January 15, 1916 



HORTICULTURE 



73 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



CONDUCTED BY 



~ CONDUCTED BY 



lill Qnestlons by our readers In line with any of the topics presented on tbls page will be cordially received and promptly answered 

 lill by Mr. Ruzleka. Such communications should Invariably be addressed to the office of HORTICULTURE. 



Keeping Tab on Young Stock 



It will b(i of great advautage lu the gmwei- to plan 

 his next year's planting right now and prnpagale the 

 plants for the different honses accordingly. H' some of 

 the houses are to be planted real late it is still too early 

 to put the cuttings in, especially if all the benches are 

 doing good, as the space the young ]ilants would take 

 will be too valuable. Then too the plants get (piite big 

 in the four-inch pots, and if it is not ]Mjssible to give 

 tiieni all the room they will need they will not keep very 

 well, as they are hard to syringe and water when they 

 get too big. We like to give the cuttings four months 

 to make plants large enough. Sometimes even less. 

 This will keep them on the move all the time and there 

 will Ije little danger of stunting. After the first potting 

 we always allow one-tenth of the nitmber for dead ones 

 and another tenth of the nunilier for poor plants that 

 will not be perfect enough to use. In this way we have 

 no trouble to have the required number on hand at the 

 proper time. It is necessary to know when the houses 

 are to be planted however, in order to work this scheme 

 out well. 



Keep the Young Plants Clean 



See that there is no greenfly, spider, or mildew- to hin- 

 der the young plants. If allowed to become infested 

 now they will show the mark all through their life. It 

 is difficult to spray the young stock unless it is done 

 with a brass greenhouse sjTinge, as the fly will get under 

 the leaves and it is almost impossible to get at them. 

 Smoking will take them out however, and a little 

 syringing following will clean whatever fly there may 

 be if this is done once every week. This syringing will 

 also take care of the spider, wdiich should not appear 

 as yet unless the wood used for cuttings w^as infested. 

 Great care should be taken not to get any mildew on the 

 young plants as this would prove a severe check to their 

 growth and they would always be getting it even after 

 they are planted into the benches. Should a speck of 

 mildew appear here and there, see that a little sulphur 

 is ap])lied to the pipes, or that they are sprayed at once 

 with Fungine. We would not dust the little ]>lants with 

 sulphur as this is likely to work into the soil, and it is 

 likely to do harm. So do not dust them unless there 

 is no other way out. It is also very important to keej) 



the surface of the soil in the jjots free from green seuin. 

 If nice clean pots were used tliere will not be very much 

 trouble from this (lirerti(ni until after the plants have 

 been in the pots for quite a while. At any rate it should 

 be removed with small scrapers as soon as it gets at all 

 bad. All dead or poor plants can be removed while this 

 work is done and at the same time all the tall plants 

 set on the north side of the bench if the houses run east 

 and west. The small plants should come forward to the 

 south side so they will get more light and air and get a 

 better chance to dry out. Placing the plants in this 

 way will give all of them a good chance to come along, 

 for if it were not done the taller and stronger ones would 

 soon crowd out the smaller and weaker, which would fall 

 to blackspot and other diseases, and these would likely 

 spread to the stronger plants later. 



Ventilation on Cloudy Days 



It will be necessary to be very careful on cloudy days, 

 for those are the days that mildew is bound to work in. 

 Never run the houses np to more than 70. 66 is about 

 right. If they are kept cooler than this they are liable 

 to chill the plants, and a sprinkling of mildew will be 

 the result. There are wet foggy days at times when it 

 is best not to open the ventilators at all, except in the 

 wide house. Much air should not be carried on days 

 like these, a small crack being all that will be safe. If 

 the house persists in going up turn off the heat a little 

 and keep the temperature down. A clear day following 

 a day or two or more of fogg}' weather will set the plants 

 back into shape again if the houses are not allowed to 

 get too warm. 70 or 73 will be plenty, and the plants 

 will not feel the change; so much. On the second or 

 third clear day the temperature can be brought up to the 

 regular heat for days, namely 76-78. The plants may 

 wilt a little the first clear day but this will not hurt 

 them any. If they are kept cool they will not wilt so 

 badly. As near as we could ascertain this is caused l)y 

 the inactive roots which get lazy during the cloudy 

 weather, and when a clear day comes along, taking a 

 good deal of water from the leaves, the roots are not 

 right there to supply the necessary amount. They will 

 soon get to work again though and with renewed energ}- 

 as a nile. it will also be better for tiie plants if they 

 are not syringed until the second clear day after a 

 cloudy spell. 



THE RIGHTS OF AN EMPLOYEE. 



\V. H. Fowkes of Cooperstown, N. 

 Y., writes in appreciative and compli- 

 mentary terms regarding the commu- 

 nication wliicli appeared on page 60 

 of last week's issue of Hokticii.i ire. 

 on the practice of reflecting on one's 

 employee without proof. "It often 

 liappens," says Mr. Fowkes, "that a 

 man leaves an employer in a fair, hon- 

 est manner to take a higher paid po- 

 sition. The employer, not seeing his 



way clear to pay the man a salary 

 sufficient to retain him, yet is resent- 

 ful and \nuvilling to give liim the 

 good reference he merits, while on 

 the other hand another employer will 

 give an employee an overdrawn refer- 

 ence in order to get rid of him." Mr. 

 Fowkes cites an instance in support 

 of the foregoing where the head gar- 

 dener on a large estate after two 

 years' satisfactory service incurred 

 the jealousy of the superintendent 

 and after resigning his position found 



the resultant animosity standing in 

 the way of his obtaining another posi- 

 tion. 



(K course, such cases of injustice 

 and malignity are all too common, but 

 they are far from being the rule, and 

 there are two sides to every question. 

 The article which Mr. Fowkes com- 

 mends was published to show those 

 who consider themselves agrieved or 

 persecuted just what their legal rights 

 are in such encounters and we are 

 glad if it serves this purpose. 



