For June, 1923 



149 



established and s^rowinj; well in the Summer time, it is 

 almost impossible to overwater them. Cultivate them by 

 hand, rubbing over the surface of the soil aljout once a 

 week for the first six weeks after planting. After this 

 time, the plants are generally readv for a mulch of ma- 

 nure, or manure with loam in. Jiefore this is put on, you 

 may sprinkle with bone if you failed to get enough into 

 3'our soil at planting time. 



The regular routine work, such as springing, fumi- 

 gating", tying, pinching or disbudding, should be faithfully 

 attended to, to gfet the best results. Ventilate early in the 

 morning, commencing' as the temperature shows the first 

 sign of rising. In the hot Spring months this is es- 

 pecially important. Avoid letting the house get hot early 

 in the morning and then giving a great deal of air to 

 cool it off. This is a sure way to get mildew and the best 

 ];reventive of mildew is early morning ventilation. The 

 more air we can give on all sunny days and the better we 

 can keep up the required temperature, the better results 

 we shall get. Some of you nia_\- have had a nice, new 

 house, as tight as a drum, and yet have not gotten as good 

 results in it as you did in a house not so tight. We venti- 

 late to regulate the heat and to supply our plants with 

 carbunic acid, of which there is said to be twenty-one 

 ounces in everv sc|uare foot of the air overlying the earth's 

 surface. It should be remembered that this is a constant 

 quantity, and is far in excess of the plants' requirements. 

 It would seem, then, that if we give too much air on cloudy 

 days, wdien the plants cannot assimilate the carbon, we 

 may do damage, but in greenhouse practice it happens 

 that on sunny days we naturally have to give more air than 

 on cloudy ones. It is a point worth remembering, and it 

 is well not to overdo the fresh air in dark weather, when 

 the plants cannot assimilate it. 



P^ailures in rose growing are more often due to lack 

 of attention than to lack of knowledge. Do not make the 

 mistake of trusting to one idea or jumping at conclusions, 

 or considering one point all-important. On benches, too 

 much water carelessly applied at one time will wash away 

 and leach out much of the nitrogen, whereas on 

 solid beds there is some possibility of recovering 

 a jjart of this by capillary attraction. 



We have now a wonderful lot of roses to grow. New- 

 ones are being sent out this year, and we are promised 

 still more for next year. Great strides have been made. 

 I do not think that we shall ever see the perfect rose. I 

 rather hope not, for it seems that if we ever attained per- 

 fection, there would be an end of all endeavor, and the joy 

 of trying out new varieties would be at an end. 



The four great principles of plant life are absorption, 

 assimilation, evaporation and propagation, and in the 

 proper functioning of these depend the life of the plant 

 and our returns. 



Plants absorb carbonic acid through their leaves, through 

 the influence of sunlight. They absorb through their roots 

 the moisture of the soil and water saturated with the 

 soluble mineral elements wdiich the plant needs through 

 the capillarity of the root system. There is no such thing 

 as the roots absorbing solid matter. They absorb what 

 thev can, or wdiat they require for their sustenance, and 

 give off the balance by evaporation, besides making the 

 flowers for our commercial benefit. 



However, the soil must be in the right physical con- 

 dition to promote the growth of the nitrifying bacteria and 

 must have a medium for carrying the bacteria. Peat is a 

 good medium for this purpose. It must have water, air, 

 warmth. A temperature of 75 to 100 degrees is best for 

 this purpose; this tells us why the Summer time is the 

 time to grow our plants. Get an early start and grow 

 a large plant before Fall, if you want to make any money 

 "•rowing roses. Too much water will exclude the air and 



arrest the process of nitrification. I was taught that the 

 nitrification stops wdien it reaches its limit and then the 

 reverse takes place, the so-called denitrification. 



ROSES UNDER GLASS 



D-\L'K to the Cotswolds and early days, and the palm 

 ■"-^ for Tea Roses under glass is ungrudgingly given to 

 "<Jl(l Jarge," "T' Pa'ason's" gardener in that old 

 fashioned rectory garden on the Cotswold Hills, writes 

 K. Dublin in The Garden. The "grinhus" was to all in- 

 tents and purposes a rose-house, climbing varieties, 

 among which "Glor}' de John"' loomed large, practically 

 covering all root space. It seemed a case of singleness of 

 purpose accomplishing more than a plurality of talent, for 

 the worthy Rector, whose tastes for following the hounds 

 little pleased the proletariat of the parish prone to stray 

 into the "Alethody" fold, leaving him with but few of 

 the faithful to care for, took a liberal share in gardening 

 generally to the end of taking credit for success or blame 

 for failure, but in the "grinhus" "Old Jarge" was "ant 

 Cfesar aut nullus." 



DiGRE.ssixc; AND Rii.M iNisciXG. — Certainlv as "sextant'' 

 "Old Jarge" was invested with a certain amount of 

 ecclesiastical dignity, the more especially as, by the 

 keener critics of his master's theology, he was 

 credited with (or accused of) having a hand in concocting 

 the Sunday sermon. This he did not affirm, yet it was 

 rather suspicious that he never denied it : but there may 

 have been less truth in that than in the report that on a 

 certain Sunday morning only the twain turned up for the 

 service, and when ''T' Pa'ason'' mounted to the top story 

 of the shaky old three-decker pulpit, "Jarge," handing 

 up the ponderous church key, asked him to "lock up 

 when he'd done, there being no use in his a'waiting."' 

 That happened prior to my migration to the Cotswolds 

 in 1873, for the minimum congregation personally expe- 

 rienced (including myself) was seven. 



"You may break, you may shatter, the vase as you 

 will, but the scent of the Roses will hang round it still," 

 and fragrant memories gratefully crop up of "Old 

 Jarge's" Roses. He lived with them and for them a long 

 and happy life. That was the time wdien the brave old 

 Marechal Niel was in the heyday of youth and beauty, 

 and "Jarge," who managed to secure buds from 

 "T' Squire's'' garden (Squire Elwes of Colesborne, father 

 of the late ^Ir. H. J. Elwes) soon converted them into 

 half-standards potted up for "t' grinhus." Could one 

 ever forget those glorious canary-colored, oval-shaped 

 blooms never seen equalled since, compared with which 

 the now rarely seen ^larechal of latter days is of decidedly 

 degraded rank. No ! for the exquisite perfume comes 

 v\-afted back over years. "Old Jarge" and his Roses were 

 talked of from "Cisseter" ( Cirencester) to Cheltenham. 



But there came times when good relations "twixt gar- 

 den (or rather "grinhus") and house were strained al- 

 most to breaking point. Those were the "feeding times" 

 when "Jarge," after soaking the border with rain watei; 

 from the cistern, followed it up by many buckets of 

 nourishing liquid from the sewage tank, and all the rec- 

 tory windows on the windward side were kept religiously 

 closed. Another critical period was wdien "Jarge" 

 "smoked t' grinhus," and the same exclusive method was 

 perforce repeated by the maids. "Zeed old Jarge a 

 scratching hisself in t' grinhus this marning" was the sure 

 and certain sign that he had seen signs of green fly, his 

 "bete vert.'' on his beloved, and weather permitting, 

 fumigation would follow that evening. So much in sym- 

 pathy was the old man with the objects of his love and 

 care that was- there any signs of their discomfort he was 

 telepathically uncomfortable, too. I'ut, as Dean Hole 

 would have said, he had Roses in his heart. 



