336 



HORTI CU LTU RE, 



September 29, 1906 



have then time to make new roots before frost. For 

 big conifer;^, if they have to be shipped a great dis- 

 tance, I wouhl prefer spring phinting. exeept for trees 

 that are in first-class moving condition. Transidanting 

 a siiort distance, with any of tlie apparatus in use for 

 that purpose, can be done just as successfully in fall or 

 ■spring or when frozen in winter. For very big speci- 

 mens I prefer the last mentioned ; big frozen balls are 

 'fiasier and less expensive to handle than soft soil that 

 wants special preparation. The care to be given after 

 transplanting everyl)ody knows — plenty of water and 

 heavy mulching. 



Conifers in general are subject to variation in size 

 and color due to seed propagation or climatic condi- 

 tion. In their wild natural state some tine forms have 

 been found with longer or shorter needles; compact, 

 erect, of spreading habit, and in more or less intense 

 blue or yellow in color; some such have also been 

 raised from the seed beds. A curious fact to be noted 

 about variation is the tendencj' of some of the American 

 conifers to take that blue color in certain localities, 

 which is so seldom .seen in the conifers of other coun- 

 tries. In Japan the i)lue is found only in ;. few 

 instances, the yellow and variegated seeming to prevail. 

 Some of those forms reproduce themselves in a great 

 percentage from seeds if tlie seeds are taken from 

 strongly marked specimens. Many of those forms have 

 been propagated and sold by the nurseries and these 

 include some of our most ornamental trees. 



The best way to ])ropagatx> them all is from seeds 

 when seeds can be obtained. When seeds are not 

 obtainable they can l>e made by grafts or cuttings. 

 Grafting is the fpiickest way ; a one-year-old graft is 

 about etpial to a three-year-old cutting, and except 

 arborvitae, retinospora. some junipers and dwarf 

 spruces there are many that cannot be propagated by 

 cuttings. Abies are grafted on A. pectinata balsamica ; 

 Picea on Norway spruce; it is easier to get hemlock on 

 hemlock, varieties of arborvita?. retinospora and thuy- 

 opsis on common arborvita;, juniperus according to 

 species on red cedar or a common juniper, five needled 

 pines on strobus and the others on any common kind 

 easy to get. 



The stock to graft on has to be put in pots in spring, 

 the pots half buried outside and mulched, and left 

 there until they have had a few degrees of frost, when 

 they are taken in; about December or January they 

 begin to nmve and can be grafted with grafts taken 

 from outside. After grafting the pots are buried in 

 moist sawdust or moss in frames in the greenhou-se with 

 a Ijottom heat of fiO to 75 degrees. They have to be 

 aired every morning, kept damp not wet, but watered 

 when necessary; in about six weeks they begin to 

 "take;" air is given over night; the wild stocks are 

 cleaned of shoots and soon the plants can be put in an 

 ordinarv sreenhouse to lie hardened. 



.^.^^^ W-— ^^^^^-^»*^ 



Rose House Wisdom 



The paper ri-a<l liy Julm 11. l)iiulnp liufiirc the 

 Canadian Horticultural Association was certainly an 

 admirable one. Jn it he says: "lla\e we not men who 

 feel the necessity and have the courage to risk the rais- 

 ing of seedlings. wIki are spending time and money in 

 the endeavor to gixc us something more and lietter 

 suited to our requirements?" ilr. Dtinlop was in the 

 business before many of us ever thought of knowing 

 anything about roses, when we were simply gro|)ing our 

 way. I know it is a tedious undertaking to raise some- 

 thing that will suit the requirements of the average 

 ro.se grower, and sonu'thing that will be appreciated by 

 the public, and lastly something that can be made to 

 pay for the s])ace which it (iccu[)ies, i)ut the great 

 trouble bas been tliat when a rose has lieen found to 

 suit many nf the ahme requirements its (ip]»ortunitv has 

 been sim])ly killed by over [jropagating. or, by using 

 rooting or grafting wood that is entirely unsuitalile for 

 the purpose for which it was intcndc^d. 



1 have no axe to grind in tiiis matter; I simply give 

 my views. A'ahie ought to be given for value rneived 

 and if thirty cents to one dollar \>vr |)lant is cbarged, 

 tben value for that amount ought to be given as it is 

 surely expected. Selected wood ought to be used even 

 tliouirb it takes one year longer to get it. Many a man 

 lias invested in sonietliing new and has been di--gu.sted 

 with the results attained the first year. T saw a house 

 of a certain rose which canu' out witli glowing descrip- 

 tions, to fill a long felt want; the plants in question 

 were own-roots received, I think, in May; they had been 

 ])ropagat(Ml from very weak and small wood, but the 

 price was as advertised. They had to be coddled, 

 petted and fed. and by the following spring they were 

 fairly good plants, hut almost nothing had been got from 

 them till then. Had this same space been used for 

 something different tbe bank account would have been 

 much larger. And the year after a new rose has been 

 sent out the same thing is again gone over; the demand 

 is great from those who didn't buy the first year, then 

 tbe stock is sometimes subjected to another set-back l)y 

 tbose having it to sell — topping young plants ami root- 

 ing tlie soft wood, then running them perha]>s hot to 

 get something big. Cut all this out. and tbe rose- 

 growers" path will not be as thorny as it has been in the 

 past. 



"See him. the poor man's friend in need, 

 The gentleman in word and deed." 



This applies to Mr.' John Birnie. I have just read 

 in the columns of a contemporary that John received 

 his sheepskin in Dayton with the honorable title of 

 Gentleman. Everyone knew him to be that but it fell 

 lo the western brethren to iiand him his diploma. 



(To ]>(• contiinii'd. » 



