March 29, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



Rose Growing 

 Under Glass 



Planting Rose Stock 



Will you> kindly advise me in the planting of roses? My 

 trade is summer trade entirely and I want the flowers 

 through August and September. Kindly advise me as to 

 best varieties and whether own root or grafted. Would 

 rooted 4-inch pots amount to anything? Any advice would 

 be greatly appreciated. C. W. S. 



If you can arrange to plant the 4-in. stock at once, and 

 can give it veiy good care from now on I would advise 

 you to plant it rather than plant old plants unless you 

 could buy these somewhere near where you could see 

 them, so that they would be dried off properly for you 

 before they are cut back and shipped to you for planting. 

 If growing plants are cut back without being dried off at 

 all, there will be only very little sap in the plant, as most 

 of it was in the top that was chopped off, and the result 

 will be that the plants will send out a weak sickly 

 growth, hard to push along into anything like health and 

 vigor. As to varieties, you ought to get some Premier 

 and Columbia to start with, also Russell, Francis Scott 

 Key, Stanley, Jonkheer J. L. Mock. These varieties are 

 all very double and make very good summer varieties. 

 For white I would get Double White Killarney, and if 

 you can, get some Kaiserine Aug. Victoria. Cecile 

 Brunner will go good if you have corsage work to do, 

 also Aaron Ward. Ophelia and its sports will be well 

 to have, too, as these are heavy bloomers and will give 

 you plenty of cut flowers. Get grafted plants, as these 

 will come along faster than own root plants would. If 

 you need a red rose, get Hadley. Take great care to 

 have everything just so, plant carefully, give Columbia 

 and Russell and Key plenty of head room, and you will 

 have no trouble to get good roses for the months men- 

 tioned. Pinch all buds until the end of May as soon as 

 they show. If you want long stems disbud the growth 

 following the pinch, and if you need medium stems, let 

 them come on, you will then get two or three flowers for 

 every pinch you make. You may need a little heat at 

 night once in a while, a thing you should not overlook 

 if you want first-class stuff, as 1 imagine there are cool 

 nights where you are, and the temperature should never 

 go below 64 at night, with plenty of air on during the 

 summer months. Now, of course, you will have to keep 

 regular rose temperature. Get the plants in at once 

 though and prepare your soil well. 



Mulching 



With the coming of the spring days and bright 

 weather, the plants will begin to grow with new energy, 

 and will not only take a lot of feed and water as well, 

 but will need some protection from the sun. This pro- 

 tection, however, is only at the roots, to keep the plants 

 from driving out too fast during the real warm spring 

 days. It may happen that most part of the benches are 

 still well covered with manure, and are not suffering at 

 all. In this case it would be best to mulch only the 



^- . CONDUCTED BY 



Questions by our readers In line with any of the topics pre- 

 sented on this page will be cordially received and promptly 

 answared by Mr. Ruzicka. Such communications shonld 

 invariably be addressed to the office of HORTICULTURE. 



edges of the benches, and let the rest go. In most cases, 

 however, it will be necessary to mulch the whole bench 

 in which case give it a good cleaning, then top dress with 

 tankage or some good fertilizer, then apply the manure, 

 making sure that the plants are wet enough at the time. 

 Water the plants as soon as the manure is applied, even 

 though it was put on just before night. Then, be sure to 

 keep a little more than the usual amount of air on for 

 the first night or two so that there will not be any dan- 

 ger of burning the leaves with the ammonia escaped 

 from the newly applied manure. See that it is well 

 decayed, as it is best for the plants in this stage, and is 

 ready for their immediate use, and they will use it, too, 

 taking hold of it almost at once. As soon as the plants 

 have used up the largest part of it, see that more is ap- 

 plied at once, as there is no danger of overfeeding, and 

 unless the plants are sickly and ailing, there will not be 

 any danger of overwatering either. 



Ventilation 



With coal much more expensive than it ever was 

 before the war, growers will be apt to be a little too con- 

 servative with the heat, and this must not be overdone 

 with roses if they are to do well. The place to save coal 

 is at the boiler, by watching the a.shes, and if they are 

 full of unburned coal, see that proper grates are put in. 

 See that all the pipes are covered with asbestos, or at 

 least with newspapers, covering this with tar paper. 

 Watch the flues, see that all are cleaned as often as the 

 fuel burned demands. Also see that the boiler itself is 

 well covered so that no heat will be lost. See that the 

 dampers work right, and are used as they should be. 

 Then it will not be necessary to close the houses early 

 to conserve the heat. The mild weather we have been 

 having, roses should not be without air all night, and 

 the more air that can be left on the better. Of course 

 enough heat has to be used to keep the temperature up, 

 and it should be about 63 at this time of the year, with 

 the days getting warmer all the time. Be careful in the 

 daytime to watch the thermometers, and see that the 

 houses are put down on time in case a squall comes up. 

 so that they are not chilled. Put steam on if necessary, 

 and put it on. before the houses get cold even though it 

 may have to be taken off again in a very short time. 



Syringing 



Do not neglect to syringe as often as possible, espe- 

 cially if there are any little nests of spider around among 

 the plants. All these nests should be marked, and then 

 when, the grower is around with the hose see that they 

 get an extra good dose to make things unhealthy for 

 them. See that the water is directed well under the foli- 

 age, as that is where these little pests make their home, 

 and if they are disturbed often enough, and bumped 

 around a little bit they will not be able to put up with 

 if, then the result will be clean plants. 



