764 



HOETICULTURE 



December 11, 1915 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



^ . CONDUCTBD BY 



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Lining the Boxes 



With the first fall of snow here and there, and the 

 themiometer standing around 22 in the morning, boxes 

 will need to have more paper in them when shipping to 

 the market. Make sure to get the paper into the comers 

 well, as it is there where tlie cold will work in as a rule. 

 It will be a good idea to order some heavy wrapping 

 paper so that the boxes can be wrapped on the outside 

 when severe weather comes along. Paper is not very 

 expensive, and roses are worth quite a little money and 

 will be worth more as the holidays come around. When 

 packing it is well to lift the roses out of the jars so a? 

 to shake off a good deal of the water which would stick 

 to the stems. This water would soak the paper lining. 

 Cold will penetrate the wet i>aper verv' easily. 



Soil for the Season's Potting 



If tins has not been put undrr cover or covered up ii.- 

 yet it should be done at once for it may not be long be- 

 fore the gi'ound will freeze ii)), and even if it did thaw 

 •out again the work will not lie as easy or as pleasant to 

 do later. Straw, leaves, cornstalks, any of these can be 

 used but the best will be coarse horse manure. Tin* 

 will keep the soil much cleaner, and it is much warmer 

 than straw or leaves alone. The same is true of sand. 

 If there is a sand pit on the ])lace cover up a part of it 

 so that you can get to the sand even in the most severe 

 weather. If a storage house is to be had so much the 

 better but it must be right near the greenhouses so that 

 the extra handling of the soil and sand would not be too 

 expensive. 



The Xmas Rush 



The prospect for good Imsiness is much better this 

 year than it has been for several years past. With the 

 holidays only a fortnight away it is high time to see 

 that everything is ready and oi'ders placed for greens so 

 that there will be no confusion when all the customers 

 will want to get their flowers at the one time. Growers 

 who do not bother doing any retail work will miss a 

 good deal of fun anti some money, as often many roses 

 can be sold to much better advantage to the home trade 

 than they could be in the wholesale market and the 

 selling cost is not very large — practically nothing in 

 most places. A little good advertising in the local 

 papers will help wonderfully in developing this trade. 

 In doing this do not adopt the bargain counter kind of 

 advei'tising. Flowers are one of God's greatest gifts to 

 man and they should be treated as something sacred. 

 Then, too, there are so many ads. in the papers that are 

 never road only when people happen to be in the market 

 for certain articles. Have your ad. written neatly and 

 well. Speak of the quality of the flowers, the joy they 

 bring, rather tlian ihi' price. Make your ad. an oasis 

 on tlic desert of advei'lisiiig. for then the eye will be at- 



tracted to it at once and the ad. will be read through 

 before the readers realize that it is an advertisement. 

 It is different when advertising to the trade as it is 

 best then to say what you have to sell and the price. 

 But with retail trade it is different, and the grower or 

 retailer who realizes this will get most out of his in- 

 vestment and not an expense and a well advertised 

 name and business is one of the greatest assets any one 

 can have. Needless to say the goods must be there to 

 back up the ads. and so must the service, as these win 

 the confidence of the readers and customers. 



Damage by Thrips 



Mr. Arthur Ruziclva: 



Dear Sir — Am a most interested reader of your notes 

 on rose growing in HoRTicuLTruK. and as I see you answer 

 questions of readers, am venturing a request for informa- 

 tion. I have some apparently good bustles of outdoor roses,> 

 wliite ones, variety unlcnown. that seem to wish to bear 

 pretty good blooms, but the buds never materialize per- 

 fectly. They always have a brown, chewed up sort of look 

 when they come out. It is evidently not an insect; a neigh- 

 bor thinks it is a blight. Now is that a good enough de- 

 scription to mean anything to you, and if so can you give 

 me any hints as to w'hat to do? I have come into posses- 

 sion of a lot of rather old. neglected bushes and want to 

 see if I can make anything good out of them. Might it be 

 best to simidy cut down these no-account bushes and start 

 new good ones, or shall I give them a chance? 



Tryon, N. C. C. M. B. 



The trouble with your buds is caused by thrips, 

 very small insects that delight in attacking the best 

 roses that grow. As near as I can tell there are several 

 species, some of which are so small as to be invisible 

 without the aid of a microscope. To rid the buds and 

 plants of these, spray with Aphine every day early in 

 the morning until the rose buds show signs of improve- 

 ment. Then spray three times a week. It will also be 

 of advantage to spray and keep the plants well sprayed 

 with brown stigar dissolved in water, with a little pans 

 green added to it. The amount of the poison should 

 not be very large, as it is verj' apt to burn some of the 

 leaves. About one-half a teaspoonful to a gallon of 

 water will be plenty. This spray should be applied after 

 every rain or right after watering in the morning, as 

 water will wash this off and the object is to keep the 

 spray there all the time so that the thrips will eat it, 

 and of course if they do so once they will not do so 

 again. We prefer the brown sugar to the white gran- 

 ulated for the former has an odor which the latter lacks. 

 In using Aphine it is well to direct the spray right on 

 the buds as it is a contact poison and must touch the 

 insects it i.s to kill. Do all spraying early in the morn- 

 ing before the sun gets hot and make sure that the soil 

 is plenty wet enough around the roots of the plants. 

 Regarding the old rose bushes you mention I would cer- 

 tainly give thorn a chance for there are some nice va- 

 rieties in these old collections at times. To insure an 

 abtmdance of roses, I would recommend planting plenty 

 of new ones liesidcs, so that there will be no disappoint- 

 ment. 



