August IB, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



139 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



By ARTHUR RUZICKA 



With plenty of rain here in the East- 

 ern States and more foggy weather in 

 between for a change, growers will 

 have to take every precaution to pre- 

 vent spot from setting in, and we must 

 see that lime is blown around under- 

 neath the plants every evening follow- 

 ing a watering or syringing. Also on 

 rainy days when the air is overcharged 

 with moisture. In the latter case it Is 

 better to blow the lime into the air 

 over the walks filling the house up 

 completely with dust. This dust is 

 perfectly dry, will absorb much moist- 

 ure in the air and bring it down as it 

 settles, leaving the atmosphere dry 

 and sweet, and this is what roses want. 

 Use air slacked dry lime or else hy- 

 drated lime, being a little more care- 

 ful with the latter when it comes to 

 handling it as it is very caustic and is 

 likely to make sores of any scratches, 

 etc., on the hands. Screen the lime 

 through a fine screen and then apply 

 with a good pair of bellows. When 

 blowing lime under the plants use a 

 little judgment and do not work the 

 bellows too hard. Pump the bellows 

 only hard enough to blow the lime 

 underneath the plants and then let the 

 dust rise among them slowly. 



Tying Beauties. 



Although it will do the plants good 

 to lay around a while untied after 

 planting they should not be let go too 

 long with the weather we have been 

 having, for spot will almost surely 

 start in. In standard benches where 

 four rows of plants are planted 

 use fine wires and distribute the 

 growth along these as evenly as possi- 

 ble. Begin bending the plants to the 

 north, northeast or northwest in 

 houses running east and west. But 

 lean them over a bit anyhow, they will 

 break better from the bottom and 

 much stronger. 



There will also be more breaks next 

 spring and during the winter. Before 

 doing any tying see that the wires are 

 properly stretched and braces made 

 strong to hold the second and third 

 tiers of wires, place the first set about 

 12 inches above the level of the soil in 

 the benches, it can be put two inches 

 lower if it will not interfere with 

 working the surface of the soil, the 

 nearer it is the roots the better as the 

 plants will not have to draw the sap 

 through so much hard wood to the 

 buds. However, it should not be down 

 lower than ten inches above the soil. 



for then there would be but little 

 chance for any air to circulate under 

 the plants and various diseases would 

 be very apt to set in. When tying be 

 sure to place string around the wire 

 once before tying the knot so that the 

 plants will not slip and slide around 

 when they are syringed. Use string 

 rather than raffia for the first tying, 

 the plants will stay tied better, and do 

 not tie the knots too tight so as not to 

 choke the plants when the wood swells. 



The Manure Heap. 



Do not neglect to keep piling manure 

 as fast as it can be handled. It is ab- 

 solutely necessary to have plenty of 

 good manure on hand all the time, and 

 the only way to accomplish this is to 

 have a good supply continually coming 

 in, piling it in fresh heaps all the time 

 and forking these over as they slowly 

 decay, if at all possible make a con- 

 crete platform with a shed over it, 

 drawing into a tank from which the 

 liquid can be used to water "with or 

 can be pumped over the manure when 

 same gets dry and begins to heat. 

 With bonemeal, tankage, sheep ma- 

 nure and all such plant foods way up 

 in price it wjjl pay growers to take 

 care of all the manure laying around 

 the place, for here good dollars can go 

 on slipping away unnoticed. 



Seeding New Sod. 



As time goes on more and more 

 growers realize that it is necessary 

 they sod in order to insure a good sup- 

 ply of the right kind of soil. The best 

 way to get a good sod is to lay off your 

 fields into plots large enough to supply 

 your needs for one season, and then be- 

 gin in the spring and manure one 

 heavily and plow it. 



Then as weeds appear it can be ma- 

 nured with horse manure again and 

 plowed once more, a little deeper this 

 time. Then continue to plow and har- 

 row until August and if weather per- 

 mits sow to a good mixture of hay 

 clover and timothy for horses and 

 clover and orchard grass for cows, or 

 sow a permanent pasture mixture, al- 

 though the first two named will make 

 the richest sod. Use both red and 

 white clover, and do not be afraid of 

 using too much of it. It should come 

 up almost weedless, and will yield a 

 nice crop of hay the following sum- 

 mer. Then top dress with a little lime 

 in the winter at any time, and use a 

 little bone in the spring, after that an- 



other crop can be cut the second sum- 

 mer and the sod stripped off that fall. 

 By adding the usual amount of cow 

 manure and bone meal to sod like this 

 roses will grow without any limit of 

 trouble because of poor soil. Needless 

 to say the land in question should be 

 well drained, and all manure and fer- 

 tilizer applied should be applied as 

 evenly as it is possible to get them, 

 also the plots should be as near the 

 greenhouses as possible so as not to 

 add too much to the expense of putting 

 up sod, because of long distance haul- 

 ing. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The cut flower market was rather 

 slow last week and there was a large 

 amount of low quality stock sent in 

 by the growers. The consequence was 

 that most of it went to the street boys 

 for next to nothing, and a great deal of 

 it hardly paid the expressage. This 

 was especially the cases with asters 

 and gladioli. Among roses the good 

 ones went at very fair prices; but 

 there were too many shorts among 

 these also. Russell headed the list 

 and was really very good for the sea- 

 son. No carnations to be seen. Among 

 the asters, the variety Astermum 

 seems to be a favorite. 



J. Otto Thilow of Dreer's is rusti- 

 cating at Saranac Lake. Between 

 meals we presume he fraternizes, and 

 perchance sometimes goes on the 

 water to give the fish a lecture. If 

 the bait is as catching as he gives us 

 humans on the lecture platform, the 

 high cost of living will sure be a neg- 

 ligible quantity in the vicinity of Sara- 

 nac. 



MODEL NURSERY PLANNED 

 The Eastern States exposition 

 will have a model nursery on its 

 grounds during the entire week 

 of its big stock and agricultural 

 show, September 15 to 20. Trees will 

 represent practically all varieties of 

 timber grown in any quantity in Mass- 

 achusetts, and will compose the major 

 part of the state forestry department's 

 reforestration exhibit. Technically 

 trained tree men will be on duty all 

 week to show visitors how little trees 

 are grown from seeds and how whole 

 timber forests can be made to cover 

 waste areas. 



The nursery, however, will be only 

 one department of the forestry show 

 which, according to State Forester F. 

 W. Rane, promises to be the largest 

 ever assembled by the department. 

 Large transparencies showing model 

 forests, economical cutting methods, 

 blight cure systems in operation and 

 other modern forestry processes will 

 also be part of the exhibit. 



