98 



HORTICULTURE 



August 2, 1919 



ROSES UNDER GLASS 



By ARTHUR RUZICKA 



The continued and uninterrupted 

 rains day alter day that we had the 

 week beginning July 15, have delayed 

 planting here and there where it had 

 still been unfinished. Now, however, 

 no time should be lost in finishing up 

 whatever planting is still to be done, 

 for young rose plants or transplanted 

 old plants should be all in by the first 

 of August if at all possible, so that 

 they have a chance to get established 

 before the winter sets in. By "estab- 

 lished" we mean nothing else than a 

 good root system without which no 

 plant can grow well. 



Do not be in too much of a hurry 

 and neglect to clean the benches well, 

 see that there is no old soil left in the 

 benches, and that all of the soil that 

 dropped through is removed. Wash 

 out the benches well and then apply 

 a good thick coat of lime to which can 

 be added a little copper sulphate or 

 bluestone as it is sometimes called. 

 The latter should first be dissolved by 

 placing it in a bag and suspending it 

 in a tub of water, using a wooden tub, 

 for galvanized ware or tin ware will 

 soon get eaten up by the bluestone. 

 Afterward the dissolved copper can 

 be added to the lime as needed. Do 

 not neglect thorough cleaning, for if 

 we had a spell of rainy weather right 

 in July, we may be in for more of it 

 later, and dark wet weather and roses 

 do not go together very long especial- 

 ly if the houses the roses are going 

 to be in are not clean so disease can 

 start in very easily and is hard to 

 eradicate. 



Drainage. 



Make sure that there is sufficient 

 drainage in the benches. If they are 

 raised benches, see that the boards 

 are far enough apart to insure proper 

 drainage, and if the benches are solid, 

 see that the drainage underneath the 

 soil is porous and that no drains are 

 stopped up. It will be too late to wait 

 until next winter to find out. Right 

 now while the recent wet spell is still 

 fresh in our minds (at least here in 

 northern New Jersey) let us go over 

 the drainage outside. More places have 

 failed in growing roses or perhaps 

 other greenhouse goods because of bad 

 drainage than anything else. Places 

 have been built over poorly drained 

 ground, and no provision made for 

 carrying off surplus water. Many a 

 dismantled greenhouse would be a go- 

 ing concern today if the builders had 

 only selected a different location or 

 else installed a proper drainage sys- 



tem. I! your place is poorly drained, do 

 not stop to do anything else until suf- 

 ficient tile is laid, enough trenches 

 opened to carry off all surplus water 

 at all times. Merely placing tile is 

 not sufficient. Make sure it is the 

 right size and large enough to allow 

 for any emergency that may arise, for 

 a rose range should never under any 

 conditions have a lot of stagnant 

 water around it or under it. 



I remember one place where roses 

 would always mildew, and as far 

 as the owner could see without 

 any visible reason. And yet when we 

 took a shovel, went into one of the 

 houses and dug a hole two feet deep 

 in the heavy clay, it was not long be- 

 fore the hole filled with clear, almost 

 ice cold water, and there lay the whole 

 solution of it. The place was never 

 dry under the benches, and the cold 

 ground with the heat over it in the 

 fall was enough to give the roses 

 something worse than mildew, and 

 then there were no trenches between 

 the houses to carry water away and 

 no provision made to take care of rain 

 water off the roof, it just ran off as 

 best it could. The place in question is 

 vacant now, after thousands of dollars 

 were spent trying to make it produce. 

 See that all cellars are properly 

 drained and where a cellar or boiler 

 pit is so built that there is no way to 

 drain it, install a water pressure suc- 

 tion pump or some other apparatus 

 that will take care of the water when- 

 ever necessary. One large commercial 

 carnation place nearly froze one spring 

 because water got into the boiler pits 

 and put most fires out; only smudges 

 of tobacco stems and oil stoves saved 

 the place, and then with a heavy loss 

 of a crop for the flowers were nearly 

 ruined by the smoke and fumes. Get 

 after the drainage and if there is no 

 one on the place able to handle it, 

 get a civil engineer to advise you re- 

 garding drainage, the money paid him 

 will be nothing compared to the saving 

 that will be made through increased 

 crop production. 



The Heating Plant 

 Speaking of boilers, it is high time 

 now to see that they are in perfect 

 condition for the coming winter, for 

 it soon will be necessary to start up 

 the fires. In fact the way the weather 

 has been it would have been well to 

 have a steam pipe around the houses 

 right in July, seems ridiculous but it 

 pays to keep the houses in good 

 healthy condition. Clean out the boil- 



ers, and take down the smoke pipes 

 on the smaller boilers so they can be 

 cleaned and clean the pipes on the 

 large boilers just the same way. See 

 to it that the grates are in good work- 

 ing condition. 



On bricked in boilers, see that the 

 brick work is all that it should be. All 

 badly burned or broken fire brick 

 should be replaced and properly ce- 

 mented with fire clay. Do not try and 

 "get by," it will pay better to make a 

 good job of it so there will be no cause 

 for worry next winter. 



Painting 



If the weather at all permits, try 

 and get a little painting done this fall, 

 if the place needs it at all, and we have 

 yet to find a place that is not in need 

 of paint, one section or another. 



There are many really good roofing 

 and glazing cements on the market 

 that can be applied quickly and easily 

 and are not expensive so there is no 

 reason why houses should be leaking 

 like a sieve when they can easily be 

 tightened up. Repair all broken glass 

 first, as it is not a very pleasant job 

 to repair glass after the cement has 

 once been applied. Then paint the 

 woodwork inside and out wherever the 

 cement does not cover it, and if ap- 

 plied right it should merely touch it 

 on each side of the bar. uniting the 

 bar and glass with a waterproof elas- 

 tic film. The rainy spell we have had 

 showed up all the leaks in the roof if 

 there were any, so see that the roof 

 gets a coat of tar if it needs it and 

 some sand. Apply the tar hot, and 

 then scatter the sand on while the tar 

 is still soft. This will give the roof a 

 wearing surface that will add years to 

 its life. 



DWARF CHERRY TREES. 



At Hillcrest ve would like to know 

 more about dwarf cherry trees. How 

 those having grown them have liked 

 them and where they can be had? We 

 believe that They are rather short 

 lived trees but our plan would bo to 

 plant a few each year as we do with 

 our peaches. Of those we plant a 

 dozen every spring. This autumn we 

 vish to plant a dozen, dwarf, sweet 

 cherry trees. Our preference for the 

 dwarf trees over the standards is that 

 we think it would be easier to protect 

 their fruit from the squirrels and birds 

 by covering the trees with cheesecloth 

 or netting while the fruit is ripening. 

 M. R. Cask. 

 Hillcrest Farm. July 17th. 1919. 



