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HORTICULTUEE 



October 21, 1916 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



COMSCCTKD BT 



Quettloni by onr readerg In line with any of the toplca pr^eented on this page will be cordially received and promptly anawered 

 by Mr. Eazlcka. Sach eommnnlcationa aboBld iBTuUbly be addreaaed to the office of HOBTICULTUKE. 



Proper Cutting 



At this time of year it will be neeessary to be very 

 careful while cutting roses to see that the eyes are left 

 oil the plant a,s they should be every time a rose is cut. 

 The winters cutting- will largely depend on the proper 

 cutting now, so it will pay to look the plants over 

 every now and then and make sure no flowers are being 

 cut carelessly. Two good eyes should always be left on 

 all tea roses, and the Beauties the same way, cutting 

 ;;11 new shoots t«'o eyes above the first or liottom wire. 

 All special long stems that have been bent down on the 

 Beauties can be cut at the first wire and the remaining 

 piece of wood can be removed while tying. It is also 

 well to iustnict the men to take all poor buds with one 

 good leaf only, leaving the rest of the stem on the 

 plant, as it will quickly shoot out and bear a bud and 

 tins can then lie cut down to the proper place, thus giv- 

 ing a good long stem and making up for the loss of the 

 one poor bud. There should not be many of these but 

 they will be found liore and ther(\ 



Watering After a Crop 



Care should be taken in applying water to the benches 

 after a heavy crop has Iteen cut off. Wliile the plants 

 are still cutting it will he necessary to give them plenty 

 of water so that the buds will not suffer l)ut as soon a? 

 the largest part of the crop is cut otf, the water shoulil 

 lie applied only when the plants are dry. A light dose 

 of lime will also help put the soil into condition, and 

 as soon a.s the plants start anew water will be used more 

 freely until they are in crop again. As .soon as tlie 

 plants are well started a little feed applied just before 

 watering, or liquid manure used directly after water- 

 ing will help wonderfully Ininging them into crop 

 again. The main thing to guard against after a crop is 

 overwatering. If the plants are watered too heavy, sjxit 

 will almost surely set in and this will keep the growers 

 hustling for weeks to come. 



Leaky Faucets 



See that all leaky faucets are repaired as soon as they 

 begin to leak, as there cannot be a gi-eater nuisance in 

 the greenhouse. It will waste a lot of water, thus run- 

 ning up the water bill, and at the same time it will 

 make mud holes in the walks and also Imake the house 

 damp and unhealthy for both men and roses. It takes 

 only a little time to put in a new washer, and the little 

 time thus taken is well spent. Old worn-out faucets 

 that cannot be fixed should be replaced by new ones, 

 even though brass is very high just now. 



The Heating Pipes 



It will be well to go over the heating pipes now and 

 test them all to make sure that they will stand the com- 

 ing winter, and also to note if there are any f)ipes that 

 are slow circulating or if there are any that will not 

 work. Xo time like the jiresent for straightening 

 them all out so that good circulation will be insured, 

 ilakc sure that the pijies are high and see that the cov- 

 ci-ing on the mains is all it should lie. There is a great 

 deal of coal wasted every year just by leaving the 

 pipes uncovered, or else lying on the ground where the 

 heat is absorbed much the same as electricity would be. 

 It will not take long to put things into shape once the 

 work is started and tlie work will be well paid for. To 

 keep the pi]X's from rusting, a coat of prepared pipe 

 paint or of lamjiljlack mi.xed with pure linseed oil can 

 be applied to one pipe at a time so that there will be no 

 danger from fumes. After the one pipe is burned out 

 well another one can be painted and so on. In wide 

 bouses of course more than one pipe can be painted at 

 a tiane but even then it should be done in the morning 

 on a clear day so that the fumes resulting will have 

 jjlenty of chance to escape when the vents are opened. 

 Overhead iiipes should be given a coat of aluminum. 

 This will kill radiation a bit but it will brighten up 

 the house so much that it will well ])ay to do tlie work. 

 I'se bronze [lowder and bronzing fluid for this work. 



Grading 



After being very careful as to the growing, growers 

 -liould ]>ay all attention [xissible to the proper grading 

 of the roses. L'ertain rules should be laid to meet the 

 requirements of the place, stock and market, and these 

 rules .«hould lie adhered to year in and year out. This 

 «ill establish a giade of stock for which the place will 

 become noted and buyers will know just what they are 

 getting when they buy from the place in cpiestion. 

 Although it is best to be careful to get as many long 

 grades as possible it will not pay to put roses into a 

 certain grade whicli really belong to a grade lower. 

 Buyers will Joon get next to this, and when stock is 

 ])leutiful the grower with poor stock and .short grades 

 will be the one who will get left. Wiile grading it is 

 "ell to see that the roses are handled as thev should be 

 and not banged around anj' old way. Every bruise will 

 sliow on the rose bud and may mean several cents less on 

 a whole lot of roses, which is not much, but it may rep- 

 i-esent the profit and where several thousand roses are 

 shi]>ped daily, would run into quite some money. 



