December 26, 1915 



HORTICULTURE 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



^. ~ CONDUCTED BY 



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

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



Work After Christinas. 



With Chrititmas ovor we settle down to the regular 

 work once more. Any mistakes made during the rush 

 will be charged to experience and they should never oc- 

 cur again another year. The new year will soon be here 

 now, but there will not be as much buying as there was 

 for Christmas, although flowers will be in demand as 

 much as ever. The work that will confront us after the 

 holidays will be propagation. Many places have already 

 started, and have several thousand plants in pots now. 

 On large places this is well, for there are so many plants 

 to be grown that it is necessary to start in real early. 

 On a small place with the houses doing well it will be 

 best to wait until the first of February for then it will 

 not be necessary to tear out plants so soon and so many 

 of them. 



Marking Poor Plants 



Even in the best houses lliere will In; plants that arc 

 not doing as well as tlicy should or they may bear flow- 

 ers that are off in color. All these should be marked 

 and no wood taken from tliom. Take all wood from 

 strong healtliy plants, for like produces like and the 

 poor plants resulting after years of growing can gener- 

 ally be traced to selection of poor wood from poor plants. 

 If time permits it would be well to go over the houses 

 and find the plants that produce the inost flowers and 

 then take as much wood from these as you can get. 

 There is such a thing as "blood" in plants. We have 

 a good demonstration here of two benches of Killarneys. 

 These plants are several years old and had been neglect- 

 ed a good deal in years past and the plants they came from 

 were of a questionable quality. These will not respond 

 to treatment as some healthy plants next to them will ; 

 they will not give the quality or quantity, and will not 

 be nearly as profitable as the plants with plenty of en- 

 ergy — those that have been bred up, not down. The 

 -iniplest way of marking the plants that are tied to 

 .stakes is w'ith a piece of cardboard tied to the top of 

 the stake. 



Making Cuttings. 



Select proper wood, wliicii sliould not be too old and 

 have nice red thorns or live thorns at least. The knife 

 should be sharp enough to shave as a good edge is abso- 



lutely necessary for a smooth cut, free from bruise. With 

 Teas we prefer three eyes to a cutting where we have 

 plenty of wood. When propagating Beauties, or Teas 

 with the wood scarce, two-eye cuttings are made. Beau- 

 ties should never be made with three eyes as the plants 

 will not thrive nearly as well as those grown from two- 

 eyed cuttings. Do not leave too much leaf to a cutting. 

 Generally the first two leaflets will suffice, but should 

 these be small it will be well to leave half of the next 

 two. The idea is to leave enough leaf for the cutting 

 to breathe properly, but at the same time not so much 

 as to make it hard work for it to keep the leaf alive. 

 With too much leaf, the propagating bench will be 

 crowded and blaekspot is likely to set in, which strips 

 the leaves off terribly and traces of it can be found 

 months later when the plants are already in the benches. 

 Make a slanting cut quite close to the eye, slanting 

 away from it. Care should be taken not to cut too close 

 as that would weaken the eye and the cutting might not 

 root, or else produce a poor plant. Do not put in any 

 cuttings with diseased leaves. These will only make 

 trouble, and arc likely to spread the disease to the 

 leaves that were healthy when pnt into the sand. As 

 soon as some wood is cut, sprinkle it well but do not 

 put it into a tub of water for any length of time. This 

 was the custom years ago, but we find the cuttings made 

 from wood that is not water-soaked root mueli better 

 and are less likely to rot if the heat in the sand hap- 

 pens to run up a little higher than it should be. Keep 

 the cuttings well sprinkled, for if they should wilt they 

 will be worthless. Do not keep them out of the sand 

 very long for if they are allowed to lie around for any 

 length of time, they are bound to wilt, and even though 

 it may not be noticeable they will not root well then. The 

 sand should be all packed and ready for them, with 

 proper bottom heat. Never put cuttings in first and 

 then turn on the heat, have everything read for them, 

 so that they will start callousing at once. A good water- 

 ing will be necessary' every morning if the sand is well 

 drained. An occasional sprinkling may be necessary 

 if the weather is clear and cold but see that the cuttings 

 do not have any water on the leaves at night. This 

 will start blaekspot quicker than anything else. 



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