mental and discouraging. 



The Question of Soil. 



A sandy or gravelly bottom is 

 desirable, as this kind of bottom 

 will absorb surplus water from water- 

 ing and rains quickly, leaving the bot- 

 tom of your houses practically dry. 

 This you will find to be a big advan- 

 tage in battling black spot and mil- 

 dew. I would advise, by all means, 

 when purchasing property for this 

 purpose, to get enough, for the prob- 

 abilities are you will never buy as 

 cheaply again. You will need it to ex- 

 pand on, and you should have enough 

 to procure all soils for growing pur- 

 poses from. I believe that soil for 



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greenhouse purposes should be pre- 

 pared in the field as nearly as possi- 

 ble to the conditions wanted when put 

 on your benches. The reason for this 

 is that cow manure in this vicinity is 

 getting scarce and expensive. I would 

 add, too, that the handling of this 

 article in the form of mulching or 

 otherwise, is the most disagreeable 

 occupation one can be put at, aside 

 from the fact that it is very detri- 

 mental to the growth of your plants 

 if applied in bulk as I have seen some 

 use it, more especially in the short 

 days when it is hard under the most 

 favorable circumstances to dry out 

 your benches, or if applied in its green 

 state when no air of consequence can 

 be used. * 



Fertilizing. 



In preparing soil in the field one 

 can, by plowing in one or two crops 

 of green stuff, cultivating, applying 

 lime, bone, and stable manure, in 

 sufficient quantities obtain a soil that 

 will by giving a light top dressing of 

 one-half rotten cow manure and one- 

 half good soil, once in the spring and 

 once in the fall, or oftener when the 

 vigor of your plants call for it, pro- 

 duce better results with less expense 

 than by using cow manure in the man- 

 ner spoken of above. I recommend 

 top dressing with a good sheep 

 manure, which should be watered in 

 for the purpose of general feeding. I 

 say sheep manure, because this article 

 contains nearly the right proportions 

 of phosphoric acid, potash and nitro- 

 gen and ammonia. Apply at the rate 

 of about 200 lbs. to a 20 x 150 ft house 

 about once a month, or a little oftener 

 in the long days when your plants are 

 growing rapidly. A watering of good, 

 strong, fresh cow manure liquid once 

 a month is a very good way of feeding 

 also. I would say that in a light soil 

 which dries out quickly, and where 

 water can be applied often, feeding 

 can be done oftener to advantage. 



Dimensions of House. 



As to size of house. — As I have had 

 no practical experience in building, 

 operating, or maintaining the larger 

 or modern houses, I therefore can give 

 no experience in the matter, of my 

 own, but I will say a few words based 

 on what I have gathered from observa- 

 tion, and the related experience of 

 well known growers. 



A house from forty to sixty feet in 

 width, built of what is known as Iron 



construction with concrete sides and 

 cast iron posts set in concrete, is 

 about what is considered perfection at 

 the present time. A house of this 

 character can be built for less money 

 per square foot of ground space 

 covered than wooden houses of the old 

 style eighteen or twenty feet wide. 

 They are easier and less expensive to 

 operate and will produce better goods 

 under identical conditions, as well as 

 being less expensive to keep in repair, 

 and will cover less ground as there 

 will be less wasted space between 

 them. As to the length of house, I 

 would say that it makes no difference 

 how long a house is, if partitioned at 

 intervals of 150 or 200 ft, providing 

 the heating and management can be 

 economically and satisfactorily ar- 

 ranged. 



To give an idea of the extremes to 

 which some of our growers have gone, 

 will mention a house I have in mind 

 which is 156 ft. wide and 725 ft. long. 

 This house according to its owners, is 

 giving perfect satisfaction, and they 

 have under construction at the pres- 

 ent time a house 174 ft. wide and 725 

 ft. long. This should be watched with 

 interest by all. I also know of 

 another house 1340 ft. long and 60 ft. 

 wide, which I know has produced as 

 fine Killarney as was ever grown, and 

 its owner says that he would build 

 it longer if he had the ground to build 

 it on. 



While at the Rose Show in Buffalo, 

 I visited a place where there were a 

 number of what is known as pipe con- 

 struction houses, that is to say, the 

 posts, plates, purlins, rafters, columns, 

 trusses and joints were all made of 

 pipes and pipe fittings. I understand 

 that this style of house can be built 

 considerably cheaper than those that 

 are known as the regular Iron con- 

 struction houses. This style, as 1 

 looked it over, appealed to me very 

 much. I consider that it would pay 

 anyone to look into the matter before 

 building. 



(To be continued') 



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