January 22, 1916 



HORTIOULTUEE 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 





» CONDUCTED BY 



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

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



The Zero Weather 



With the theriuometer down to teu alJ day, and down 

 to nearly or behjw zero at night the boilers w"ill be 

 called on to put in their real work of the season and the 

 whole heating sA'stem will be put to a test. If there are 

 no pipe clamps, wooden plugs large enough to plug up 

 the different mains should this Ijg necessary in case of 

 a break, see that these are ordered at once and kept on 

 hand. An extra grate or two will also come handy 

 should one break on a very cold night. See that all 

 slipped glass is pushed up, and securely tacked. It is 

 too late to wish that it was done la.st summer biit sliould 

 serve as a good lesson for the coming summer. It may 

 be too cold to work on the roof of the liouses but a long 

 stick can be used to push the slipped glass back into 

 place where it will stay until the next windstonn, when 

 it wiU slip again no doubt, but it \vill be better than 

 ha\ing the cold wind blowing in on a zero night. See 

 that the coal bins are kept full. If the supply nins low 

 during a severe blizzard it is no fun for anyone to look 

 around for wood, especially as it is carelessness on 

 someone's part not ordering the coal on time. If there 

 are any places where the water mains are exposed to 

 the weather see that these are covered witli manure or 

 straw. These mains may not be exposed altogether but 

 may not be very deep in the ground. The cost of cover- 

 ing this ground is little compared to what it would cost 

 should the cold weather continue and the ground freeze 

 dee]), freezing the water main? with it. 



Watering 



With plenty of artifloial heat under the benches these 

 are apt to dry out faster than is customary, and often 

 from the bottom up, so it will be well to look over the 

 benche.s daily and note the condition of the soil all the 

 way down. If this is inclined to be dry at all a good 

 watering will be necessary, as the warm dry soil wWX 

 damage the roots a good deal and may result in a 

 severe check to the plants. Beauties will be the very 

 first to feel this and if it happens too often they will go 

 completely blind. Where the water comes out of an 

 elevated tank outside, which as a rule is full of ice, it 

 will be too cold to use on tiie plants, although many 

 growers use it. We find it best to run the water main 

 right with the heating mains and this will take enough 

 of the chill off to make the water better for the plants. 

 Tlie colder the weatlier the warmer will the mains be, 

 and will thus heat the water all the innic. When the 

 weather is warmer the mains will be ccjoirr b\it thru the 

 water will not be so cold. 



on the ra-sh impulse of a disordered mind with the full 

 intent to commit murder and perhaps suicide. The 

 case in point was not one where it could be charged u]) 

 to "rum" or "drugs" or any other of the stereotyped 

 causes of moral delinquency. There are many more 



Repotting the Young Stock 



Plants that were potted along the middle of December 

 will soon be in need of larger quarters in order to keep 

 on growing all the time. For this work soil of a richer 

 mixture can be used, not so much in fertilizers as 

 in plenty of well decayed manure, A little more bone- 

 meal can be added to this soil than what was added for 

 the first potting and if it can be had, a least touch of 

 soot. The amount of this should not be excessive as it 

 is very strong and would on coming into contact with 

 the bonemeal liberate a good deal of ammonia which 

 the bone contains, and this would be apt to make the 

 plants sick for a while. The pots for the .second potting 

 should be three-inch if the space for the plants is 

 limited. If there is plenty of room, potting directly 

 into three-and-a-half inch or fours will be best as there 

 will be no further work with the plants outside of scrap- 

 ing and resetting them as they grow. Have the pots 

 clean and well crocked, A little charcoal added to the 

 crock will help keep the soil sweet but of late we have 

 used only a little coal ashes, screened to remove the real 

 coarse cinders. Make sure that the plants are potted 

 deep enough for the old ball should never stick out of 

 the soil in the new pot. It is also necessary to see that 

 the plants are wet enough before they are repotted as it 

 would be difficult to water them properly after they are 

 in the larger pots, as the water would drain through the 

 new soil and the old ball would remain dry. Any poor 

 plants should be either thrown away or set aside to be 

 given another chance if the variety is a valuable one. 

 With plenty of wood and cuttings, however, it is best to 

 discard all poor cuttings first and then again discard 

 all poor plants on the second potting. Make sure that 

 the pots are not filled too much with soil. The nature 

 of your soil will have to determine just how much space 

 should be left at the top for water. To make watering 

 easy this space sliould be deep enough so that when 

 filled with water the amount it will hold will saturate 

 all the soil in the pot very nicely. This will make 

 watering easy and eliminate all guess work as a grower 

 will know just how wet his plants are after watering. 

 Then too, witli foreign help watering, at times it is diffi- 

 cult to make a man understand just how luucli water is 

 necessary but it is simple to tell him to fill all the pots 

 up full. In watering, tlie outside rows should always 

 receive a watering first and then the whole bench had 

 better be watered evenly all over. This will insure (he 

 outside rows beiuir a? wet as the rows further in. 



cases of a similar character of daily occui-rence the dif- 

 ference here being only that this tragedy concerns a 

 member of our craft and so comes directly home to us 

 with startling reality. It sliould not be so ea.sy f"v -^u. '• 

 things to occur. 



