April 22, 1916 



HOKTICULTURE 



565 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



CONDCCTED BY 



Water in the Vases 



This will have to be changed very often; daily, in 

 fact, would be best. If the water is allowed to remain 

 in the vases for a few days it will become stagnant and 

 bad, killing all the leaves that come into it, thus leav- 

 ing the roses very unsightly and difficult to sell. It is 

 also dangerous to handle roses that have been in bad 

 water for a while, for it is these as a rule that will 

 start blood poisoning when theii- thorns get into the 

 fingers of the man who has to handle them. The rose 

 jars will have to be washed at least once a week, and if 

 there are plenty of them put half of them out into tlie 

 sun some bright day to sweeten up. Filjre vases that 

 have begun to wear will last a great deal longer if 

 they are thoroughly dried up and given a good coat of 

 spar varnish being careful to apply plenty of it where 

 it is most needed, which is right on the bottom of the 

 vases on the outside near the edge. It is this part that 

 comes in contact with the shelves or the concrete floor 

 and as is natural it wears most. If the jars are not 

 varnished, the original varnish will soon wear ofE and 

 water will enter into the fibre, saturating it very slow- 

 ly, and after a while the jar will go to pieces. Al- 

 thougli the spar varnish, is expensive it can be made 

 to cover a good many vases and the time and money put 

 into this work mil be well spent. Earthen jars keep 

 the water mucli sweeter and may be easier to keep 

 clean, but they are very easy to break and even with 

 careful handling are bound to get broken. Those that 

 escape, however, will last forever. Barrels that are used 

 for keeping long-stemmed Beauties will have to receive 

 as much attention as the jars. They should not be var- 

 nished, however, or painted on the inside, for if they are 

 they will be a long time tightening up if they are ever 

 allowed to remain empty for a while and get leaky. 



Care of Plants That Are To Be Grown On 



Plants that will be dried ofT later, pruned and started 

 up again had better receive good care now so that all 

 the energy that they have will be preserved and the 

 plants start up real well when the time comes. Al- 

 though we do not recommend using much bone meal at 

 this time of the year, plants that are to be carried over 

 had better reccuve it all along, for if they are not to be 

 moved into other soil they will get all of the bone in 

 time and there will be no waste. It will also be neces- 

 sary to keep the plants clean by constant syringing and 

 fumigating regularly to keep greenfly in check. See 

 that they are well mulched from now on, so that they 

 will not suffer in the lea.«t from exposure. Do not use 

 too much j)ressure when watering so as not to disturb 

 the surface mulch very much, and hold the liose parallel 

 to the bench when watering instead of holding it at 

 right angles. This will help keep the mulch in place 

 and will not wash it toward the center of the bench 

 where it would soon pile high, being of very little bene- 

 fit to the center rows, and more likely to do harm by 

 l<('epiiig the plants too wet all the time. 



The Sod Heaps 



•Ml soil that was not put up in the fall should be 

 pushed right along now, so that th(> soil wall be readv 



when the time comes to plant. In jiiling up the sod it 

 is best not to make the layers too thick. The first oi' 

 ground layer can be a foot in thickness but the remain- 

 ing layers should be only about six inches, and then a 

 coat of manure. This is repeated until the heap is as 

 high as it is wanted. Should manure arrive too late 

 to be put into the sod heap it can be piled right on top, 

 turning the hose into it alDOut once a week so as to sat- 

 urate all the soil in the heap. This will help a good 

 deal in mixing the soil and tlie manure, especially if 

 it is done while the sod is still alive, as the roots of the 

 grass will then catch a great deal of the manure iuad 

 store it, leaving it in the soil when they die. If the 

 water is not turned into the heap, chances are that the 

 manure will not work into the soil at all, or if it will 

 it will not go through properly so that there will be a 

 great deal of the soil about the same as when it comes 

 from the field, merely having lumps of manure in it. 

 This is not ideal rose soil, it being much better if a 

 large portion of the manure is dissolved and absorbed 

 by the sod, turning this very dark in color. Many grow- 

 ers add bone meal to the sod when the heap is being 

 put up but we would rather put the bone in just before 

 the soil is taken into the houses. It will lie quite a 

 while before the roots get through all of it, giving the 

 bone ))lenty of time to decay. 



Bonemeal for Roses 



HORTC'ULTURE Pub. Cc. 



Your article on rose culture in issue of March 25, written 

 by Arthur C. Ruzicka, recommends liquid manure only. I 

 have always found bone meal necessary. Bone meal is not 

 soluble in water. How about it? Constant Reiader. 



I was wrong in stating that bonemeal was not solu- 

 ble in water. What I really meant was that a large p<3r- 

 tion of it will not dissolve at once, thus wasting quite 

 a little, and it is always waste that will eat into the prof- 

 its of the growers. If you will watch my articles you 

 will see I recommend plenty of bone both in the soil 

 and applied all fall and early winter. If this is done 

 as we do it the liquid manure will suffice in the spring 

 and there will be very little unused bone going out with 

 the soil. Growers who can use all their old soil to good 

 advantage will not have to be so careful for they will 

 get it back in hay, com or whatever crops the old soil 

 is used for. I could not recommend heavy applications 

 of bone meal in the spring on plants that are to be 

 thrown out and feel right about it for I know frojn ex- 

 perience that a good portion of the bone is not consumed. 

 We use plenty of bone in the fall and early winter, as 

 T have stated above, and I advise others to do the same, 

 and will again when fall conies around if T am still 

 here to write for TTokticulture. As for using other 

 |)reparations such as tankage, blood and bone, etc., 1 

 often use all of them, but find it rather difficult to ad- 

 vise others to do so, owing to the fact that Horticul- 

 ture's circulation covers the whole country and what 

 we would call tankage here may be something alto- 

 gether ditTerent elsewhere as far as actual analysis goes, 

 if tlicro was only one brand of bone, blood and bone, 

 sheep manure, etc., it would be very simple, as growers 

 could not go wrong. Tiiere arc many places both pri-, 

 vate and commercial that have no facilities for apply- 

 ing liquid manure. We receive many letters which are 

 often answered by mail, asking advice as to this or that, 

 and any good fertilizer or other article used in the 

 greenhouse or garden will not go unrecomnuMuled where 

 the user will profit by if. There are plenty of wide awake 

 growers who are always on the lookout for new things 

 that arc better than what we have had. thus insiiiin;> 

 sales for anv good aiiiile well advertised. 



