192 



H O R T 1 C U L T U R E 



August 19, 1905 



.Soj^homnre year, thwv hours a week, one semester. 

 Text-books, lectures and laboratory. 



B. (Required.) Pomology, systematic, practical and 

 commercial. Text-books, lectures and laboratory. 

 Junior year, five hours a week, two semesters. 



C. ( Required in certain courses, elective in others.) 

 Elementary landscajie gardening. Text-book with 

 draughtiiiii-ruom and field exercises. Junior year, three 

 hours a week, one semester. 



D. (Required in hortjipulture course, elective in 

 others.) Market gardening. Text-book, lectures and 

 field work. Junior year, five hours a week, one semester. 



E. (Elective.) Plant breeding. Lectures and lab- 

 oratory. Senior year, four hours a week. 



F. (Elective.) General horticultural practice, with 

 individual problems. Lectures, laboratory and field 

 work. Senior year, six hours a week. 



This covers the regular work in horticulture. In 

 floriculture special work is provided for the entire 

 senior year. This is taken by all who elect it. In 

 landscape gardening sjjecial work is provided for two 

 years, all of which is elective. There is also some work 

 done in forestry. 



It must be remembered tliat many of the other sul)- 



jects taught in the regular college course bear very 

 directly on horticulture, though they are not mentioned 

 in the foregoing outline. Such subjects are chemistry, 

 r'ntnriiolnoy. botany, and certain portions of agriculture 

 i.h'.iliiiL: Willi ^oils and fertilizers, drainage, etc. Many 

 111 ilic-c :irr taught with special reference to the needs of 

 the liurticulturist. 



Thus far I have been speaking exclusively of the 

 course of study itself. It will be readily understood 

 that there is much else in the i(]lli':;c In'-idVs tlie course 

 of study. Any one can providi' ;i tiiic-lmilxiiiL: rui-iiculum 

 on 2)a])er, but it is quite a dillVivut iiiinirr lo >ii|iply the 

 facilities for carrying out the instruction in horticul- 

 ture. The Massachusetts Agricultural College has a 

 specially good equi]iment of this sort, but if I were to 

 describe that in any adequate way, it would require 

 another article. 



Roses 



CUTTING FKOJI YOUXG STOCK OF BKIDE AND BRIDESMAID 



There seems to be a great diversity of opinion as to 

 the proper time in which to begin to take the first crop 

 or even to cut anything from the young plants. I call 

 to mind several growers who pinch off from two to three 

 crops of buds in order to have big plants for the follow- 

 ing winter. Leaving out the monetary value of what 

 has been pinched off I find it a bad practice, as it 

 induces a soft gi-owth and brings wood from unripened 

 eyes which is of no value for flowering, and whatever 

 flowers do come are usually short-stemmed or the eyes 

 form blind wood. It is from the latter that we get 

 red spider, and many of our rose diseases, as they have 

 to be bunched so as to exclude air into all parts of the 

 plant, and here is where the little red fellow gets in his 

 best work and if they do get a hard syrinpiu^- they dry 

 out slowly, remaining, in some eases, wd nil iii^iht in 

 the heart of the plant. A house of ]>'vj: |ilaiii- nrtainly 

 looks very nice, but. always try to disciiiirage any 

 attempt at such. 



We always take the first crop of flowers that come 

 on the plants, cutting back to good eyes, and have fol- 

 lowed this up for years. This may look like robbing the 

 plants of their proper amount of wood for winter, but I 

 have found that in doing so we get strong wood in the 

 second crop, and by forcing the sap back the dormant 

 eyes are induced to break just above the graft as they 

 otherwise wouldn't, and it is from here we get our 

 finest flowers. 



Visitors here usually remark that the plants are more 

 ■dwarf than in other places; the above is the reason. 

 Another advantage is that when pruning the following 

 year the plants can be pruned lower and the wood from 

 the bottom breaks have well-ilr\rh,|i((l I'ves low down 

 which begin to swell as soon a- iIhv i^vi ihr water; then 

 we get the high grade stems wlm h iiiv -^ mucli desired. 



A Good Fertilizer 



Editor Horticulture;— I notice that Jlr. Oscar Hay offers 

 to advise ttie use and can give the constituency of his 

 special fertilizer for carnations and other plants. I, for 

 one, would be grateful for his response, through Horti- 

 culture. E. R. 



Nourishment being one of the most important factors 

 in plant growing, I, like many other gardeners, have 

 been experimenting with various substances and lately 

 have been using a fertilizer, sold under the name of 

 Plant Food. That seems to be more effectual and, in 

 case of over doing it, less harmful than others. It 

 seems to contain all the necessary chemicals in proper 

 percentage. For roses I put fifty pounds to the cord 

 in the soil about two weeks previous to filling the 

 benches. This is a small quantity but I do not believe 

 in making the soil too rich at the start. When the 

 roots begin to run out into the soil I put on ten pounds 

 to one hundred and fifty square feet, mixing it in and 

 pressing firm all over. I don't use it again for some 

 time, or until the plants begin to throw strong shoots 

 and good flowers appear, when I start in with six to ten 

 pounds to one hundred square feet applied every ten 

 days as long as the crop of flowers lasts; after which I 

 again stop stimulating until new growths appear. 

 For weak plants a little sprinkling of the fertilizer 

 given every week will soon make them strong and 

 vigorous. 



For chrysanthemums, palms and other plants I use 

 the fertilizer in liquid form. Carnations I treat in the 

 same manner as the roses. But better to have not given 

 them quite as much nor so often. The above mentioned 

 preparation is excellent for mixing in the soil for 

 potting, and I have also tried it on tomatoes under glass 

 with great success. 



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