March 10, 1917 



HORTICULTURE 



301 



Ventilation 



J'luper loul<iiig-aftrr the M'litilaticiu dues not nieai) 

 morel)' keepiiiji- the temperatures where they should he. 

 as often the teiiqjeratures ai'e all that could be desired 

 and yet the roses will not thrive, for some reason or an- 

 other. Often this can he traced to insufficient aii'. 

 especially at this time of the year. After a little ex- 

 perience a grower should be ahlo to tell whether a house 

 needs air as soon as he enters one, and if aii- slioiiltl be 

 needed it should be applied c\fii if an ailditidual steam 

 pipe or two should have to he turned mi tn ,i;i\e the 

 house the temtJerature which is required. From now on. 

 air will have to be given more freely than ever, and ex- 

 cel it on very windy nights, a crack of air should he car- 

 ried all night unless the temperature outside drops to 

 ■i(i dearees F.. when the houses can lie closed to save 

 coal. Private growers who do not have to be cutting 

 down operating expenses can carry a little air often even 

 though the tem])erature outside is iielow 'Hi, es)iecially 

 where they have hot water heat, and only a ]iipe or two 

 of steam, used only when iieeiled. Sometimes with a 

 heavy crop just finishing it would |iay eveji the com- 

 mercial grower to carry a little air, for the buds would 

 color much better with air and cooli;r temperature. (Jive 

 the plants all the air needed hut do not overdo it — not 

 that it would hurt the i)lants any, hut it would certainly 

 hurt the coal pile, and as the coal is going up and up. 

 too much air would mean a tient in the jjocketbook. 



Temperature in Ice Box 



See that the ice box is properly eooled now that war- 

 mer weather is here, aiul the natui'ai coUl cannot he fle- 

 pended on any longer. Buds open and develop surjn-is- 

 ingly fast in fresh water and a warm box, and a warm 

 box for a day or two niav mean nuui\' dollars gone, lost 

 on roses that have opened too far. and have to be sold at 

 a sacrifice or thrown awav altoji'thei'. Between i2 and 

 .")0 is jileuty cold enough, with 4."i as a irood medium. 

 The best wav is to follow the stuff once in a while and 

 see how it handles. This will decide the ))roper temjiera- 

 tures for the ice box. Shipments going any distance 

 will have to be iced to kee]) the roses from opening too 

 much. When this is done care should be taken not to 



let any of the ice or water come in contact with the buds, 

 as these would he hurt, and disfigured so as to be un- 

 sable after being exposed to the air. Have the ice 

 crushed to about the size of walnuts so as not to briiisi> 

 tile foliage between the chunks of ice. 



Get Busy in the Garden 



There is no reason why a rose grower sliould not also 

 lie a gardener even if only on a very small scale. With 

 the price of vegetafiles and fruit away up in the air, (juite 

 a saving can be made by having your own. Then, too. 

 what a difference in the taste of the fresh picked 

 vegetables, and the greens that have been lying around 

 the store a while. There is always a little space in the. 

 rose houses where plants can be started and grown to a 

 very good size, so that when sining opens out, it will not 

 take a whole sea.son to get some vegetables. It is always 

 nice too to have a i|uantity of fruit on hand, and with 

 a little planning this can easily be accomplished. Prune 

 all grapevines now. if the work has not been done as yet. 

 (fo over the apples, too; also all small fruit such as 

 gooselierries and currants, raspberries, etc. Wat<;h for 

 scale on all trees and shrubs and if any show, spray at 

 once with lime and sulphur, Scaline or some of the good 

 soluble oils advertised. We use only caustic soda and 

 water and have had no scale on apple trees since the scale 

 started. Be careful to use a weaker mixture on all peach 

 t lees, also plu ms, as the buds ou these are not closed so 

 tiglit as a]iples and ]iears, and should an equally strong 

 mixture be used on these, many of the buds would be 

 killed very likely. Go over all peaches and plums for 

 black knot, and be sure to burn all affected branches. 

 n<i not prune the cherries very much for these as a rule 

 do not grow very thick. Do not neglect to have a flower 

 Liardeii. .V I'ose grower has one great help — old green- 

 house soil. .\dd a little bone or manure, and the results 

 obtained will l)e wonderful. Plant plenty of perennials. 

 These come in long before other flowers and are worth 

 many times their cost. 



Plant Now for Summer Bloom 



Where loses are wanted in the sumincr, it will be 

 necessary to plant early — now. Of course it is necessary 

 Id have the jilants in shape to go into the lienches, also 

 to have the soil in condition for the plants to take. With 

 earlv planting fiut plenty of bonemeal into the soil, and 

 if it is at all possible secure some real coarse bone such 

 as is used by fruit growers, and mix this well into the 

 soil. This will give the plants plenty to eat. As a rule 

 earlv planted plants have a long season ahead of them. 

 Fse ])lenty of manure, and pile the benches half an inch 

 more than would be done for regular work. This will 

 settle down as the manure dissolves and by the time 

 winter comes there will not be too much soil in the 

 lienches. Use good plants, good soil, clean the benches 

 well, and take care of the plants after planting. 



and s]ieakers have told them. Some sterilize the soil, 

 some use a good grinder, some take suli-soil. Most 

 growers prepare their bench soil in the field, plowins 

 in rye and cow peas, dressing heavily and using plow 

 aiid harrow often. All these ways are good. One s^ife 

 way is to [lile sod and dressing in layers in tlie autumn, 

 and let the frost go away through it all winter and cut 

 it over once or twice after frost, adding bone or lime if 

 needed, thus securing a uniformly incorporated com- 

 post ready for the roots. These sod piles are placed 

 near the carnation bouses for convenience in filling 

 benches and to be within reach of the hose in drv sea- 

 .sons. A special mixture can be made for varieties of 

 carnations needina' heavy or light soil and a section also 



suitable for mulching. Expensive! Yes, it costs more. 

 but look at some of the ranges where carnations have 

 proved unsatisfactory and see whether poorly pre]iared 

 soil was at the bottom of the trouble. A penny saved 

 is not so good as two pennies earned. 



In our effort to do better growing this next season, 

 shall we try indoor growing? It's safe every time if 

 done skilfully and the blooms u]! to December are bet- 

 ter than from field nlants. 



