226 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



deal of the valuable elements of the more solid por- 

 tions of it are washed out. The use of acid phosphate, 

 ground phosphate rock, or gypsum, added to the ma- 

 nure as It is made, at the rate of forty pounds or more 

 to each ton of manure, greatly reduces the loss of 

 plant-food elements Avhere the manure has to be kept 

 some time before being used. 



GROWING ROSE SEEDLINGS.- 



Uy John Look, ALvrvl.\xi). 



I will not go back to the history of the rose, as that will 

 take too long. The magnitude of rose growing as com- 

 pared to twenty-five or thirty years ago is surprising. 

 All the Tea Roses at that time were lacking in color. 

 Therefore, we used some of the hybrid perpetual roses as 

 pollen bearers (they being richer in color). Tlirough 

 this operation we succeeded in getting deeper colors — 

 reds and deep pinks. 



Hybridizing is the art of bringing together individual 

 flowers or plants of different species. Cross breeding 

 eft'ects similar results with individuals of the same species. 



Growing rose seedlings is a very slow business. It 

 takes five months to ripen the seed pod, a month to rot 

 the hip and from five to twelve months for the seed to 

 come up. These seedlings are very much subject to 

 mildew, and some die in their infancy. Fifty per cent, 

 of the seeds will not germinate, twenty-five per cent, will 

 come single, and out of the remaining you might obtain 

 two or three varieties worth growing. 



By crossing them we call them Hybrid Teas. 



In 1888 I raised the first hybrid tea seedling raised in 

 the United States. It was a cross between Bon Selene 

 and Louis Van Route, which was in great demand for 

 a number of years. (This was a red rose.) I named it 

 "Souvenir of Wooten," after the country seat of George 

 W. Childs, in Philadelphia, where he entertained the 

 Society of American Florists so handsomely. 



My next seedling was a beautiful pink rose, which I 

 named "Mrs. Robert Garrett." This rose had a weak stern 

 and was discarded for a commercial rose, but it is good 

 for outdoors and can be found in the catalogues of 

 Europe and this country. "Enchantress" was another 

 shell pink rose grown to some extent under glass. 



Then came Alarion Dingee. a red bedding rose. (The 

 entire stock of this rose was sold to Dingee and Conard, 

 who named it after their daughter.) 



Then came Cardinal, a beautiful red rose, crossed with 

 Liberty, and an unnamed seedling. This rose proved 

 one of the best hardy roses. 



In 1908 I introduced Radiance, a rose pink with a silver 

 lining to the petals. This is a seedling from Cardinal 

 crossed with an imnamed pink seedling. This rose re- 

 ceived a silver medal at the Hartford Test Gardens, and 

 this, in my opinion, is the very best of all the Hybrid 

 Tea Roses for out of doors. The demand for this .rose 

 is increasing every year. At the same time I introduced 

 ni\- Maryland, a salmon pink rose. This is one of the 

 best commercial roses, as well as a liardv outdoor rose, 

 a very profuse bloomer. 



In 1914 I introduced Panama, a delicate tinted rose, 

 with large petals, a verv profuse bloomer, one of the best 

 bedding roses. This also received a silver medal at the 

 Hartford trial grounds in competition with French, Eng- 

 lish and American roses. 



The last rose I sent out in 1914 is a beautiful red rose 

 vi'hich I named "Francis Scott Key," after the author of 

 the Star Spangled Banner, a seedling from Cardinal and 

 an imnamed red seedling. This is the best built rose in 

 cultivation. It has sixty petals. 



I have raised thousands of seedlings, but the most of 

 them were wanting, either in the production of flowers or 

 hardiness. They were all given a trial out of doors, and 

 most of them were killed by hard winters and therefore I 

 did not propagate them to send out. 



To have fine roses in the open ground it takes well 

 rotted cow manure. It is the very best of all manures for 

 roses. Dig the soil out about twenty inches deep, get 

 some well rooted sod and mi.x it with one-quarter well 

 rotted manure. This will give splendid results in the 

 size as well as profusion of bloomers. Give them a top 

 dressing of fine bone in July. This will carry them 

 through the season. 



There is something new and interesting to learn about 

 rose growing ever)- day. The care required is constant, 

 and the old adage "Eternal \'igilance is the Price of 

 Success" is perhaps more true of rose culture thim of any 

 other branch of the grower's art. 



*Paper read I-efore Women's Nat'I .^gric. &: Hort. Conf. fSee page 34.3.) 



FLO'WERS AND BULBS AS FOOD. 



Not long after the outbreak of the European war 

 there was printed in the newspapers a dispatch to the 

 effect that in Holland, whose industries were greatly 

 crippled, many people were grinding tulip buds into 

 flour and making bread from it. 



Many people thought it a most unusual thing. As a 

 matter of fact, most people have no idea how many 

 blossoms, leaves, stalks, roots and bulbs of our flower- 

 ing plants make good, wholesome and often really de- 

 licious food, writes E. L. Freking in Vegetable Grower. 



Sweet pea blossoms make a good salad. The flow- 

 ers have the base cut away, but not enough to cause 

 the flower to fall apart. The blossoms may be com- 

 bined with any delicate salad greens, or with fresh 

 young pea sprouts, that is, pea shoots that are about 

 two or three inches above the ground. These are de- 

 licious, and when used with the pea blossoms, make a 

 ver}' unusual salad. 



The tiny flowers of the sweet alyssum make a 

 tempting salad. The flavor of the flowers resembles 

 that of turnips. They may be used with nuts and salad 

 greens. 



Another favorite for salads in old-fashioned gardens 

 is the gillyflower or stock. This flower belongs to the 

 mustard family and both foliage and flowers are used 

 in the making of salads. The leaves are strong and are 

 best when chopped with nuts. They mingle well with 

 peanuts and pecans. The flowers should be chopped. 



The blossoms of the althea, or rose of Sharon, make 

 a sweat, delicate salad. They are somewhat like holly- 

 hock blossoms, but sweeter. 



The chrysanthemum is used more than any other 

 flower in Japan in the making of salads. The petals 

 are pulled from the flower and chopped with nuts and 

 mi.xed with honey and oil and served either with or 

 without salad greens. The petals have a peculiar 

 flavor and make an excellent tonic, being slightly 

 bitter. 



The blossoms of all ornamental flowering beans 

 make excellent material for salads. The scarlet run- 

 ners, the wistaria bean and the hyacinth served 

 steamed or stewed. To the northward, Oregon Indians 

 make bread and porridge of the seed of a yellow flow- 

 ered crucifer, which they grind into meal. 



The wild lettuce blossom is more attractive to the 

 palate than to the eye, but together with its young 

 leaves it forms a pleasing and nutritious bean are all 

 common to our gardens, and make a showy salad. 

 They are sometimes mixed with nasturtium flowers 



Verbena blossoms pulled whole from the flower head 

 and served on nasturtium leaves with pecan nuts. 



