November 3, 1917 



HORTICULTURE 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



CONDOCTEI 



CONDUCTED BT 



Questions by our readers In line with any o( the topics presented on this page will be cordially reoelred andpromptly answered 

 by Mr. Buzlcka. Such communications should Inyarlibly be addressed to the office of HOBTICULTUEB. 



Thermometers 



One can hardly be too careful when selecting these 

 for the gi'eenhoiises, and woe be unto the grower who 

 cannot see why he should pay two dollars or more for 

 a thermometer when a 'Ihc. one will do. There is an 

 old saying dad nsed to tell me — "lace za lace a penize 

 zadarmo"" — which I cannot translate and make it 

 sound right, but its uiciUiing is that the cheapest is not 

 always the best, and quality should be considered first 

 — price last, lest the money be thrown away for naught. 

 Get a good thermometer and house it right in a neat 

 box painted white, for if hung up without protection 

 from the sun's rays the metal will heat up a good deal 

 thus causing the thermometer to register a much higher 

 temperature than there really is. Then, too, if a ther- 

 mometer is not protected properly, it is bound to get 

 knocked around when syringing or doing other work 

 around the roses, and this is not good for a delicate 

 instrument easily dfimagcd by rough handling. 



Watch for the Drip 



It has been a very wet and disagreeable fall witii us 

 "out West," so far. Even if all the houses are tight 

 there will surely be more or less condensation, and it 

 will drip on the back rows of the benches and start spot 

 and raise havoc in more than one way. It will bo 

 necessary to see that the driji grooves on the sash bars 

 are not stopped up. It is easy to tell on a wet day 

 where these need cleaning. Often a drop of paint or a 

 spider's nest will .«top the drip channel. Clean it out 

 and the condensation will then flow downward and 

 drip where it was intended it should. It is not neces- 

 sary to go over all the bars. One can easily '^(^o whoi-p 

 the trouble is and remove the cause. 



Mice and Rats 



It seems only yesterday that I wrote something about 

 these pests, yet shortly after the article appeared we 

 visited a private gardener at Greenwich, Conn., who 

 was troubled with a lat climlu'ng the grapevines at 

 night and eating and disfiguiing lovely bunches, and 

 no amount of coaxing and sotting of traps, poisons, 

 etc., could "get" this marauder. The best way is to get 

 them while they are young. Mice are easy, as the com- 

 mon trap when well baited and set will clean thorn out 

 I letter than any cat. I'"or rats, set all traps with bacon 

 for bait, using new canvas gloves when handling the 

 traps. We find the rat trap made on the same style 

 as the little mouse traps the most efficient. Keej) the 

 traps set as these animals will soon be moving into 

 warm quarters for the winter and they can do a lot of 

 damage if allowed to multiply. We do not like to use 

 poisons as these are more or less dangerous and then 

 the rat will die in the wrong place. Should the place 

 become overrun and poison is resorted to, feed the rats 

 unpoisoned food for a time and then poison it. One 

 great objection to poison is (hat rats will often store 



things and the poisoned food may get into the wrong 

 stomach. Never use the same food or poison as they 

 will not touch it the second time. 



Feeding 



With the weather dark and wet all the time one 

 hardly knows what to do as regards feeding, and must 

 at best proceed very cautiously. Do not let the plants 

 starve and become hard. Apply feed regularly as they 

 need it, not in heavy doses but in amounts sufficient 

 to keep them going all the time. Use bonemeal, tank- 

 age, blood and bone, any of thosfe and plenty of former, 

 as it is a good safe plant food. Wliichever is used 

 see that the plants are wet enough w'hen it is applied, 

 for if dry at the roots they will take up the food too 

 leadily and it will burn the roots and check the plant 

 so that it will hadly ever grow again, as sap cannot 

 flow through its branches, unless the plant happens to 

 break from the bottom, which is quite unlikely. It is 

 easy to pick out these plants, as they look as if they bad 

 the "yellows," a disease so common to ast'>rs. 



Mulching Solid Benches 



Unless these are jilanted to Beauties, it will be best 

 not to apply any mulch not needed to kec|i the surface 

 of the soil rough and open, and depend on using plant 

 foods mentioned above, if they can be bought. Many 

 have advanced to a prohibitive figure and some cannot 

 be bought at all. Solid benches have a tendency to stay 

 too wet and cold all the time during tiie winlor and a 

 heavv mulch over these would be hound to keep them 

 from drying out even as often as they do. With a 

 rough light mulcli on the benches to keep surface open 

 and prevent washing and then careful inucliing so 

 plauts are never cut off altogether, there should be no 

 ti-ouble to make these benches move along. They will 

 come along slowly, stocking up for spring when there 

 should be something happening along the rows of 

 ;ilar.ts in solid benches. 



Last Call for Repairs 



A- this is being written, snow is slowly piling up 

 outside, reminding me more and more of that "Indian 

 Summer" that has not arrived. Soon it will be quite 

 cold and disagreeable to get on the roofs to put in 

 broken glass, so the sooner the work is done the 

 better, as it is a loss of heat to leave any openings 

 anywhere, starting mildew, or cold rain coming in and 

 getting the plants all wet when they should be dry and 

 Marm. If repair work has not been done got at it right 

 away. Use a little jiaint on the bar before applying 

 )nitty and cut off all putty hanging over the bar on the 

 inside, and it pays to paint the thin layer over too, as 

 putty always falls out on the inside and the paint will 

 iiclfi hold it. Be sure to place glass bowed side up 

 otherwise it will crack \ery soon ami fall out during 

 some windstorm. 



