November 1, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



371 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



ARTHUR C. RUZICKA. 



Pay all the attention that is neces- 

 sary to watering, being careful to see 

 that the plants are not overwatered, 

 and at the same time see that they 

 are not' suffering from being too dry. 

 Plants that are growing freely, or that 

 are in full crop, should never be al- 

 lowed to become real dry, as this 

 would be apt to give them a severe 

 check. However, as soon as the crop 

 shows signs of getting cut off, slack 

 up on the water, and syringe more un- 

 til the plants start once more. Be care- 

 ful when cutting to see that no plants 

 are chopped off too close, as they 

 would likely die. Keep some tops to 

 ■every plant, especially among the 

 Beauties, which grow very tall, and if 

 a plant gets cut off it has no show at 

 all. Should there be any plants in 

 this shape, see that they are marked 

 by dusting a circle of lime around each 

 one, and then when watering, skip 

 these plants, as they need to be kept 

 bone dry until they start growing once 

 more. 



Supply of Potting Soil. 



See that the supply of soil that will 

 be needed to pot up the young stock is 

 brought in under cover now, or if no 

 cover can be conveniently provided, 

 see that it is heaped near a road where 

 it will be easy to get during bad 

 weather, and then pile up a lot of 

 straw, leaves, etc., near by ready to 

 ■cover up the heap as soon as it begins 

 to freeze hard enough to freeze the 

 ground. It is not advisable to cover it 

 up too soon. Better wait until the soil 

 freezes an inch or two, and then cover 

 it well, putting straw on top to shed 

 the water, and cover this with boards 

 and stuff to keep it from blowing 

 away. Coarse horse manure can be 

 used for this work, too, and is perhaps 

 the best and cleanest outside of clean 

 straw. Leaves are so apt to hold 

 water that they should not be used 

 unless nothing else is on hand. 



Get the Propagator in Shape. 



As soon as the mums or whatever 

 crop was grown in the propagating 

 house is out of the way, get right in 

 and clean it up, ready for action. Dis- 

 pose of all old soil, not by throwing 

 most of it under the benches, but by 

 carefully wheeling it out, and carefully 

 cleaning up under the benches, taking 

 out all the soil that is scraped out, too. 

 Then if there are any places where 

 water is bound to stand, see that a 

 drain is provided to carry it off. Noth- 

 ing is more disagreeable to roses than 



stagnant water, and for this reason 

 and for the looks of the place no pools 

 should be tolerated anywhere. S"ee 

 that all leaky faucets are fixed, also 

 see that the outside of the green- 

 houses is graded so that no water will 

 run into the houses under the founda- 

 tions, every time it rains. If the sup- 

 ply of sand is hard to get, better start 

 in getting it, so that it will be on hand 

 when it is needed. It can be piled up 

 in the clean whitewashed benches, and 

 then when it is needed it can be 

 watered and then packed and be ready 

 for use. 



Early Propagation. 



To have plants early in the spirng 

 for planting it will be necessary to 

 start right in now, and keep the sand 

 filled up until enough plants are on 

 hand. It is still warm, so it will be 

 hard to control the temperature at 

 times, but by heavy shading, and by 

 shutting off the heat underneath early 

 enough, the cuttings can be kept fairly 

 cool. See that cheese cloth is 

 stretched across the benches here and 

 there, also along the walks, arranged 

 so that it can be raised for the night. 

 The idea is to break up any draft, yet 

 at the same time admitting plenty of 

 air, insuring good circulation without 

 strong currents. 



The Novelties. 



There are several new roses to be 

 introduced this coming season that 

 are too good to be allowed to go by, 

 or be passed up by growers. I would 

 never advise anyone to plunge in and 

 grow nothing but one thing, but these 

 new roses are very promising, and 

 should certainly be given a trial as I 

 am sure it would be well worth while, 

 and perhaps very profitable for the 

 grower. 



Haul Coal. 



Keep at the coal hauling until there 

 is enough on hand to go the whole sea- 

 son and then some. Also any old 

 wood that is not too far gone should 

 be saved and put where it will be 

 handy. Not near the boilers, for no 

 wood should be stored there, but store 

 it in some old shed or else outside 

 somewhere, piling it up so that the 

 water will not get into it too much. 

 Where soft coal is used it should be 

 stored outside, but with hard coal it 

 would be far better to store it under 

 cover, as near the boilers as possible 

 . to save handling. The same with the 

 soft coal. Have it dumped so that it 



can be hauled to the hollers without 

 much trouble. With the shortage and 

 eosl of labor every possible waste 

 motion must be taken out of rose 

 growing in order to insure profit. 



LOOKING AHEAD FOR CHRISTMAS. 



If you grow your own stock you will 

 have a goodly supply of plants in your 

 houses, and all you have to do is finish 

 them off well. If you do not grow, and 

 have to buy for your store, it is not too 

 early to find whence your different 

 stocks are coming. 



I would start with table ferns. It is 

 almost impossible to have too many 

 of these. Fill your dishes well and 

 charge a good price. You gain nothing 

 hy sending out thin-looking fern dish- 

 es. But stock up well. The Boston 

 and its various sports are all in de- 

 mand. They are fairly plentiful now, 

 but good bushy stock will be hard to 

 get at Christmas. 



The Cyrtomiums (holly ferns) are 

 splendid sellers at Christmas or at any 

 other time. These are very attractive 

 in six, seven and eight-inch azalea 

 pots. 



Palms are very high-priced, but you 

 will need a few. When you sell a 

 Phoenix Roeblini, your customer will 

 come back, for it is a splendid house 

 plant. 



A few adiantums in six and seven 

 and a good supply of three-inch pots 

 will be useful in making up with small 

 begonias, poinsettias, euphorbias, etc. 

 Seven-inch pans of these pretty combi- 

 nations sell well, for they take the 

 place of cut flowers for the Christmas 

 table. 



A selection of plant baskets taste- 

 fully filled go well if moderately 

 priced. All your baskets which you 

 should buy now should have liners. 

 Also buy some nice pottery. 



There will not be many azaleas this 

 year, but you will have your own 

 cyclamen. You should worry — the 

 cyclamen is a splendid house plant. 

 You will sell all the good plants of 

 these you can procure. 



Begonia Cincinnati, where cool- 

 grown, Is a fine plant for Christmas, 

 but grown warm right up to selling 

 time is worse than useless. Melior is 

 another good one of the type. Mrs. 

 .T. A. Peterson is a gem, but these 

 varieties are hard to buy. 



Primula obconica, keremislma and 

 rosea are nice subjects, but not the" 

 mauve for the holiday. Chinese pri- 

 mulas are very hard to handle at 

 Christmas, the foliage being so brittle, 

 but there are always some demand 

 Canadian Florist, 



